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Red Oak Cutting Board
Red Oak Cutting Board
This was the final project for my Wood Design and Craftsmanship class. The main purpose of the project was to practice the process of safely machining wood. We started with rough sawn red oak planks. First, we cross cut each piece on each side with the radial arm saw to remove undesirable sections and create a perpendicular angle between the both cross section faces and one tangental side. Second, each piece greater than 4" wide was rip sawn in half with the band saw.
Next up was the infamous jointer. We used this machine to create a 90º angle between one radial surface and one tangental face. Next, each piece was fed through the planar multiple times to smooth any imperfections on the larger faces and form parallel faces. Then, we moved on to the table saw to clean up the remaining rough surface and make the final set of parallel sides.
That led us to the most fun part: selecting, arranging, and gluing the boards. We opted for the most interesting pieces. As you can see, there are several knots as well as a beautiful section of spalted wood where black mold has outlined some of the grain. We arranged the planks in a gradient from most gray to the reddest.
To glue the pieces together we laid the boards on metal pipes perpendicular to the grain, creating a flat surface that would also allow the glue to drip through. We applied wood glue liberally and smeared it with a finger, quickly thereafter, aligning the planks and clamping them together.
Once the glue had cured, we scraped the excess off and ran the board through the planar again to remove any residue and smooth the lips created by slight variations in board thickness. To finish, we sawed off the final uneven edge created by differing board lengths, sanded all six sides, routed the edges, and applied a thin coat of mineral oil. With that, we had a gorgeous, one of a kind cutting board.
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