Cutting boards are a favorite project of mine. Laminate strips of hardwood together with food-safe glue, plane it flat, and you have a beautiful and functional kitchen accessory that's worthy of display or use. The best part is that they can be done in a reasonably short amount of time. Waiting for the glue to dry is thr hardest part.
Want to get fancier? You can kick it up a notch by making them end-grain, or with alternating patterns, waves, and other beautiful designs. Think it and you can probably do it.
I was asked to make a board for a client, "whatever's easiest." My kind of client!
Last summer, I found out that the high school was replacing their gym floor. The contractors were tossing the old maple into the dumpsters behind the school. I went dumpster diving and rescued three (small) trunk loads of maple. It takes a little work to salvage the lumber, but when I'm done, each board nets me about a 1.25" wide by 3/4" thick strip of hard maple. Free wood can afford a little time spent for salvage and a higher waste loss.
There's a local sawyer who sells mesquite. Because it grows so slowly in the relatively arid climate, it grows into beautiful grain patterns and dense, hard wood and makes beautiful lumber. I like taking one large piece of mesquite, plane it to size, and then rip it into strips, keeping then in sequential order. I'll then alternate the mesquite and maple strips.
You wind up with a beautiful and interesting piece that is both sequential and contrasting at the same time. Your eyes can see the sequence, but it takes a little effort. This board looks like a mash-up, with mesquite and maple colliding together. Love the look!
My client ordered this as a wedding gift for a friend. I hope the client is pleased. Properly cared for, the newly-weds should be able to still use it at their 50th anniversary celebration.
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