Walnut and Cherry Tracks - Design Tech Project

By

Everest Leo

3 Wood Cutting Board


This is my 12" x 8" cutting board made from walnut (the dark wood), cherry (the lighter, pinkish wood), and maple (the lightest wood) wood.

To make this, I started out by using a table saw to cut the pieces of wood I needed for the board, to the lengths that I needed first, then to the widths that I needed. After that, I used wood glue to glue the strips of wood together and I clamped them together so they would stay in one piece once it dried. After it was done drying I used a planer to level out the thickness of the board as some parts were taller than others. This left me with a nice evenly thick board, but it was still not evenly wide in all places so I used the table saw to even out the width. Then, to add a cleaner touch to the board, I used a router table with a round-over bit to round the edges of the cutting board, which also made it less sharp and better to hold in general. Now that the dimensions/design of the board were done it was time to sand it down, going along the grain of the board, I started with 220 grit sandpaper and finished it with 320 grit. Once I was done sanding the board, I moved on to finishing it with polymerized linseed oil and beeswax, wiping it across the board and wiping off the excess oil. In the end this not only protects the boards but it also brings out more vibrant and rich colors in the wood.

The part I like most about my project is the colors of the wood because at first the wood was not as dark (especially the walnut) as I would've liked it to be, but once I finished it with the oil, I think it turned out very well.

The most challenging part of this project was gluing the strips of wood together because I had to go fast so the glue didn't dry, but I also had to be conscious of how much glue I was putting because it would be bad if I put too much but I also wouldn't want to not use enough glue because then it wouldn't be secure.

If I did this project again I would be more careful when cutting out the strips of wood as some of my strips of wood had/have burn marks, some more visible than others. Otherwise, I am proud of how it turned out.

I plan for me and my family to use this (we can always have more cutting boards), but I don't plan to cut super wet things on it because I don't want to ruin it.

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