If you are interested in buying one of these tools they can be purchased at Woodchuck Lathe Tools
I am waiting on arrival of two tools a friend is making up for me. They are for lathe work and accept radius carbide cutter inserts. The tools are made from some 1/2″ x 1/2″ x 18″ square steel bar that I sent him. He is milling a slot in one end of the bar for the cutter to seat, as well as tapping a hole to secure the cutter. I told him not to worry about turning the other end of the tool round to insert in the handle.
I’m excited to try out the tool and so have started preparing the stock I will be using for the tool handles. My first step was to take four pieces of 4 pieces of cherry and 4 pieces of maple, each piece was 3/4″ x 3″ x 15″. I milled and cut each piece down to 5/8″ x 2 1/2″ x 15″ and glued them together.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
I then mounted a 1/2″ straight bit in my router table and raised it 1/4″ above the router table. I set the fence 1″ from the edge of the bit and also set up a stop block 4″ from the near side of the bit. Using this set up I routed a 1/4″ x 1/2″ x 4″ stopped groove in each of the four pieces.
Finally, I squared the end of each groove using hand chisels. I was tempted to glue the pieces together but decided to wait until the tools arrived so I could do a test fit of the bars in the grooves.
This is the process I use for building an end grain cutting board like the one below. I made this using maple and cherry. I started with 2 pieces of maple and 2 pieces of cherry. Each piece was 3″ x 30″ and approximately 3/4″ thick. You can use thicker boards if that is what you have and the boards do not have to be equal thickness. The thicker the board you use, the wider the lamination’s in the cutting board will be. This will also affect the final length of the cutting board.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
From one of the cherry boards rip two boards, one at 2 1/8″ and another at 5/8″. Do the same with one of the maple boards.
From the second cherry board rip two boards, one at 1 5/8″ and another at 1 1/8″. Do the same with the second maple board.
Lay them out as shown in the next picture : 2 1/8″ cherry, 5/8″ maple, 1 5/8″ cherry, 1 1/8″ maple, 1 1/8″ cherry, 1 5/8″ maple, 5/8″ cherry, 2 1/8″ maple. Glue them together using Titebond III. I use Titebond III because of it’s water resistance properties.
Once the glue has dried, flatten the board by running it through a planer.
Crosscut one end of the panel square. Then set up a stop block so that you can crosscut the panel into 1 1/8″ pieces. If you want the final cutting board to be thicker, then you can crosscut the panel into 1 1/4″ pieces, however you will have less pieces and so the final cutting board will not be as long.
As you are crosscutting the panel you will reach a point when the panel is deeper than it is wide, and is no longer safe to crosscut. At this point, remove your cross cut sled, set the fence and rip the panel.
As you crosscut the panel, take the pieces and stack them in the same order, flipping them 90 degrees so the end grain is exposed. I ended up with 24 pieces.
Now take each second piece and flip it end over end to get the pattern.
Carefully transfer the pieces to your clamps taking care to keep them in the right order.
Take each piece, except for the piece closest to you, and flip it 90 degree. All the pieces should now be laying face grain up, ready for you to spread glue on. Again I use Titebond III.
Once the glue is spread, flip the pieces back up one at a time, taking care to make sure the pattern lines up nicely. Clamp the glue up. I used some cauls on the sides to help with lining the pattern up. Take care that the pieces are all sitting at the same height, the more care you take with this the less sanding you will have to do once the glue dries! I glued all 24 pieces at once, but was rushed to do it in the glue open time. It would be better to glue 8 pieces at a time and then to do a final glue up of the resulting three sections. Whichever way you do, take the time to do a dry run so that you are familiar with what you need to do during the glue up and have all the necessary clamps, rollers, hammer etc on hand.
I’ve shown a lot of pictures of the glue up to try and make it clear what to do.
Once the glue is dry the cutting board needs to be sanded. Hopefully you have a drum sander, if not you can use a belt sander and random orbital sander. I used a belt sander the first couple of boards that I made. Trust me when I say using a drum sander is a lot more fun! Whatever you do, don’t try and flatten the board using a planer. End grain does not plane well. You will ruin the board, the planer will kick it back at you and you will scare the hell out of yourself, even if you don’t get hurt. Trust me on this! Use a belt sander or a drum sander.
Once the board is smooth take it back to the crosscut sled on your table saw and trim the edges.
Final sanding can be done with the random orbital sander. If you find any small knot holes in the board, simply fill them with 5 minute epoxy and sand it flush.
Your board is now ready for a finish. However, if you want to “kick it up a notch” head over to your router table. Set up a 1/4″ round over bit in the router table and round all four sides, top and bottom of the board. Use a scrap piece of wood as a backer board to help minimize tear out. Also, if your router is variable speed, slow it down to help prevent burning the wood. Cherry is particularly prone to burning.
To round over the corners, I stood the board up on end. I nailed together a simple jig to which I clamped the board, to help keep it upright and at 90 degrees to the router fence.
To route some finger grooves on the sides of the board you need to chuck a 1/2″ core bit in your router. Set the height at 3/8″. Remember our board is just over 1″ thick and we will be routing a groove on each side. If you set the router bit to high, the grooves will run into each other. Set up some stop blocks on either side of the bit. Take care that the stop blocks are the exact same distance left and right of the bit. This is important because we are routing a groove on both the top and the bottom of the board. If the stop blocks are not set at the same distance either side of the bit, the grooves will not line up on each side of the board. Make a test cut on a piece of scrap to confirm your set up. You can see on my test cut how the ends of the groove on the top line up with the ends of the groove on the bottom.
If you are not familiar with this type of “plunge cut” on the router table, then practice on some scrap. Ruining your board at this point will really make you grumpy and irritable!
If all goes well this is what you should end up with on each side of your cutting board. The board is now fully reversible, you can use either face and pick it up easily regardless.
I finished the board with Butcher Block Mineral Oil. Poke around on the internet and you will find tons of information and debate on which finishes are food safe. From the research I’ve done, I feel that any finish is safe, provided that it is fully cured. This can take weeks in the case of some finishes. I chose an oil finish over a film finish because of the ease of repair of the finish. I’m assuming the board will be used and after a year or so of cutting will be pretty beat up. With the mineral oil finish it will be easy to run the board through the drum sander a couple of times and then apply some more mineral oil.
When applying the mineral oil, pool it on one side of the board. You’ll be amazed at how thirsty the end grain is! Keep on pooling it and spreading it around. After 5 to 10 minutes if you hold the board up and look on the underside you will see the mineral oil has started to come out that side. Pretty cool stuff. Flip the board over and pool some more oil on. After about another five to ten minutes the board should have stopped soaking up the mineral oil and you can wipe off the excess. I used 4 fl. oz on this board.
The finished board measures approximately 11″ x 15″ and is just over 1″ thick.
I am making four pen boxes, two from hickory and two from oak. I find it more efficient to make a production run of a number of boxes than just a single box. These four boxes took me two hours to make, not including the finishing. Short of breaking child labor laws you can’t make these boxes for less than what you buy them. However, they are a fun project and enable you to use special wood for pen boxes which you can’t get commercially.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
The hinges used are the 7mm barrel hinges. Two 6x3mm rare earth magnets are used to keep the box closed.
Prepare your stock first. You will need two pieces of wood 2 1/2″ x 6″ x 5/8″ for each box.
The key to the hinges is to get the holes lined up on the base and the lid. I’ve seen a number of different ways to achieve this, and either most of the ways are to complicated or I’m not that smart, but this is what I came up with.
I chucked the 7mm bit in my drill press and set the fence 1/4″ back from the center of the bit. I also set the drill depth so that the hole would be a hair deeper than half the length of the hinge. It’s a good idea at this point to drill a couple of holes in some scrap, insert the hinge and check that the two pieces of wood are flush.
I wanted the holes to be 3/4″ from each end of the box. I cut a set up block which was 5 3/4″ long. I then placed the set up block against the left hand side of the bit and attached a stop block to the fence.
Place the set up block on the right hand side of the bit and attach a stop block to the fence.
The drill press is now set up for a production run of drilling.
Take your stock and choose the best face of each piece, this will be the outside of the box. Arrange each piece as the finished box will look and then “open” the two pieces as if you were opening the box. Mark the two pieces with a triangle. You will now easily be able to see which side of the piece is the inside of the box and along which edge you need to drill the holes for the hinges.
Drill the left and right holes in the lid.
Drill the left and right holes in the base.
Chuck a 1/4″ rounder over bit in your router table, adjust the height and set the fence flush with the bearing on the bit. Rout the end grain of the box first. I use a square piece of scrap plywood both as a backer board and to hold the piece perpendicular to the fence while routing.
Rout the long grain edges of the base and lid.
Now is a good time to dry fit the hinges and check that the base and lid sit flush to one another and the box opens and closes easily. You can see in the picture below how part of the hinge is now exposed and how the roundover allows the base and lid to rotate and open.
The next step is to rout a groove in the base and the lid to accept the pen. I use a 3/4″ core box bit. The first time I made these boxes I used my router table and lowered the box onto the bit using start and end stop blocks. It was pretty scary and I messed up a number of pieces! I now use my hand held plunge router and the jig in the picture below to hold the piece.
The jig is made from some scrap 3/4″ plywood. It has an adjustable fence on the left. I adjust it so that the bit will route the groove along the center line of the piece. There are two stop blocks clamped to the fence to start and stop the cut. The adjustable block on the right holds the piece securely. I clamp the whole jig to my router table to hold it secure. Place both the base and the lid in the jig with the holes for the hinges on the right hand side. That way if the groove is not perfectly centered on the piece the base groove will still line up with the lid groove. Set the depth of your plunge router so that the final depth of the groove will be 1/2″. I’ve found that a 3/8″ groove will not allow the box to close on a Jr. Gent or Statesman. Set the stop blocks so that the start and end of each groove are the same from each end of the piece and that the groove will be long enough for the pen.
I have a home made base for my router which has one straight side. I use this side up against the fence of the jig.
Rout the grooves in the base and the lid. Because of the depth of the groove it is best to do it five or six passes.
Now would be a good time to check that the pen will fit in the groove and the box will close flush.
The last thing left to do is to drill the holes for the rare earth magnets. One magnet in the base and one in the lid will hold the box closed nicely. The rare earth magnets are really strong for their size. I use a 6x3mm magnet. I use a 1/4″ Forstner bit as it is the closest bit I have to 6mm. Chuck the bit in the drill press and set the fence so the hole will be about equidistant from the groove to the start of the round over. Set the depth a hair deeper than the thickness of the rare earth magnet. Drill a piece of scrap to test the hole is the right depth. Set a stop block 3 1/4″ from the center of the bit.
The base and lid are now ready for sanding and finishing. I find it easier to sand and finish the boxes before I glue in the hinges or the magnets.
A few tips about gluing in the hinges:
Don’t use CA to secure them. It will drip down and glue the hinges shut. Don’t ask me how I know this!
Use just a drop of 5 min epoxy. If you use to much it will overflow the hole and glue the hinges. Don’t ask me how I know this!
Do a couple of dry runs inserting the hinges in the base and lid before you apply the epoxy. Don’t ask me how I know this!
After you have epoxied the hinges in, open and close the box a couple of times before the epoxy dries. This will ensure the hinges are aligned properly so that the box can open and close. Don’t ask me how I know this!
A few tips about gluing in the magnet:
There is a right side and a wrong side to each magnet. One side will attract another magnet and the other side will repel another magnet. Make sure you have the sides with the attraction or your box will not close. Don’t ask me how I know this!
Edit 05/01/2011 A readers comment: “To make sure I got the rest of magnets the right way around in the remaining boxes, I arranged the magnets in pairs, stuck together, and then used a perminant marker to put a small dot on the outside edges – i.e. the edges that go into the holes. It was then easy to identify the ‘right’ side of the magnets.”
Put a drop of CA in the hole in the base and set the magnet in the hole. Wait until the CA has dried, orientate the box so the lid is now flat and then glue the magnet in the lid. Don’t try and glue both magnets in at the same time, the CA glue will drip out the hole, the magnets will try suck each other out the holes and it is pretty much a nightmare. Don’t ask me how I know this!
As you can tell, I’ve ruined a few boxes trying to glue the hinges and magnets in. Just take it slowly and do a few dry runs.
