Blog about manufacturing, tools, and machines

Once the boards were glued up, it was time for flattening, which did not go smoothly this time, unfortunately.

Gluing the boards is a bit problematic step in the production.

As my next step in kitchen cutting board manufacturing, I decided to make ten small pieces from Jatoba. That should give me an adequate estimate of time for future reference.

After finishing my first kitchen cutting boards I decided to make a "maxiboard". Not for cooking but for leather work. Hopefully it will hold longer and better than any cutting mat from office supplies. I decided to use black locust wood because it is cheaper and more readily accessible than Jatoba. And it is hard enough for any work.

When working on my next board I decided to modify my drum sander a bit. And after the first change, the fate decided I have to make more.

I was so glad that the kitchen boards are finished already that I forgot to write a planned article about assembling the boards with handles. Thus I write it now.

First cutting boards are finished and today I took some pictures before giving them into our kitchens for testing. We shall see how they fare, however I have no reason to expect trouble. But there are two possible sources of problems nevertheless – hidden flaws in the wood, cracks that did not notice, and the glue that I used.

There are several possibilities for making a handle on a kitchen board. One is to cut/shape it directly into the body but that is not suitable for a board glued from blocks, as the handle would be fragile and prone to breaking. The second possibility is to make a simple metal handle from stainless steel or brass. The third possibility...

I bought a palette of firewood a few years ago, offcuts of hard tropical wood from furniture making, according to the description it was supposed to be a mix of black locust and jatoba. I was expecting mostly black locust and I hoped there might be a few nice pieces of jatoba fit for making knife handles in there too....

Forced break from working on knives was significantly longer than I wanted it to be but this week I finally could advance a bit with making of the cutting boards. I finally solved the problem of roughly flattening the prefabricates. The solution is not particularly elegant but it works. And it is my second attempt – the first one, using...