Hey I'm Brad from Fix This Build That and today I'm going to show you how to
make a custom cutting board from scrap off cuts and leftover wood I'm also
going to show you an important step that most people leave out I started with a
piece of walnuts about 12 feet long and two and three quarters of an inch wide I
got this from a local mill workshop for free because it was an off cut from
their milling operations the first thing I did was figure out how much I could
get out of the board and how much I needed to work around the big knots that
were in the piece so I marked out where the knots were keeping in mind how the
grain was flowing since this is an edge grain board having straight grain lines
on these edges will make for a more seamless look on the top when it's
assembled I make most of my cutting boards around 16 inches long so I set up
my miter saw stand and adjusted to stop blocks at 16 and a half inches it's
worked out perfect cuz I was able to get three full cuts from the board before
the knot and I trimmed off the naughty part don't need that after that I got
three more full cuts from the rest of the board for a total of six parts these
boards had one flat side from the mill workshop but the rest was rough I ran
the board's through my planer flipping them over after each pass and lowering
that cutter head until I had a smooth and parallel surface on both sides the
stock I started with was about an inch thick and after the surfacing I was down
closer to the round 7/8 for the board's were right at about 2 and 3/4 of an inch
thick and then the other two were from the ends they had a slight taper on them
making them shorter on one side I set the table saw fence to just under an
inch and a quarter and I cut each of the full width pieces into two parts since
I'm making an edge grain board the width of these pieces will be the thickness of
my finish cutting board if you want a thicker board then just go ahead and cut
these a bit wider I would have liked to really been around an inch and a half
thick but you got to work with what you got when you're using scraps but the
Maine walnut pieces ready I switched over to the accent wood I grabbed a
rough cut piece of maple I planed it's smooth on both sides I ripped it on the
table saw to the same width there's a lot of pieces and then I turn it on edge
and split it into two center pieces I did the same thing with one of the
walnut pieces that I cut earlier and these will be the accent strips that
flank the yellow parts on the finish board speaking of the yellow heart
here's a little scrap board I started with a guy gave me this off cut when I
bought tool from an office Craigslist since I
have so little of it I didn't want to split it on the table saw because you're
losing H of an inch there just to the sawdust from the blade curve so instead
I cut to the size I needed on my bandsaw I'll be able to use this other piece
here and another cutting board later I wanted the two walnut in the two maple
pieces to be a quarter inch thick in the yellow heart to be a half inch thick
when I'm finished there were slightly larger than this as I cut them if I use
the planer to get them down to the final sizes with all the boards cut and
prepped I moved over to the layout I ended up with nine walnut boards and the
maple and yellow heart accent strikes I arranged the accents on one side and
then I moved over a piece of the walnut to complete the look
next I looked over all the boards and I decided what the best show side would be
for each piece there's a little bit of SAP wood and some defects here and there
let's lift those over to the bottom so you wouldn't see them now it's time for
the glue up I use parallel clamps but you can use inexpensive bar clamps or
even quick clamps here after getting my supplies I stack the board's together
and then I flip each one down so the face to get the glue is up now I just
slather that glue on there and I spread the glue evenly over all the boards I'm
using type on to a water resistant glue versus type on three a waterproof glue I
always get asked why don't you use waterproof glue and basically I don't
think it's needed on tight bonds website they actually list cutting boards as a
recommended use for both of these blues so if they're cool with it then I'm cool
with it with the glue spread I rotate the pieces back into place and line them
up and plant them all together until I get a good glue squeeze-out
you can wait about 30 or 45 minutes and come back and scrape off the glue
squeeze-out at that point but I like setting a timer and having to come back
so I just scrape the excess off with my glue brush and then I wipe the whole
thing down with a wet paper towel I let the glue dry overnight and then I take
the boards out of the clamps there's usually a little bit of dried glue where
the clamps were and I knock those pieces off with a scraper or a putty knife I
take one more trip over to the planer to even out any misalignment from the glue
once the board is smooth on both sides I'm done
it only takes a few light passes to get there
you can see the board here is still almost an inch and a quarter after the
whole process so you're really not taking off a lot next I square up the
end of each board on the table saw using my crosscut sled and I cut it to final
length which here ended up being a smidge under 16 inches next up is the
edge treatment in the sanding I use my down draft sanding table for these steps
I made a version specifically to fit the size of the boards that I build I use
the sixteenth of an inch roundover bit in my handheld router and I start with
the end grain and then move on to the sides if you have a router table this is
be much easier but this turn router is nice and easy to handle before sanding I
draw a pencil marks on the face of the board this lets me know when I've sanded
that very top surface away and I'm ready for the next grit I start with 100 grit
and I sand the faces of the board and then I arrange the board up a little bit
higher and I sand the edges right there on the table as well after a hundred I
move up to 150 grit and I'll repeat the same process now here's an important
step especially for these edge grain boards after 150 grit I spray down the
board with water this raises the grain on the board and it makes it rough to
the touch basically you're making all the severed
wood fibers from the milling stand up on the board wet it down and let it dry if
you skip this step the first time that you wash your new board it's going to
feel really rough and if you've gifted this to your old Aunt Betty she's gonna
question your woodworking prowess don't disappoint Aunt Betty after it
dries I sand it to 220 grit then I use the flexible sanding pad and I smooth it
up all the edges making sure everything has got a nice round to it and
everything feels smooth after that I finish out my hand sanding with 320 and
400 grit paper for that super smooth finish now this is everybody's favorite
part oiling the board this is where this comes the lights I'm using just 100%
mineral oil this is food safe this is from just any grocery store or large box
store you can get that from soaked as much as you can on there I'm going to
put it on here show you show you how it comes to life no narration needed for
this part just sit back and watch this grain
depart
the final step I'm going to take is to put on a top coat of beeswax and mineral
oil blend I'll have a link down below to what it is but this basically gives it
some extra protection against the water and well as the beeswax lets you buff it
to a nice Sheen the wax is set up I'm just going to buff this out with a dry
shop towel and this is going to look beautiful
there's links down below to all the items I use today as well as a detailed
blog post if you like what you saw go ahead and subscribe you can do that
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and you'll know every time I post a new video until next time guys get out there
and build something awesome