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End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

author-gravatar MrFishie Dec 15, 2017

TL;DR

This is my 2nd end grain cutting board.  I am really happy with the glue up and how it looks, but have an issue with some slight warping after moving it from my shop into the house.  Any suggestions?  More details below.

The maple was kiln dried, and the Tigerwood was sitting in a friends garage for 3 years (remnants from his deck build) before using them, so I know initial moisture isn't the issue.  After the 2nd glue up I ran the board through a drum sander to flatten it, then used my random orbital to clean it up before using my router to add an edge profile, and finished it with 2 coats of mineral oil.  It was perfectly flat after oiling while in my shop, but moving into the house, the next day it developed a slight twist, probably less than 1/16" worth.  I live in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon) and my shop is not heated.  The last week when I have been working on this has been surprisingly dry and cold for Oregon, temps ranging from high 30s for the highs, to low 20s for the lows.  The wood has been sitting in my shop for a few months now, so it was acclimated to the shop.  I believe the issue is moving into the house and the difference in humidity/heat.  Is there anything I can do to help prevent this besides having a heated shop?  My first cutting board did that as well, and I put some rubber feat on it and any rocking is unnoticed.  The weather was much more mild when I made that board, temps more in the 40s and 50s.

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

Initial glue up

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

I was bad with pictures inbetween, but I cleaned up the first glue up with my planer, then cut the strips into about 1 3/4" thick, flipping every other one to get the pattern.  When I glued up I made sure to line up the center maple and tigerwood strips to just touch, you can see the ends of the board need to get cleaned up after the glue up.

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

Again, bad for in between pics, but ran it through my drum sander to clean up the board, then ran it through my table saw with my miter gauge to clean up the ends.  Used a router to add the chamfer to both top and bottom.  Finally used my ROS to sand from 100 up to 220.

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

First bit of mineral oil on the board

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

freshly oiled, sitting up on painters triangles so I can oil both sides and let it sit

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

Finished shots after 2 coats of oil, letting it dry at least overnight.  There was no rock in the board at this point, I had just brought it into the house.  The next day is when there was a very slight rock from the far edges.

Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside
Photo of End Grain Maple And Tigerwood Cutting Board -Question Inside

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