Make Cutting Boards With Minimal Tools
Introduction: Make Cutting Boards With Minimal Tools
Cutting boards with minimal tools is a tutorial that will give you lots of advice tips & tricks to get you started making cutting boards with minimal tools! Every woodworker gets asked at some point to make a cutting board as a gift to someone special in their lives. Maybe its your sweet grandma or your wife or next door neighbor. But the beginner woodworker might feel like they don't have the tools to successfully make a
cutting board. Maybe you don't have a jointer, a planer, a big ole cabinet saw, etc.
This tutorial's aim is to show you that you absolutely can! I'll walk you step by step through the process.
I'll only be using these tools: table saw, a random orbit sander, a trim router with chamfer bit (or a hand plane) and some clamps!
For more advanced cutting board tutorials and related content, please check out these resources:
5 Pro Tips for Making Cutting Boards
How to Make an End Grain Butcher Block
Making a US Flag Cutting Board with CNC Inlay
How to Make a Cutting Board Wax Finish
How to Make a Cross Cut Sled for Your Table Saw
The Ultimate Table Saw Fence
If you like this instructional content you can also find me at:
My Website (full tutorials, plans, videos): https://mwawoodworks.com
My YouTube (all my build videos): https://youtube.com/c/mwawoodworks
My Instagram (behind the scenes stuff): https://instagram.com/mwawoodworks
My Pinterest (things I find inspirational) : https://pinterest.com/mwawoodworks
Supplies
Materials & Supplies* Tools*
Titebond 3 wood glue (there are others but this is what I use) Parallel Clamps
Condiment Bottles (finer tips, cheap and see through) Scraper
Gorilla Grip Shelf Liner (seriously, a good thing to have around) DeWalt Trim Router
Cedar Pencils (actual good pencils) Freud Chamfer Bit
Mirka Sand Paper Freud Heavy Duty Rip Blade
Bosch Random Orbit Sander
Step 1: Material Selection
Alright so I’m going to be using hardwoods for these cutting boards. I’ve got some walnut, some maple and some cherry all leftovers from other projects about 2 feet long.
Definitely stick with hardwoods for this kind of project and stay away from stuff like pine, fir or cedar. Those woods are way too soft to stand up to knives and are full of resins. They aren't dangerous or toxic, but they could make your food taste like a Christmas tree LOL
Classic cutting board wood species found in North America include:
Maple
Cherry
Walnut
Ash
White Oak (best when used on edge or as end grain)
Hickory
Besides those soft woods like Pine/Spruce/Fir/Cedar, also avoid these hardwoods because they aren't really that hard at all:
Butternut
Basswood
Chestnut (if you can still find it)
Poplar
Alder
Genuine Mahogany (African Mahogany and Sapele are other "mahogany like" species that are just fine to use)
There are many many others but these are just a few. 493
The goal is to choose something dense and durable. I'd personally stick with something north of 900 on the Janka hardness scale. If you're not familiar with this hardness scale, here's a link for more information https://www.bellforestproducts.com/info/janka-hardness/
Step 2: Cutting Strips at the Table Saw
I started by trimming off the rough edge of each board. This way I have two parallel edges for referencing and I know that each board is the same width the whole length of the board. That’s important for the next step in the process.
I want to cut some different sized strips from each board so I can mix and match them to create three different color combos. It’s safer to cut these strips on the opposite side of the blade from the fence and I like using this little trick for getting the same width strips repeatedly.
I just set one strip against the blade and then I adjust the fence until my board matches it. Easy peasy and I just repeat that process until I get a few strips from each board.
Next, I cutoff the top inch or so from each board. This will allow me to sandwich those strips in between.
*NOTE - You don't need a fancy big cabinet table saw to do this work. 599