More Cutting Boards!

I've been busy. I've made some more cutting boards. This time, all different sizes for the widths and lengths. But they are all 3/4" thick. These are all made from recycled flooring. And all of these boards are edge grain/long grain cutting boards (that means I'm done after the first glue up. Just one overnight glue up as opposed to two overnight glue ups with the end grain boards). The smallest one is 10"x16" and would make a perfect sushi/cheese board. It's made from a beautiful batch of Walnut and has two strips of quarter sawn White Oak running down each side. The next one is my jumbo Pizza Board. It's 16"x 18" and has a striped pattern* made from White Oak and Walnut. It's only 3/4" thin so it's not as heavy as you would think. The other one on the bottom is my favorite. I call it the Autumn Board. It's 12.25"x 17.5" and has a random pattern** of multiple species including: Eastern Black Walnut, American Cherry, Honduran Mahogany, Santos Mahogany, Brazilian Cherry and Sapele. It makes me think of the fall time when I look at it. I envision this one sitting on a wooden counter top in a mountain house somewhere in North Carolina. I know it's a very vivid/specific vision! Haha!

I have a stack of cutting boards that have been glued up but are waiting on the final finish sanding and a coat of mineral oil. So stay tuned because there are more cutting boards to come along with pictures. All of them different. Including: Solid American Cherry, solid Purple Heart, solid Angeline, checkerboard American Cherry and White Oak and a checkerboard White Oak and Walnut. That's the picture of them stacked up waiting to be sanded.

*The striped pattern means that there is a order or sequence to the pattern. For example the one above is walnut, white oak, walnut, white oak, every other throughout the entire board.

**The random pattern means that there is no order as to which species/color I use. I throw a pile of 1.5"x3/4" strips down, shuffle them up and pick them up at random as I'm gluing it up. I close my eyes sometimes if I'm feeling crazy/frisky!

***The Checkerboard pattern is two different species with a random pattern but I flip every other row on the second glue up giving it a checkered pattern..

****The Solid pattern is one species and comes either in edge grain and end grain.

Custom Scrapers

I've thought of something else I could make by using recycled hardwood flooring scraps! Custom Scrapers! When you're sanding hardwood floors, the edger can sand all the way up against the wall. But there is one place it can't get. Corners! So for this you use a scraper and you do it by hand. Every single corner has to be scraped by hand. They make them in different sizes that you can buy but there limited sizes available. So I decided to use some of my flooring remnants and make several different size scrapes that I can use depending on what the job requires. The longer the handle, the more leverage you can get without having to over exert yourself and wear yourself out on the first few corners. Because there are a lot of corners in a house. You never pay attention to them but when you're sanding a floor in a big house, they add up quick. And scraping is tiring. It's hard on the hands, abs, back and knees. But I designed a custom scraper to be more ergonomic. Therefore, it's not as hard on the body, it's designed to let the scraper do the work not you. It's amazing how much of a difference putting a few inches onto the length of the handle makes. I'm making one that is a shorty so that can get into tight spaces and one with a super thin head that can scrape between the balusters on nosing and stair treads. You wont know what you need until you use one, so I decided to design and make my own. And what's better than using recycled material to achieve this! If you need a scraper, let me know. I make them to order. More pictures coming soon.

Exotic Wood Cutting Boards!

I recently made some more cutting boards. I'm constantly trying to create different patterns using different species, in different orders and thicknesses. I love working with different species of wood because every one works differently. I was looking through craigslist and found a guy selling tables that he'd made. Well, I called him because he said that he was from Chapin. I'm always looking for local woodworkers because it's cool to see what they are making and plus you can talk with someone who shares similar interests. Well, it ends up, I went to high school with him so I went over to his house to check out his shop and his work. While I was over there, I saw a big ol' pile of wood that was just sitting outside without protection or support. I asked him if I could look through it and explained that I love recovering and salvaging wood. He said to take a look. I found a few good pieces of purple heart. He let me have those and then showed me a stack of wood that was also not being stored properly but these were actually long planks of Angeline and more Purple heart. I asked him if I could buy some because I couldn't stand to see it go to waste. So he sold me some wood and I also told him that he needed to re-stack that wood and cover it up if he didn't want it to warp and rot. He promised me he would and told me to come back if I wanted to buy more. But for now, I've got plenty to work with. I made some cutting boards using both. The pictures are of just that. I still consider these recycled because I definitely saved this wood from being wasted. Purple heart is a beautiful exotic wood that originates from the rain forest areas of Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname. It is extremely dense and is pretty resistant to sandpaper. I went through quite a bit of paper trying to smooth these down. But it's gorgeous. I noticed that when you pair the purple heart with the walnut heartwood it makes USC gamecock colors, garnet and black! Pictured above, you can see how you gamecock fans could pull this out while tailgating before a game and get some comments (but maybe not from the Clemson fans, haha!) So I'm gonna burn the gamecock logo into these boards using a branding iron and make some South Carolina Gamecock cutting boards. The Angeline is a unique wood with a distinct odor. It grows throughout the West Indies and from Southern Mexico through Central America to Northern South America and Brazil. It has a very coarse texture and irregular grain. It's the tan/blonde colored wood paired with the purple heart (purple) in the picture above. I like it! Check em out.

Recycled Mistakes! A Catchall Dish!

When making my cutting boards the process is very time consuming. So once I've start I don't like to stop. This time I should have stopped because I was tired and I was soon to be woken by a wooden rocket. But as I learned here, mistakes don't have to be a bad thing! I had already ripped the wood into thin strips on the table saw. Once I glue these strips together overnight I have what I call a blank. I take that blank and crosscut it into thin strips, again using the table saw. Then another overnight glue up and that's what makes up an end grain cutting board. So yeah, I was making the crosscut and had a momentary lapse and the blank floated up just a little bit and caught the blade. It kicked back so quick that I didn't have time to react. "KICKBACK" the word that all woodworkers dread! Luckily, out of habit, I position my body out of the path of the blade for this exact reason. Otherwise, it would have hit me in the face. The blank (piece of wood) hummed by my ear. I could feel the wind as it passed. I think I tasted it too, ha ha!! I mean it was close y'all! It smacked into the door behind me with a big bang and left a huge hole. Close call! I was lucky but the blank was ruined where it caught the blade. It had a big gash in it. Wait, don't throw it away! Instead, I put it aside sure that I would come up with some way of using it. And because I've managed to make some beautiful stuff out of what would be trash, I can't stand throwing things away. Later that night while eating some supper it happened! I'd remembered seeing a catchall at the craft show I'd recently been to and I thought, "That one was made of glass but I could make one out of wood?!? That's it, that's what I'll do!!" I couldn't wait to get home to start carving and creating. Or at least attempt to create. I finally made it home, ran down, grabbed the mangled blank, made a few cuts on the miter saw to square it up, pulled out my canvas roll of chisels, carving mallet and went to town. Good thing I don't have any neighbors as I carved late into the night. I had no idea what would come of it but I was sure I would learn along the way. And this I did. It slowly took shape as the hours fell from the spinning minute hand. It worked! It was a lot of work but once again, I had managed to create something out of what would have otherwise been trash. I had blisters on my hands from gripping that chisel so hard. Since the first attempt (the multi colored, striped catchall pictured above), I've established a quicker and more accurate method. The trick is having a super sharp chisel. The brown dish pictured below is a solid walnut catchall made by recycling the scrap cuttings from my cutting boards. So yes, I've come up with one more thing I could make using recycled/scrap material. "Repurposed Wood" I love it. Lesson learned, with every mistake comes a chance to create/recreate! That's the beauty of recycling!! And that's what recycling is all about! Oh, you want one??! I can make these in any size, any depth, using any species of wood. They are a great center piece for a coffee table or side table, great for holding candy or potpourri! Or put them on your dresser or bedside table where they catch all! I made me one big enough to hold my keys, wallet, and money (bills and loose change!) Again, I'm always seeking your feedback! So please let me know what you think!