Make an end grain cutting board

One of the most popular woodworking projectsIt seems that at one time or another, all woodworkers try their hands at making an end-grain cutting board. Its easy to understand why: cutting boards are useful, durable, allow you to really get creative on the design, and are simple to build.

Built by Mike D. (RetiredCoastie)
 on LumberJocks.com

And I have never made one. Its one of those projects thats been on my to-do list for a long time. As you may know, I love to cook and have been getting by for years with one of those thick plastic ones. Its built into my counter and slides out for use. The problem is that it gets mangled pretty quickly and doesnt clean well. After a while is begins to take on a permanent onion odor. Yuck. So I have to replace it every year.
Wood cutting boards, on the other hand, will last nearly forever. The end grain of wood is very forgiving on knives and is actually more sanitary to use. The wood tends to heal itself. And if, after a lot of use, it starts to look really ragged and scratched, you can renew it just by resanding the surface.
I wasnt sure what more I had to offer in the way of a video, though. There are lots of cutting board videos. If you decide to make one, you definitely want to check out The Wood Whisperers video. He really takes you through every last detail and consideration.
Cutting Board DesignerLast month, Jeremy Greiner sent me a copy of a program he developed called Cutting Board Designer. After playing around with it for a while, I discovered how handy it is. It lets you lay out some complex patterns and get a good indication what your board will look like before you cut any wood. Check it out!
My first cutting board: Read More..

My kind of cutting board

Posted by chun | 0 comments | 7:58 AM

Lots of us make cutting boards, but why not do something unique? Carl Letts sent me this photo of one he made. I first saw this optical illusion at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The bathroom walls are tiled like this. Its the craziest thing: all the rows of squares are perfectly straight! Hold up a ruler if you want. Or, if you look at it from an edge, it all straightens out. I guess since they are offset a bit, our eyes go buggy and cant really make sense of it. Too cool. Thanks Carl!

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Hook Board

Posted by chun | 0 comments | 12:54 PM

Another super quick & dirty project...
A fast approaching birthday and the question of where to hang dog leads and keys in the pantry.
Both problems solved ...

A scrap of Pine, some dowel and some spare brass hooks I had kicking around....
I squared, chamfered edges and smoothed  with my No#4 Plane.Used a bradawl for the threaded brass hooks. Drilled the holes and glued in the dowel. A lick of boiled Linseed oil. Done!
Its Rustic....

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Make a Quarto board game

Posted by chun | 0 comments | 9:25 PM

I only learned about Quarto a week ago. As soon as I started researching the game boards and pieces I knew I wanted to make one. It can be designed in all different ways, making it a great woodworking project. Plus, it would make a nice Christmas present.
Interestingly, this is one of the few projects I have made for which I used nearly all my power tools. Only my scroll saw didnt see any action.
The game itself is very simple to play and quite intriguing.
Heres a layout template for the circles if you want to make one similar to mine.

Built by Jeff (jonasramus)
on LumberJocks.com