End Grain Cutting Board

Today I finished my end grain cutting board that I made from Black Walnut and Maple. It took a little more than I expected (as usual), but turned out nice.




I started with some black walnut and cherry scraps that I had but didn't have enough to make it the size I wanted so I ended up purchasing a 2" chunk of maple.

After deciding on a pattern, I glued up two opposite sets of alternating walnut and maple, then cut them into 1 1/2"  rows and assembled them in order.

After final gluing, I hand planned the top and bottom until I was satisfied and then started sanding.  I started with 40 grit on the belt sander and then 80, and then switched to 80 on the palm sander and eventually 120 grit.


For the finish, I used a 50/50 cut of varnish and thinner.