How to Make an Awesome Cutting Board

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To make this cutting board you need 4 different kinds of wood.

This cutting board is made of :

  • Zebra wood  
  • Maple
  • Oak
  • Walnut

You can choose your own kind of wood as long there is difference in color and you follow this plans you will get the board as seen on the picture.

  • Plans call for 50mm ( 2” ) thick stock.
  • Size your wood aprox. 55 cm (21 5/8”) in length while is still rough.
  • Plane all your wood and leave it to rest at least overnight. (Important)
  • Square it right before cutting the layout pieces.
  • Make sure that you get at least 45mm (1 ¾”) in thickness.
  • To cut more easily 45 degree pieces is recommended to have wider lumber. 

I found that the easiest way for me was to have wood for 45 degree pieces minimal 10 cm ( 3 15/16 in.) wide.

Tools:

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Watch The Step-By-Step Video

Instructions:

Make sure that you get at least 45mm (1 ¾”) in
Thickness.

To cut more easily 45 degree pieces is recommended to have wider lumber.

I found that the easiest way for me was to have wood for 45 degree pieces minimal 10 cm ( 3 15/16 in.) wide.

Dimensions

This are dimensions of each piece. Note that imperial dimensions are converted with online tool exactly by the metric dimensions.

Some of them might be difficult to set on your table saw.

The point is that you don´t need to be that precise. Just try to set it up as close that you can while still working comfortable.

As long as one side of the board is identical to the other side board will look

All dimensions:

- 42 mm = 1 21/32 in.
- 20 mm = 0 25/32 in.
- 15 mm = 0 19/32 in.
- 50 mm = 1 31/32 in.
- 4 mm = 0 5/32 in.
- 7 mm = 0 9/32 in.
- 8 mm = 0 5/16 in.
- 52 mm = 2 3/64 in.
- 296 mm = 11 21/32 in.
- 500 mm = 19 11/16 in.

For imperial users:

Remember that is not so important to use exact same dimensions as written above. Some of this can be hard to set on your table saw.

You´ll see that dimensions of walnut and maple are the same and other pieces match too what it really matters is that you get those matching pieces right.

Example:
Start here

After you rip all necessary pieces for this cutting board glue them back as soon as possible.

After planning you should end up with with board as seen on the picture.

Note that 500 mm in lenght is minimum that is required for this pattern. You must end up with 10 crosscut pieces.

After crosscut turn your pieces 90 degree up and assamble your cutting board. Try to stack the pieces precise so you´ll end up with beautiful symmetrical board.

For centered angled pieces set your fence as I did.

My saw has right side tilting blade don´t let this confuse you , process is the same with left side tilting saw.

Set the dimension as seen on the picture.

Easiest way for me was to set the rip fence by the shortest dimension of the piece.

Once I set it up with the ruler I started cutting.

End result should look like this:

Now you can make your own cutting board from your desired wood!

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