Workers Of Wood

Back in 2020-2021 I assembled an odd collection of cutoffs to make a basic cutting board for a friend. The board was approximately 8x10 and has been in near constant use since. The owner is an accomplished cook and took very good care of the board including resealing as required. Unfortunately while he was cutting an acorn squash the board simply split in half along the center piece. I suspect the issue is the result of a poor choice of the center piece of wood which was exacerbated by the feet being on the far edges of the board increasing the pressure on that center piece.

The board is being sent back for review and repair if possible. At the moment I am hoping that i can simply rip the faulty section out of the board, replace it with a piece of walnut and reseal the complete board. All suggestions will be appreciated.

The top photo is the original board, the bottom shows the split.

you have the plan..
add more feet/pads to the board, at least 3 along the short side... 4 would better..
consider the mechanically non-slip furniture pads....

I would remove the feet. I had this happen to an endgrain maple board recently, the only one I ever put feet on, never had it happen before on any "no feet" board. Also, no feet boards can be used both sides.

Herb

Cutting a squash is a tough job and puts a lot of pressure on the board. The feet essentially create two lever arms with the ends of the levers being the center of the board. To complicate the problem you had a flaw in the wood at the break. I looks like it might have been heart wood. The wood at and next to the pith is not usually that strong. I would either lose the feet or add two more in the center.

Thank you one and all. Your suggestions are spot on. One concern is how far into the wood the "oil" sealer has soaked and how that would effect the glue up. I do plan to either sand or plane it before the repair.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that the original intent of this board was to be used for charcuterie not as a cutting board per se. Hence the feet.

I have on request added feet to some of the end grain cutting boards I've given away but all of those are 1 1/2 to 2" thick. No failures there. yet!

Thanks again.
Jon

Depth is a hard question to answer because it depends on the porosity of the wood plus how thin the oil is.I would guess no more than 1/8". When you clean up that break you should be able to get an idea of how far it went in. I doubt enough to make much difference in the glue up. This would be the perfect time to use a blind spline in the repair. If you have a slot cutter for your router slot both sides to within about 1" from the ends. I would make a slot 3/16 to 1/4" width. If you do you'll never need to worry about it breaking at that joint.

I agree with all the comments,and analysis. The main culprit was the strength of the center strip. It was an inferior piece of wood. The glue held both sides,so it comes down to the craftsmanship was good it was just the quality of that one strip that caused the failure.
Herb

When I oil mine initially, I pour mineral oil into a container slightly larger than the board, maybe 1/4" deep. I soak it overnight, face down, then flip it over for another few hours. So in short, my boards are saturated.
In your case I'd soak the two refaced edges in ACETONE. Let it dry thoroughly before gluing in the new wood strip.
Acetone doesn't leave any residue. Having said that, you might want to wash the whole board down with Methyl Hydrate (alcohol) before carrying on. It dries almost instantly.
I agree with all the anti-feet opinions. I never use them; not even sure what purpose they serve(?).

Jon; by the way, lovely board!!

DaninVan wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:21 pm When I oil mine initially, I pour mineral oil into a container slightly larger than the board, maybe 1/4" deep. I soak it overnight, face down, then flip it over for another few hours. So in short, my boards are saturated.
In your case I'd soak the two refaced edges in ACETONE. Let it dry thoroughly before gluing in the new wood strip.
Acetone doesn't leave any residue. Having said that, you might want to wash the whole board down with Methyl Hydrate (alcohol) before carrying on. It dries almost instantly.
I agree with all the anti-feet opinions. I never use them; not even sure what purpose they serve(?).

Jon; by the way, lovely board!!

For me, the little feet help the board to sit flat on a surface that may be not so very flat.
Or in case my board is not completely flat.

Bushwhacker

Appreciate the feedback from all. The board is in the mail and I'll update the post on receipt.

Did you take any pictures of the repair? Just curious.
Herb

Herb

Appreciate the question as I just finished the repairs and will return the board tomorrow.

I ran the sides through the table saw to rip off the broken bits. Fortunately there did not appear to be an abundance of "oil" in the cut offs. I did however wipe the entire board down with alcohol prior to adding a piece of oak to rejoin the sides. I passed the board through the drum sander to remove knife marks and any glue residue prior to sanding to 220 grit with the ROS. The edges were rounded by hand sanding with flexible paper and edge blocks. The board was resealed with 2 heavy coats of Howard's butcher block oil over 2 days. Normally I would have added a third coat mixed with bees wax but ran out of time. I know the owner will re-oil the board regularly so I don't think missing that coat will be an issue.

The owner wanted the feet on the board as they also use it as a charcuterie tray on the table. So I added 2 staggered feet near the center to reinforce the board against future chops. I doubt that this one will break.

Great Save ,Jon. Those center feet is a good idea. Looks like new again.
Herb

The extra feet should eliminate the stress on the center laminations. I've been using hand tools more often the last few years and I use a black plane to round off edges. A few strokes at 30, 45, and 60 degree angles followed by a few strokes with sandpaper and you're done.

Chuck


Good suggestion on the block plane. My concern about using one on this piece would be going across all those mixed end grain pieces.
The sanding block I used is shown below. I have set of these of different radius

When I started out years ago we didn't have all the nice fancy things available now. They taught us that a Block Plane was to plane all sides of a block. The bevel is up on the blade as apposed to a smoothing plane.
The end grain is a little tricky for tearout at the end of the cut. There are ways to eliminate that on the end open air edge by clamping a sacrificial block to that edge, enclosed edge as in cutting boards is no problem,except for the last one.

https://woodworkersinstitute.com/friday ... end-grain/

Herb

Herb Stoops wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 11:14 pm The end grain is a little tricky for tearout at the end of the cut.

a low angle plane that's very sharp and push the plane diagonally across the grain w/ the plane iron set extra shallow are big helpers to avoid tear out.....

Anytime you make a table or chair you are supposed to add a chamfer around the edges of the legs so that the edges don't get split when someone slides them across a floor. The block plane is the tool of choice for that job. You don't go flat across the end grain but at an angle to it which is the same as you rounding over the edges on your cutting boards. As Stick pointed out set it for a fine cut and use it at an angle to your work. They cut better when skewed as do chisels.

On end grain boards when you are on the sides skew upwards toward the edge. On the top of the edge skew inward so the grain is supported. Block planes can be had at garage sales and flea markets for as cheap as $5. They'll need cleaning up and the backs of the blades lapped flat and the bevels sharpened. There are generally two types. Ones with adjusters and ones without. The $5 ones, like the Stanley 110, generally don't have adjusters. They can require a half dozen tries or more before you get the blade set where you want it but it doesn't need to get moved again until it needs honing.

My plane collection is up around 100 now and around 10 of them are block planes of various types. Possibly the most valuable plane I own is a Stanley 140 which sells on ebay for up to $200. It has a skewed blade and one side removes so that it can plane into the corner of a rabbet. I'm using it on a project I'm working on right now.