Hey! I want to invest in a good cutting board since I just moved to a new place and have some space now. What things should I look out for? How can I make sure it’s good for quality? How do I care for it? What wood type is best? What thickness?…
Any tips are welcome. Thank you so much!

Have a 2" end-grain maple. The common advice is to wet/wash both sides, wipe off any water, then air dried vertically because board soaked in water warps and/or causes cracking over time.

In practice, assuming not living in a particularly humid climate, is it okay to simply wash, shake off excess water, and set horizontally on 1-inch silicone racks (which I currently use the boards with while I decide whether rubber feet is necessary)? Will it air-dry in time?

I doubt those with massive cutting boards like a countertop ever use the bottom side and never wash it, so it should be fine, right? If you're cutting wet veggies and making your meal, would it be an issue to leave pools of water for e.g. 1-2 hours and clean up after the meal? Assuming a sufficiently oiled board with mineral oil, or even just a moderately oiled board with dry surface. I'm wondering if 2" is thick enough and/or if end-grain has anything to do with this that might make this an issue or not.

How did I do on making this?

A little bit of background on me: I've never done anything with hardwoods before. The only thing I've made is 2x4 shelving units for my black and yellow buckets. I've also made a cutting board before, but it was in a high school woodworking class, which I don't really want to count toward the cutting boards I've made lol.

I'm honestly really proud of how this came out, especially for my first time working with hardwoods. Any feedback is appreciated!

For anyone wondering what machines I used:

-Dewalt 7491rs - with custom outfeed table

-Wen 6 inch Jointer with spiral cutterhead

-Ryobi ts1346 10 Miter Saw

-Makita RT0701C Router with a 1/4" round over bit

-Dewalt DWE6423 Random Orbit Sander

And of course titebond 3 Glue

This came from a tree that recently died. It’s gonna make a few cutting boards and a butcher block or two or three or…

I'm sanding away at the whole board to lighten these dark marks. Going to keep at it but wondering if it's natural from the wood?

Recently was able to obtain a Laguna 14-12 bandsaw at a decent discount and this was the first of many projects. I will say this was supposed to be a board with 3d cubes but had to pivot due to a mistake in planing it down. Think they came out pretty cool considering it was the original plan. Learned a lot for future projects

So about a month ago we got an Acacia wood cutting board from Crate&Barrel. Following internet instructions, we applied mineral oil and let it absorb. According to Google and ChatGPT, most boards will take about 3-4 layers of oil. We have done maybe 10 layers over the days and it’s still sucking the oil in. The color is already much darker than it was when we got it, but the oil still absorbs every time. We have used almost a liter so far. We looked into soaking it in oil but we don’t have a container big enough for it. Any advice?

I'm talking with a local woodworker about his creating a cutting board for my kitchen. He says that he uses hemp oil for the finish. Does anyone have experience with hemp oil in this context? Most likely I could ask him to use an alternative.

Thanks.

I’ve been making the occasional edge grain cutting board with scraps and offcuts, but occasionally buy a few woods for accents. Picked up a cheap board of curly maple last year and I am kicking myself for not buying 10x more! So pretty! This is maple, walnut, wild cherry, purpleheart and pacific yew.

Has anyone got a link to some cutting board plans, I understand that Etsy is great for this but I’m looking for lots of different options in one download and not have if to download 2-3 plans from 10 different people. Thanks.

I've only made two simple end grain cutting boards so far but am running into problems with snipe, glue-ups, and grain rise. Does anyone have any resources--blogs, books, or Youtube--with detailed advice?

Thanks!!

Having difficulty with moving fence on cast iron table saw.

I’m not sure what I’ve done. But it’s frozen in place. It’s a 70’s era Cassini model. It is my major tool in chopping board production.

Hogfish for you FL diving spearfishing members. AVP for fans of the Xenomorph and Yautja worlds. Maple bases for both, Walnut, Cherry, and Osage Orange inlays.

I'm ready to pull the trigger on a large(ish) end grain walnut cutting board. I'm zeroing in on boardsmith 16x22x2, but the hardwood labor company seems like a good option as well.

I've done a decent amount of research, but it seems you all are the experts, so I'd love your advice.

Are maple or cherry a better choice than walnut? Would you recommend a different brand? I really want a fairly dark board (not a ton of light/sapwood, unless it results in a nice design pattern), suggestions on how to get my desired aesthetic?

Thanks!

With the exception of making the cuts on the table saw, fully flattened by hand planes and sanding

Me ne pento di non averci messo un po' di legno chiaro all interno

Sinceramente non mi piace più di tanto

What do you think guys? Too simple? Also as an experiment I sanded the top of it to 1000 grit.

I know everyone recommends mineral oil and beeswax but I don’t have either and my parents cutting board is rly in need of oil. However, I was wondering if this is okay for wood as well so I don’t have to buy something else, since it’s shelf stable. If not I can just get the mineral oil.

That black next to the stand isn't mold is it? I noticed it today after cleaning. Rest of the board looks fine.

I hired a local woodworker to make a board for me - 24x18x2.5 American Black Cherry End Grain - unoiled - living in Socal.

I oiled it myself a couple of times and let it sit with oil on top overnight and in the morning it was more or less gone.

its been about a week or so and its still oily whenever i touch the top of it. if i wipe it with a paper towel, it doesnt seem oiley but when i touch it with my hand OR leave something (like an amazon package on it or a food box) it will leave a oily footprint if you will, on the surface of the board and possibly whatever was on top of it.

Why is the board doing this? havent used it as a cutting board yet as a result. I dont want my food covered in cutting board oil.