So I just picked up this 12"×6"×10’ maple beam at an auction today and had to chop off two feet of it to fit it in my car. I’m thinking of making a couple end-grain carving boards for friends with what was cut off.

I’m tentatively thinking of just slicing it into 2" cookies and gluing them together, but I’ve never seen a cutting board like this that wasn’t a collection of like 1" pieces glued together. Is there any reason not to use larger pieces when gluing up a cutting board? Thanks in advance

This is the face that was cut today, feels bone-dry

  • sneekee_snek_17@lemmy.worldOP
    11·
    5 months ago

    I don’t think I’m describing my question clearly. I’m imagining a 2" thick cutting board made up of 4, 6"×12" end grain slices from the beam.

    Every end grain cutting board I’ve ever seen is comprised of many individual pieces from like .5"×.5" up to like 2"×2" at the largest.

    Is checking the only risk from using very large pieces, like I want to?Forgive the horrific illustration

    • Mandarbmax@lemmy.world
      5·
      5 months ago

      Oh, I haven’t got a clue about the risks of that. I’m sorry I can’t be more help. Good luck and know that I’m cheering you on!

    • MajorMajormajormajor
      4·
      5 months ago

      Something you can do is to alternate the grain pattern to prevent cupping and bowing (like what is done with a table).

      If you’re looking at the cutting board from top down (and rotated 90 degrees):

      ( )
      ) (

      With each bracket representing the grain pattern.