The Stunning 3D Cutting Board - Part 2

Welcome back to part two of the 3D cutting board build. As promised, we'll be picking up where we left off in part one. We'll look at some tips and tricks on filling a few voids that I found and get this board ready for sanding, oiling, and conditioning. This one's a real stunner, so let's head back to the shop. If you're joining us from part one of the video, welcome back. If you'll recall, we had just finished the last glue-up of the 3D cutting board. After allowing it to dry overnight, I'm ready to unclamp it and prepare it for its final run through the drum sander. These will be the last passes that I make with the drum sander. I'm essentially just getting the board prepped so that I can finish with finer grain sandpapers using an orbital sander. As any woodworker knows, your projects don't always go as planned. And after taking a closer look at these boards, I found some voids that need to be filled. If you recall in part one, I had pointed out how important it was to take your time during the glue-up of the individual boards. Apparently, one of the glue-ups wasn't as tight as it needed to be or shifted when pressure on the clamps was applied. This allowed a small gap to form between the pieces and now it has become evident at this stage in the project. So, let's take a look at how to fix these voids. One of the best ways to fill voids in a wood project is to use saw or sander dust of the same type of wood along with some glue. In this particular case, the voids are between the walnut and maple pieces of wood. So, I'm going to collect some sander dust from one or both of these two wood types. I could go rummaging through my dust collection system but I wouldn't really be able to isolate just the one wood type. So, I'm going to use my palm sander on a piece of maple to create the sander dust that I need. Before I begin, I want to clean out the small collection bag so that there are no other dust remnants. I simply remove the bag and vacuum it thoroughly with my shop vac before replacing it. Now that I have a clean collection bag, I simply grab a piece of maple stock and sand it with some 80 grit sandpaper on as many sides as I need and for as long as I need to collect enough sander dust to fill the voids in the board. As you can see, from just a few minutes of sanding and using the edges of the maple stock as a scraper, I'm able to collect a fair amount of maple wood dust. If I find that I need more, I simply repeat the process. Here's a close-up of the voids that I was able to identify. We'll concentrate specifically on filling these areas of the board. I'll start by taking a pinch of the maple sander dust and simply sprinkling it on top of the gap and slowly brush the particles into it with my fingers. I'll brush in all directions to fill as much of the void as I can. Even at this point, it's looking a little better. Obviously, the dust won't stay in those gaps without something to bond it to the wood, so I grab my Titebond 3 bottle and squeeze just a small amount of glue onto the dust and cracks. I'll grab a little more dust and using my fingers again, I use a gentle mixing and pressing motion to fuse the glue and dust together to form a paste. Again, I need to approach the voids from all directions until I'm satisfied that the gap has been filled in completely. Then, I'll let this dry for an hour or so. Sometimes you may need to repeat this process. Keep in mind that this technique is really meant for small hairline types of cracks or voids. Larger instances may require epoxy or another filler and a completely different technique. If you get a chance, check out the Eastern Red Cedar cutting board video on my YouTube channel. It shows how to use a quick curing epoxy to fill larger voids. Now that I've got those hairline gaps taken care of, I can begin the finishing process. First is sanding. I'll start with 100 grit sandpaper on my orbital sander and prepare each surface and each edge of the cutting board. Having recently purchased an oscillating belt sander, I decided to use it on all sides of this board just to save some time. This is the first time that I've gotten an opportunity to use this new addition to my shop and it's perfect for a project like this. I have to say, it's great. Anything to shorten sanding time is a big win in my book. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to router an edge on this cutting board. Typically, I might use a 1 8th or 1 1⁄4 inch roundover bit along the top edges, but in this case, I really thought that sharper edges would lend itself better to the 3D effect of the board. So instead, I just lightly sanded each edge and corner by hand. When I'm happy with this initial sanding, I'll run water over the entire surface of the board to raise the grain of the wood. I then leave the board to dry for at least several hours, if not overnight, and then repeat this process with 180, 240, and 320 grit sandpapers. Even as these boards are drying, they're really looking great. With all of the levels of sanding completed, we're now ready for the next step of the finishing process. A nice food safe oil bath, or dip, I should say. I guess this is the real ooh-ahh moment that we all wait for. Wow, this board has turned out amazing, but somehow I managed to forget to record the laser engraving on the bottom of the board. Maybe next time. The next day, we're back in the shop to complete this stunning 3D cutting board. There are only a few things left to do, but let's start by applying cutting board conditioner. I've been using Howard's cutting board conditioner for several years now, and have always been happy with the results. It applies easily, treats the wood, and leaves a nice sheen. All that's left to do is add feet to the board. I like using the rubber feet with metal inserts. I've learned by trial and error over the years that using some of the cheaper rubber feet just isn't worth it. If you're going to put this amount of effort into a project, then use good quality products from beginning to end. I tend to follow that advice with tools as well. While some of my equipment may not be top of the line, I do try to purchase higher quality blades, bits, and things of that nature, and they've had a huge impact on the quality of my projects. I really hope you enjoyed both parts of this 3D cutting board build. It was a fun project, and the outcome was definitely a great return on investment. Please feel free to check out my other videos and like, subscribe, and share with others. Comments are always welcome, and I try to answer all questions in a timely manner. Thanks again for watching.