# Basket weave cutting board



## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Well dang, let me tell ya, this thing fought me every step of the way LOL...Turning out to be much more of a challenge than I had expected.
But in the end,,, I am quite pleased with the results and hopefully so will the new owner.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hooolllly Hanna! Bit of a masochist there, Bill :O
That's just gorgeous


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Really nice Bill, that is a top shelf cutting board.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> Hooolllly Hanna! Bit of a masochist there, Bill :O
> That's just gorgeous


Thank Ya Dan.... masochist...kinda close to it!!! at over 200 pieces..and little room for error.that wasn't the worst of it..
the glue up was the worst. In the end, I went against everything I've ever done...and just made one helluva mess :surprise:


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Semipro said:


> Really nice Bill, that is a top shelf cutting board.


Thank you Semipro...  

Might be top shelf,, but it better be on the kitchen counter when its all said and done... didn't make it to 
be a wall hanger...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Bill..
that is next level spectacular...


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I understand the basic idea of stacking precisely cut pieces into the pattern you want in the end, then gluing it up in that pattern. Did you cut everything to about the thickness of the final board, then glue it up? Or did you stack longer pieces, then resaw it to thickness? If you can, would you mind describing the process from design to final. I know it will take some time, and I think a lot of us would love to learn how. I haven't made one of these yet.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

BEAUTIFUL, A REAL WORK OF ART!

I will certainly echo Tom’s request for details on the process.


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## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

Anyone who didn't really like your work of art cutting board would be too hard to please.It is beautiful,Bill.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Now that is very interesting. Neat.


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## Jack Wilson (Mar 14, 2010)

DesertRatTom said:


> Did you cut everything to about the thickness of the final board, then glue it up? Or did you stack longer pieces, then resaw it to thickness? If you can, would you mind describing the process from design to final. I know it will take some time, and I think a lot of us would love to learn how.


Good luck with THAT request, a magician never reveals his secrets.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

That is one fantastic cutting board, Bill!! Is this to sell or a gift for someone very special? It may be set on the counter top but I'll bet it's still going to just be kitchen art. :grin:

I've never tried doing one like that but it would be cool to give it a whirl one day.

David


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Not even in my heyday did I have such patience or probably the skill to turn out such a great project Bill.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

WOW! All I can say.

You have learned patience, Grasshopper.


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## old coasty (Aug 15, 2014)

That's a double WOW!


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Triple WOW. Really neat Bill


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

I bet that it would be a lot of work. Turned out beautiful though, Bill. You get an A+++ for that.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Beautiful job Bill. What are the woods you used?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

How did I make this thing????? well, honestly you have to have alot of things be right for it all to be right. There is just an EXTREMELY narrow window for error. Accuracy is vital if not required. Otherwise, you'll spend ALOT of time trying to figure out how to make it right. This project was/is a great example of how "Accumulated Error" can ruin your day. 

"Start with an idea of how you want it to look"...
Contrasting woods obviously make for the best look. The one I made in this thread is made out of cherry (primary wood), hard maple (trim/edges) and walnut (filler
The filler almost has to be a dark wood to lend to the illusion. Basically it lets the weave stand out. I suppose any dark wood would work well enough. The body and edges can be any combination ya like. I went with cherry only because the person getting this thing had mentioned that she really likes cherry wood and has a cherry kitchen. When pulling the stock for the project, I also pulled some purple heart, blood wood and snake wood. They all looked pretty cool to my eyes for a build like this. Walnut with maple looked REALLY sharp but not sure how well the filler would work out. I may just have to find out 

"It's all about the math"... 
OK, so the "weave" itself is made up of millions of individual pieces (well, maybe only a slight exaggeration there) Each piece needs to be identical in size to all of the others. They also need to be perfectly square. For this project I kept it simple and went with 1 1/4" squares, 3/4" thick (final dimensions). The walnut filler is 1/4" square x 1 1/4"s. Each square is made up of 1/2" cherry (center) and 1/8" maple (sides). Take and subtract the width from the length and divide by 2 and you get the size of the filler squares. 
I drew up several combinations on graph paper to get an idea of the general look and this numbers won out. 
I started off with milling up some relatively straight grained cherry (qty. 1) to 1/2" thick by 4 1/4" wide by 48"s long then some hard maple (qty. 2) to 1/8" thick by 4 1/4"s wide by 48"s long. I left the maple a little on the heavy side + .015 or so heavy. The idea was to give myself a little wiggle room for a few final passes thru the drum sander. 
Did the glue-up, nothing special here just make sure your grain on all 3 pieces is in the same direction... and waited a day. 
After drying, I cleaned up one edge with hand planes and straight edges. Once satisfied I went about setting up the tablesaw for 1 5/16" rips. Again, giving myself a little wiggle room for the drum sander. 

Gotta love dat wiggle!!!
Set about ripping three lengths of the glue up. Go figure, when you are NOT worried about a little burning (espeically cherry) you don't get none. absolutely NONE...gotta love it. So now I have 3 nice lengths of wood to size up. I put some 120 on the sander and sized everything up. Both faces to within .003 give or take. Edges same thing. 
Next was to set up the tablesaw for exactly 1 1/4" squares. Now setting up to get things close... no biggie. Setting up to get things really close no biggie. But getting her set up to cut consistently within a couple thousandths, what a pain in the but!!!! I set out cutting 3 or 4 pieces and then measuring.. All were a heavy 1 1/4". by heavy, I'm talking .020 or there abouts. Long story short, cut around 120 squares then ran each one past the blade again by "hand".. and nailed it... everything was within 5-10 thou. Yaaahooo says I. I gather up all those little blocks, turn around and drop a few. On the way down to pick em up I see my sled. I only have 3 of em ya know... Well, I kicked myself in the ass SEVERAL times, had a few choice words for my stupidity. Ya know what I mean!!!!! I put the squares on the bench, turned off the lights and just walked away. Honestly, my woodworker card should have been suspended! I didn't go back down to the shop for a couple of days I was so upset with myself. 
Few days later I went back down and just shook my head then set about making the 1/4" fillers out of walnut. Ya'll can figure out how to do that...
I took the time and made a few measurements. Things were all dead on square and all were within a few thousandths of one another. OK, I get my woodworker card back!

The messiest, sloppiest glue up EVER!!!
OK, it was time to see if this thing was gonna come together nicely or just be a pile of really nice looking squares. I grabbed a piece of 3/4" MDF and squared it up to something like 20"x14"...then put a couple of 3" maple sides on. Did a dry fit and and dang... it really did look cool. very, very pleased at this point. 
Then I started thinking about the glue up schedule. It wasn't long before my head started hurting. Well over 200 pieces and the edges all have numerous 1/4" offsets. 
I over came the offsets by placing 1" wide x 1 1/2" tall x 1/4 thick pieces of MDF where each of the offsets would be. Not only on the 2 sides I screwed to the MDF base, but I had to make up a couple more sides for clamping. Used the pin nailer to hold in place. Man, I love that pinner!!!! what a work saver. 
OK, 1 problem down, 1 to go.....slapping on the glue. I made several dry runs at it. Getting a feel for how long it was going to take...No matter how I went about it.. it was gonna take at least an hour if not more. Thought about gluing up in sections, but wasn't sure that would work out. Might have, might not have. I didn't want to take the chance if I didn't have to. 
In the end, being the suave, experienced craftsman that I am, I decided to just slop it on and go for it. And thats just what I did after putting down some wax paper on the bottom so that the board wouldn't stick to the MDF when dry. What a Mess LOL..I had glue everywhere, on everything. My fingers felt like shedding snake skin. Well maybe it wasn't quite all that bad, but it was a mess. And to be honest, a bit of fun after I just quiet sweating it. When I put the clamps to it, had just a nice if not excessive amount of squeeze out. BUT, what little variations I had due to size the glue did a great job of picking up the slack. And in the end, worked out perfectly. 
Let her sit 3 days to dry thoroughly. 
A couple taps with the hammer and the sides popped off then removed the screws from the sides attached to the MDF and popped them off. The wax paper just peeled off of the bottom. Then let it sit another 2 days. 

Somewhere under that mess of glue.....
I know there is a cutting board. It's just a matter of getting to it. Once I knew she was good and dry I decided to use the bottom as a reference. So I cleaned it up. Took a little time to clean up all of the glue and even less to plane down the bottom to perfectly flat. The top took a good bit more effort since there were so man fillers that stood proud of the board. Flush cut saw and hand plane and a good sweat and got it down to a workable finish. 
A couple passes thru the planer and then onto the drum sander. Then cut off all of the 1/4" proud edges all the way around. A little time to hand plane down the sides. 
Sanded down to 320 with the ROS, then added the juice groove. 

The finish line: 
3 applications of Bohem salad bowl finish followed up with a pure bees wax topcoat. Added 4 food grade silicone feet this morning and shipped her out...

If anything seems a little confusing in all of this, let me know and I'll try to do a better job of explaining...

so, there ya have it


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Oh yeah,, there is ONE square that the wood working gods turned around on me to long grain on top...just to keep me straight!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> Bill..
> that is next level spectacular...


Thank you sir...very much appreciatred


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

JFPNCM said:


> BEAUTIFUL, A REAL WORK OF ART!
> 
> I will certainly echo Tom’s request for details on the process.


Thank you Jon... very much appreciated...

I added some details for you guys..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jj777746 said:


> Anyone who didn't really like your work of art cutting board would be too hard to please.It is beautiful,Bill.


Thank you James!! Kind words indeed


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Jack Wilson said:


> Good luck with THAT request, a magician never reveals his secrets.


On this one, I coulda used a magic wand!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

difalkner said:


> That is one fantastic cutting board, Bill!! Is this to sell or a gift for someone very special? It may be set on the counter top but I'll bet it's still going to just be kitchen art. :grin:
> 
> I've never tried doing one like that but it would be cool to give it a whirl one day.
> 
> David


Very kind of you David!! thank you..

This is actually a surprise gift. I made a good friend at one of the energy management call centers I deal with. Always friendly, always on top of things and always willing to go the extra mile to help out. She has saved me hours of work. I got her address by saying I wanted to send a Christmas card. I UPS'd the board out this morning. I'm hoping she'll like it...I've gotten to know she loves cherry wood and has a cherry kitchen...she's in for a surprise:wink:


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

harrysin said:


> Not even in my heyday did I have such patience or probably the skill to turn out such a great project Bill.


Thank you Harry!!! Your kind words are very much appreciated...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

honesttjohn said:


> WOW! All I can say.
> 
> You have learned patience, Grasshopper.



LOL>. Thank you John... this thing tested any patience I may have had..thats for sure


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

old coasty said:


> That's a double WOW!



Thank you Bob...hard to beat a double Wow...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Knot working said:


> Triple WOW. Really neat Bill


Triple wow... WOW..

Larry, you are gonna make me blush


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

Bill that is about the best looking cutting board I have seen. God gave you the gift of woodworking and you made him proud.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

TenGees said:


> I bet that it would be a lot of work. Turned out beautiful though, Bill. You get an A+++ for that.


Thank you Paul...appreciate the kind words...

more effort than work..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Beautiful job Bill. What are the woods you used?



Thank you Charles....

Primary is cherry, secondaries are hard (sugar) maple and walnut...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

hawkeye10 said:


> Bill that is about the best looking cutting board I have seen. God gave you the gift of woodworking and you made him proud.


Don... thank you really doesn't cover it..

your kind words are very much appreciated, thank you!!


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

@TwoSkies57

Appreciate the detailed description. Well done on all fronts. 

No doubt it will be a well received surprise.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

@JFPNCM

Jon.. you're quite welcome! and thanks again...

Yes, I do believe it will be.. 

If not, she's got a return address LOL


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

BTW...

I should have added that I considered "Burning" each end of the tops. This would really exaggerate the illusion of a weave. I've done it with veneers and its worked out really well but this I wasn't too sure how much the sanding down and leveling process would wipe it out and maybe leave some with and other pieces without the burn.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Very nice work. N


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

neville9999 said:


> Very nice work. N



Thank You Neville...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Thank You Neville...


My response was not good enough, its brilliant, I'm in awe. N


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

neville9999 said:


> My response was not good enough, its brilliant, I'm in awe. N


Your response was just fine  

Always appreciate it when someone takes the time to leave a comment.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

For you folks who didn't understand my rough (to say the least) explanation of how to build one of these, maybe this will help
Ran across this video this evening....


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I dozed off watching it. Pretty sure I'm not making one...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> I dozed off watching it. Pretty sure I'm not making one...



LOLOL..........not really an attention grabber.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Once I got past the fact that 'nyet' wasn't really going to do it...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I just turned the sound off


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

!...why didn't I think of that?


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

amazing


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I watched it, thanks. very interesting. Its easy when you see it assembled, I still like your board even though I know your secrets. N


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I'm making another Nara cutting board for _another_ (lucky?)family member. So, Bill, you made me up my game. This time I'm doing two intersecting accent bands made of three layers each ...two Purple heart strips sandwiching a Maple strip.
All end grain...what a p.i.t.a. Basket weave? Nope...nope...nope!!!


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> For you folks who didn't understand my rough (to say the least) explanation of how to build one of these, maybe this will help
> Ran across this video this evening....]


At last, a video with instructions. But I'm still not even going to think of making one of those.

However, your cutting board did give me an idea on how to make a nice chessboard, using a different procedure. 

The glue spreading on the video reminded me. I found out long ago the best glue spreader I have ever seen is a card from and old deck of cards. When you've finished spreading your glue, set it somewhere to dry, where it won't stick. The glue soaks in before it drives, and ust gets better. Good until you lose it, or let it get stuck down. But in that case, you've still got the rest of the cards.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> I'm making another Nara cutting board for _another_ (lucky?)family member. So, Bill, you made me up my game. This time I'm doing two intersecting accent bands made of three layers each ...two Purple heart strips sandwiching a Maple strip.
> All end grain...what a p.i.t.a. Basket weave? Nope...nope...nope!!!


Your game is already up there Dan!!!! Maple and purple heart always look good together. Can't wait to see it..

As much as I 'd like to be building a 38 drawer, 14 foot long Queen Anne Highboy seems folks really like cutting boards and the like this time of year >
I can't make em fast enough. Seems I've been hood-winked back into building for profit.....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

JOAT said:


> At last, a video with instructions. But I'm still not even going to think of making one of those.
> 
> However, your cutting board did give me an idea on how to make a nice chessboard, using a different procedure.
> 
> The glue spreading on the video reminded me. I found out long ago the best glue spreader I have ever seen is a card from and old deck of cards. When you've finished spreading your glue, set it somewhere to dry, where it won't stick. The glue soaks in before it drives, and ust gets better. Good until you lose it, or let it get stuck down. But in that case, you've still got the rest of the cards.


I've actually given the ole playing card a try.. found them to be far to flexable...I have found that in a pinch, an old credit/gift card will due...


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

TwoSkies57 said:


> As much as I 'd like to be building a 38 drawer, 14 foot long Queen Anne Highboy seems folks really like cutting boards and the like this time of year >
> I can't make em fast enough. Seems I've been hood-winked back into building for profit.....



Give em what they want and make it last as long as you can.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> I've actually given the ole playing card a try.. found them to be far to flexable...I have found that in a pinch, an old credit/gift card will due...


Always have worked well for me. I do just hold them in place with my thumb, and run my fingers down the back, that may be the difference.


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## Larkan (Apr 13, 2012)

What am I missing, other than the DC5 video I'm not able to find any other video?


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