# Bread Board



## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

I would like to make a bread board, about 2 feet by 3 feet.

I don’t have a joiner / planer to glue pieces together and then plane them

Has anyone made one? Any ideas?


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## Swallow (Jan 13, 2010)

2x3' thats alot of bread board. I would suggest that you find a cabinetry shop to do the planing or sanding for you, most do custom work albeit at a premium price.


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

Thanks Swallow, the board is for rolling / folding baking dough and not for cutting bread; sorry I should have clarify that.

I’m investigating if it’s appropriate to use oak vaneer plywood or plywood with arborite or something similar


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi kolias

Sometimes it's best to step up to the pump and just buy one (workbench top) and than just cut it to size...they are dead flat...

http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-G9912...ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1271198690&sr=1-5

Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement, workbench top US Home Improvement

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kolias said:


> I would like to make a bread board, about 2 feet by 3 feet.
> 
> I don’t have a joiner / planer to glue pieces together and then plane them
> 
> Has anyone made one? Any ideas?


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

I have a couple of projects on deck which involve doing something rather similar. I propose to use some 2x10 construction pine, cut the pieces to size, plane them on one side only using a hand plane. Then using the planed sides as a base and my router in the table with a jointing fence straighten up the edges. Then use a slot cutter which came in a nice kit to cut biscuit slots and glue up the whole thing with biscuits, edge-to-edge. Afterwards, finish the top again with a hand-plane.

Feel free to comment on the feasibility or otherwise of this approach.


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## RustyW (Dec 28, 2005)

A coworker once requested a cutting board that was wider than my planer. I ended up making and planing it in two halves. Then carefully glued the halves together. With a little sanding it came out perfect. Without a planer you might consider the two piece idea using skis or a planer sled with a large dish cutter.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

I am going to have to remove my tough guy woodworker hat and don another one. I have done tons of baking over the years, and using a wooden surface for rolling out dough is far from your best choice. One really good surface is marble, as it is smooth and non-porous. This is why the better rolling pins are made of marble. Wood is great as a cutting and chopping surface.

For use in a wooden rolling board like you propose, I would use something like a hard maple with a really tight grain.

It is real easy to make a jointer fence for a router. Do you have a table for router to mount one on? A simple way to make one is to take a board with a true edge, cut outl a semicircle in the middle to house a 3/4" straight bit, then run in through the table saw with the cut out side out, and rip about 1/32" off of one half and stop at the cutout. You now have a parallel offset of 1/32" to joint small boards. Just set the straight bit in line with the outfeed side (wider side) of the fence, and run you boards thorugh. Use featherboards and push sticks.


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

I'm *not* a baker but I was inspired to make a cutting board after watching a video by The Wood Whisperer (Marc Spagnuolo) at Make Your Own End-Grain Butcher Block Cutting Board | The Wood Whisperer Woodworking Video Podcast and Blog

It's a 2-part video but both parts are there and free. Also, they're downloadable so you can download once and watch several times if you wish.

After you watch the video, you'll see it's easier than you thought.

I didn't use a jointer / planer; just my carefully aligned TS and a ROS. 

I've got a few in-progress pictures of this and a few other projects in my gallery at

http://www.routerforums.com/big-jims-gallery/19250-cutting-board-old-project.html


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

kolias said:


> I would like to make a bread board, about 2 feet by 3 feet.
> 
> I don’t have a joiner / planer to glue pieces together and then plane them
> 
> Has anyone made one? Any ideas?


Hi Nicholas:

Ok, there's a bunch of stuff here.

Firstly, before the advent of international trade on a grand scale, local craftsmen used to sell wooden pastry boards. I have one. If you keep it well floured, it works just as well as marble, especially with vinegar-based pie pastry.

Next, if your pieces are of like thickness and your joint edges are clean, it is possible to do a seamless glue up. You use a thing called a caul. Now, before you go running off to the dictionary to find it, I'll give you the definition, to wit: "A curved batten, usually used in pairs for applying even pressure across wide workpieces" (Wikipedia)

I usually just grab two pieces of warped spruce 2x4, convex curves toward each other with the workpiece between them, and clamp the ends together using "C" clamps. The spruce is particularly warpy and springy that allows it to be a good material for this. What it does is press all the boards to the same plane so the joints are all even. Use cauls in conjunction with bar clamps of some sort that will squeeze inward at the same time. It might help to cover the cauls with wax paper to keep the glue squeeze-out from gluing the workpieces to the cauls.

However, I must caution you. A chopping board (with the knife cutting into the end-grain of the wood which helps preserve the sharpness of the knife) is entirely different from an pastry board that uses the side grain to prevent contamination of the surface. Because of this, wash the surface of the pastry board quickly and dry thoroughly. I would also suggest that you create a containing tray into your design. If the board were in a tray with a 1" space all around, it would help reduce the "spread" of flour while rolling out pastry. 

Rather than sand the surface of the pastry board, use a scraper to "finish" the surface. This will slice through the cells of the wood and leave a minimum of scratches and pits for contaminants. My board is unfinished maple.


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

kolias said:


> Thanks Swallow, the board is for rolling / folding baking dough and not for cutting bread; sorry I should have clarify that.
> 
> I’m investigating if it’s appropriate to use oak vaneer plywood or plywood with arborite or something similar


I wouldn't use wood for dough work. You need a cool surface for bread making. 
You'd be better off seeing a stone mason and getting a piece of marble. They've sometimes got gravestones that have mistakes in the wording going cheaply. You get them to cut it to size and put the lettered side face down !

(I hadn't read Jim's post when I wrote the above. I bake, too, occasionally. Cooking is another hobby !)

Cheers

Peter


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

BearLeeAlive said:


> It is real easy to make a jointer fence for a router. Do you have a table for router to mount one on? A simple way to make one is to take a board with a true edge, cut outl a semicircle in the middle to house a 3/4" straight bit, then run in through the table saw with the cut out side out, and rip about 1/32" off of one half and stop at the cutout. You now have a parallel offset of 1/32" to joint small boards. Just set the straight bit in line with the outfeed side (wider side) of the fence, and run you boards thorugh. Use featherboards and push sticks.


Sorry, didn't follow that at all.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Peter

I will 2nd your post,but I would say just drop by HD/Lowes and pickup some marble tiles ( 12" x 12" or 14" x 16" ) make a frame to hold them and then you can pop them out when it's time to clean them..  should last forever 

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istracpsboss said:


> I wouldn't use wood for dough work. You need a cool surface for bread making.
> You'd be better off seeing a stone mason and getting a piece of marble. They've sometimes got gravestones that have mistakes in the wording going cheaply. You get them to cut it to size and put the lettered side face down !
> 
> (I hadn't read Jim's post when I wrote the above. I bake, too, occasionally. Cooking is another hobby !)
> ...


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

Thank you all for the interesting ideas and the time you spent to reply to my post

I will now have to choose which method is the most suitable for me


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Cocheseuga said:


> Sorry, didn't follow that at all.


Sorry, my command of the written language is not so good. I will attach a quick drawing I did which might help explain it better.

View attachment Router Jointer Fence.pdf


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

BearLeeAlive said:


> Sorry, my command of the written language is not so good. I will attach a quick drawing I did which might help explain it better.
> 
> View attachment 34837


Hey Jim:

Join the club. I think most of us fall into that category from time to time especially when it comes to wives.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

allthunbs said:


> Hey Jim:
> 
> Join the club. I think most of us fall into that category from time to time especially when it comes to wives.


That is a big 'for sure'.


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

> Sorry, didn't follow that at all.


The Woodworking Channel Video Library

In the Router Workshop section several programs show how to use a jointer fence. I am not sure which, you might want to go through them anyway. They are gold mine of information on reducing router work to basics.


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

BearLeeAlive said:


> Sorry, my command of the written language is not so good. I will attach a quick drawing I did which might help explain it better.
> 
> View attachment 34837


Gotcha. For some reason I thought we were talking about using the RT to make biscuit cuts.


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