Contemplating using hickory, rough ripping it with a chainsaw and then "milling" the remainder on the table saw. I vaguely remember from woodshop to stay away from porous woods(oak namely) Any other ideas on glues? Other suggestions from anyone who's made one?
I've made a couple edge-joined ones from glued up strips of hard maple,cherry,walnut etc years ago. But even the best waterproof glues will fail over time with just hand washing your board. Anymore I just use a single wide plank (9" to 12") of one wood that's 1.5 to 2" thick.Route a shallow groove inside the 4 edges a bit,sand & oil it with a food grade oil.Also turned a few round ones on lathe,that can sometimes limit your finished size depending on how big of swing your lathe has.If you normally turn larger bowls it wont be a problem however. I don't get too fancy with them,because they tend to see lots of abuse & get plenty of small nicks/scratches from knives etc. Short pieces of glued up & laminated end grain (how true butcher blocks were made many years ago) lasts the longest,but is also rough on your knives,dulls them much quicker than face or edge grain material.
My Dad made some way back in high school and my Mom still uses them. One of them has been on the counter since it was new I think.... roughly 40 years. I guess he used some pretty durable glue!
yup that was the traditional wood many years ago. I made a miniature one back in late '90's.Almost a ''cube'' laminated several 3/4" thick scrap pieces together into a block 5 inches thick,7 inches wide & 7 inches tall.More of a big paperweight than anything else really lol
That's interesting, did a little reading and apparently original butcher's blocks were limited to the size of the rounds of southern sycamore. http://www.butcherblock.com/about-the-wood-welded-companies/ These guys actually patented the lamination of end grain
Very interesting and thanks for sharing this. The Sycamores by us get pretty darn huge! We will want to see pictures of the finished board(s)!
