Hey everyone! I'm a beginner woodworker and I have a question that might seem a bit silly, but I'm hoping to get some guidance before I buy a bunch of shorter boards. I'm curious if it's feasible to use boards that are considered 'too short' to make an end grain cutting board. For instance, I'm looking at using 18-inch boards to create two edge grain glue-ups, then cross-cut those sections to assemble a larger end grain board. My cutting board calculator suggests that with these 18-inch boards, I could end up with a board that measures 15 inches by 1.5 inches thick. Do you think I can still create effective end grain cutting boards using this shorter material? Also, I've found someone selling 20-22 inch boards for about a third of the price of my local hardwood store, and I want to assess if this is a solid option for my future projects.
2 Answers
Definitely! You can go for it, but be cautious about what types of wood you choose. I’d steer clear of anything like walnut if someone has nut allergies, and avoid softwoods since they tend to be more porous. You can easily find a list online of woods that aren't recommended for cutting boards if you need further insight!
Absolutely, you can use shorter boards for end grain cutting boards! I save all my offcuts for this purpose. While some might end up as firewood, minimizing waste is always a win, right? So mixing those two different edge grain boards into one end grain board should work just fine for you!
Okay, great! Thanks for the clarity. So just to confirm, it shouldn’t be an issue mixing the different edge grain boards into a single end grain board?
Thanks for the heads up! The boards I’m eyeing are walnut, which seems to be pretty popular for cutting boards. I’ll just need to ensure that whoever uses them doesn’t have any nut allergies.