[smitty10101]

Advice appreciated please.

I'm thinking of making a face grain cutting board with an initial in the field.

Thought process:
stack 2 pieces on top of each other and bandsaw out the initial then swap the cutout for each other. The edge of the initial will be one the edge of the board, so no starter hole will be required. BUT the internal area of the initial is my dilemma. How do I get that to line up with the rest of the board? Don't forget there is a loss of material due to the bandsaw blade cut.

thks

smitty

 

[Stick486]

cut it as an inlay as you would say a butterfly......
even if it's a though and through...

 

[smitty10101]

?????

got the inlay idea, but how do I get the "inlay" to fit EXACTLY into the recess?

As I typing the gray matter is going--- the initial inlay will be of a thinner material than the rest of the board but the fit is still giving me "fits"---pun intended.

will have to experiment with the inlay collar & bit.
BTW what size router? 1 1/2-2 hp or a trim router?
3hp is probably overkill.

thks

smitty

 

[Stick486]

form up the letter w/ multiple (as in many) end contrasting grain pieces and inlay it...

 

[smitty10101]

just for clarity---in case someone searches this topic later--
it's a face grain cutting board not an end grain one.

will try the inlay this weekend.
will let you know the outcome.

thks

smitty

 

[Stick486]

?????

got the inlay idea, but how do I get the "inlay" to fit EXACTLY into the recess?

As I typing the gray matter is going--- the initial inlay will be of a thinner material than the rest of the board but the fit is still giving me "fits"---pun intended.

will have to experiment with the inlay collar & bit.
BTW what size router? 1 1/2-2 hp or a trim router?
3hp is probably overkill.

thks

smitty

the inlay can be any depth..
for a cutting board; 1/3rd the thickness will be way adequate...
a trim router will give you better control...
a horse and a half is getting serious..
but there's nothing stopping you from Tim Allen'ing it...

 

[Stick486]

just for clarity---in case someone searches this topic later--
it's a face grain cutting board not an end grain one.

will try the inlay this weekend.
will let you know the outcome.

thks

smitty

make the letter face grain???

 

[JOAT]

Not interested in making cutting boards myself, but awhile back got curious, because of the various posts on the subject. So, did a search, using something like "cutting board designs" as a search phrase. Wow. Talk about some inspiration, some of those boards looked like art. I mean your mouth will drop open when you see some of those designs. Give it a shot.

 

[Herb Stoops]

I have never done this, but I have done the stacking 2 boards of different colors and cutting them out then swapping parts. There is a lot of sanding to get them to fit exactly perfect. Remember on the letter "S" the outside cut out on the curve will get bigger and the letter itself will get smaller on the outer edge, as you sand, thus you may have to fill in the difference by banding the outer letter with a thin strip.

Myself I think I would make 2 boards and cut the "S" out first and sand the edges smooth, then lay it on the second board and mark around it. Then cut the second board a tad smaller, to give you some material to take off to fit the letter into.

Good luck, be sure to take some pictures of how you decide to do it. A real challenge, maybe mock up a couple before you do the final project.
Herb

 

[JFPNCM]

As Herb said, we really would like to see the step by step photos.

 

[UlrichJ]

Tarter Woodworking sells templates and router bits for doing inlays. You could make your own template. They have some how to videos on their website. Watching the videos may give you some ideas.

 

[honesttjohn]

Smitty needs a CNC machine!! lol

 

[Stick486]

Smitty needs a CNC machine!! lol

2...
1 for the letter...
1 for the mortise..

 

[Bushwhacker]

By face grain, I believe you mean to lay the boards flat longways and gluing them together. If so, or even I think if end grain, you will have seams between the different pieces of the board, You could cut up one of those seams to get to the center letter, then out the other side, which should allow for the loss of material cutting the letter, and the two out side pieces should come together tightly when clamped.
This all makes perfect sense to me.
Or does it??

David

 

[Herb Stoops]

By face grain, I believe you mean to lay the boards flat longways and gluing them together. If so, or even I think if end grain, you will have seams between the different pieces of the board, You could cut up one of those seams to get to the center letter, then out the other side, which should allow for the loss of material cutting the letter, and the two out side pieces should come together tightly when clamped.
This all makes perfect sense to me.
Or does it??

David

I think that is the way I would do it and cut the letter out of the second board and, then hand fit the 3 pieces together.
Cut the letter first and lay it on top of the first board to mark the first board,then cut it out. A spindle sander would help too.
HErb

 

[Frank Kerman]

Good idea! should try this.

 

[mimac]

You can get a pretty tight fit by stacking the different types of wood on top of each other and cutting together. Tilt the band saw table slightly say around 8 degrees and cut around. You may have to experiment a bit with different degrees of slope.

 

[dman2]

?????

got the inlay idea, but how do I get the "inlay" to fit EXACTLY into the recess?

As I typing the gray matter is going--- the initial inlay will be of a thinner material than the rest of the board but the fit is still giving me "fits"---pun intended.

will have to experiment with the inlay collar & bit.
BTW what size router? 1 1/2-2 hp or a trim router?
3hp is probably overkill.

thks

smitty

"got the inlay idea, but how do I get the "inlay" to fit EXACTLY into the recess?"


Here is a link to how I make an exact fit: How to Make Wood Inlay Templates
This may seem a bit complicated, as I usually make pretty complex inlays, but the your application is pretty simple. In short, use template guides for your router. To get the exact spacing, I use Photoshop (any vector graphics program will do) to account for the space you need to allow for the bit and guide. I've included my latest inlay project to show how close to exact fits you can get. This has 15 pieces -- you only have one to do. A nice thing is that you can choose any font style you want!
If you do this, I would suggest that you use the 1/8" bit on your cutting board to cut the edges, then switch to a larger bit (and guide) to hog out the center part of the space for the letter, if the letter is large.
Hope this helps.