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A lot of people have shared really beautiful cutting boards that they have built. Many look more like pieces of fine furniture that should be displayed as a wall hanging or a coffee table item. I cringe at the thought of someone taking a knife to them! I want to share a cutting board design that is sufficiently plain that you won't mind attacking it with a knife. I got the design from a friend around 1968 so it has been around a long time. I presently have three of them in the kitchen and it is common to use two of them when preparing a nice meal. The sketch below gives typical dimensions that can be easily modified to suit your needs; the stock thickness can be in the range 1/2"-3/4". The three piece glue up evolved from the desire to make use of scraps and also minimize machine operations. The photo of a cutting board with curved joinery was the most elaborate one I have built; the two woods are cherry and maple. Curved joinery with a router is a topic for another thread. I have lost track of how many I have made and given to friends and family.

 

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Herb: The technique I learned does not make light and dark boards, band saw them and then switch parts. That approach might have the potential for minimizing waste. Instead, I made a template from 1/4" melamine or MDF that has the curved edge. This same template and a flush trim bit is used for cutting the curved (mating) edge of the light and dark woods. Hence you can get a (near) perfectly matched joint between the light and dark woods. At some point I will put together a document that goes into the details.