I bit the bullet and tried it...

[Alex Franke]

After reading some horror stories (and some success stories) I was a bit nervous and very cautious. I figured I had about a 50/50 chance of success. I chamfered the back edges of my end-grain cutting board before I started to help protect wood on the trailing edge from blowing out. Then, I placed it on the infeed table of my Ridgid 13" thickness planer and sneaked up on the wood about 1/256" at a time -- an eight revolution of the depth adjustment wheel.

It was a complete success. It took about a dozen tiny passes, but the planer handled it just fine. And it went a lot quicker than the router method -- especially since I don't have a jig for that anymore. And now it's dead flat -- a lot better than I could do with a belt sander.

BTW, I rounded over all the edges to clean up the chamfer.

[drunkcat]

please post a picture?

[Alex Franke]

Sure thing. The new one is in front, and the one I made a couple years ago for LOML is behind it. It's worth noting that the "old" one still pretty much looks like new, even though it gets a lot of use. End grain cutting boards can last a very long time.

It's 12" wide, 17" long, and 1.25" thick.

[chopnhack]

It looks awesome, nice job!

[crokett]

Very very nice indeed Alex. When you chamfer the back edge, that makes one face slightly wider than the other. When you run it through the planer, is the wide face up or down?

[Alex Franke]

Very very nice indeed Alex. When you chamfer the back edge, that makes one face slightly wider than the other. When you run it through the planer, is the wide face up or down?

Thanks!

The chamfered face was facing up toward the knives. Because the planer knives were actually chopping against the grain (and the grain is only 1.25" long), I figured this would help hold the wood fibers together at the tail end of the board, and it worked very well.

The red line is where I knocked the edge down with about a 1/8" chamfer. The arrow shows feed direction. (Pardon the rough diagram ) Then I flipped it over and did the same. Later I rounded over the edges at the router table -- er, I mean the BT3k router table attachment -- which cut away my chamfer.

[crokett]

Thanks for the picture. It's been a long day. I was thinking a beveled edge, not a chamfer and was trying to figure out how you were cleaning up a bevel with a roundover bit.

[Pappy]

Beautiful board, Alex. I love the pattern.

[mschrank]

I've now made three of The Wood Whisperer's end-grain cutting boards. Each time, I've been tempted to run it through the planer. Sanding end-grain takes FOREVER and an hour, and still a few scratches remain (but hey, it's a cutting board, right?).

Now that you've tried it, I'll give it a go on the next one I make.

By the way, I highly recommend these for gifts. They really don't take long to make (other than the sanding ), and they are a real hit.

Nice job on those, by the way. I'll probably try a different pattern next time...maybe based on yours

[Flatlander]

I got one of my shop injuries trying this. I was attempting to do a single row of glued blocks. I put it into the planer, and it shot back at my hand. Very little bleeding, but I couldn't feel anything in my hand for about a half hour. There were pieces of blocks all over the shop. I must have been taking off too much, been too afraid to try again.

[Alex Franke]

I got one of my shop injuries trying this. I was attempting to do a single row of glued blocks. I put it into the planer, and it shot back at my hand. Very little bleeding, but I couldn't feel anything in my hand for about a half hour. There were pieces of blocks all over the shop. I must have been taking off too much, been too afraid to try again.

Yeah, I've heard a few stories like that. I let the rollers grab the wood then get the heck out of the way -- just in case! I wonder if the size of the picke has something to do with it, too...

[tewilk]

Very Nice...

[Woodshark]

I've made four end grain cutting boards and I sent then through the planer to flatten them with no problems except a little tear out at the edged. Like you, I just sneaked up on the depth and took off a whisper of thickness each time.

I'd rather send the cutting board through the planer 12 times than sand forever and get a wavy surface.

[tribalwind]

that's really nice, great job !

i think i want to try making a few. it'd be the perfect way to break in my new open ended drum sander/thicknesser , and also use up a bunch of hardwood scraps .
mostly just wanna make use of this sander though lol! i mostly bought it because it was incredibly discounted

what pattern did you go by for it?

[Alex Franke]

mostly just wanna make use of this sander though lol! i mostly bought it because it was incredibly discounted

what pattern did you go by for it?

I could just send you some stuff to sand, then you could send it back to me

I measured the boards, and (yes I'm a bit of a geek) wrote a little software application that would allow me to visualize the end results when I tweak the stock sizes and colors. When I found one that looked good, I just used those measurements.

I'll probably post that software if I get a chance to polish it up a bit... it's a little klunky right now.