This end-grain chopping board was a gift made for an old teammate, confidant and incredibly close friend. A pal. A man’s man. A ladies man. An all-round good guy. One of life’s winners. You know, the kind of guy who deserved it, and that had previously given me a piece of cherry that I had used for another end-grain board, and I wanted to make him something with the remainder. The one I made for myself was a little smaller, and is primarily used as a cheese board.
Making an End Grain Chopping Board
The design for this board was created with CB Designer – a great little program that helps you work out the design before making a cut. There is also an online version that is handy for those that don’t manage to get the original installed… (does not work with Internet Explorer, but seems to work fine with Firefox).
This is the initial glue-up, following ripping the cherry, maple and walnut to the correct widths (note: the height doesn’t really matter at this stage, as we will plane it down once glued).
Afterwards, we run it through the planer
Then we cut it to height using a cross-cut sled on the table saw, and line them up on end, and flip every second piece to create the pattern
Glue-up 
Then sand it down 
Then round-over the edges
Then, for this one, I used the Wood Whisperer’s wiping varnish method, although
I’m still not 100% convinced about it’s longevity, but it looks good at the start!
Added feet
The finished article: End grain chopping board in Cherry, Maple and Walnut. Even though he only uses it as a cheese board as he’s too scared to use it.
Also, here is a test to check something
First I cut the walnut, maple and cherry stock to the desired length and widths, following glue-up, the board was run through the planer to make a straight board. I marked out dovetails to cut and attach an extra piece of wood to act as a pull for the board to remove it from it’s slot in the cabinet. I then hand-cut dovetails and glued the pieces together.
I then routed a juice channel in the walnut, maple & cherry cutting board, as well as adding a groove on the underside of the dovetailed walnut piece to allow for easy removal from its slot. The cutting board was then finished with several coats of mineral oil. 
Voila – one walnut, maple & cherry cutting board. Now, only 8 months later, I managed to get round to cuting a chunk of the handle off as it won’t fit in the slot, and fixing his cabinet as the board is too thin for the existing rickety rails. Note to self: start too big next time. Here are some more shots of the finished article with the trimmed handle and a new groove routed in to make it easer to grab.
