After finishing my first kitchen cutting boards I decided to make a "maxiboard". Not for cooking but for leather work. Hopefully it will hold longer and better than any cutting mat from office supplies. I decided to use black locust wood because it is cheaper and more readily accessible than Jatoba. And it is hard enough for any work.
When working on my next board I decided to modify my drum sander a bit. And after the first change, the fate decided I have to make more.
I was so glad that the kitchen boards are finished already that I forgot to write a planned article about assembling the boards with handles. Thus I write it now.
First cutting boards are finished and today I took some pictures before giving them into our kitchens for testing. We shall see how they fare, however I have no reason to expect trouble. But there are two possible sources of problems nevertheless – hidden flaws in the wood, cracks that did not notice, and the glue that I used.
There are several possibilities for making a handle on a kitchen board. One is to cut/shape it directly into the body but that is not suitable for a board glued from blocks, as the handle would be fragile and prone to breaking. The second possibility is to make a simple metal handle from stainless steel or brass. The third possibility...
I bought a palette of firewood a few years ago, offcuts of hard tropical wood from furniture making, according to the description it was supposed to be a mix of black locust and jatoba. I was expecting mostly black locust and I hoped there might be a few nice pieces of jatoba fit for making knife handles in there too....
Forced break from working on knives was significantly longer than I wanted it to be but this week I finally could advance a bit with making of the cutting boards. I finally solved the problem of roughly flattening the prefabricates. The solution is not particularly elegant but it works. And it is my second attempt – the first one, using...
Once the drum sander was finished, I gave it a coat of blue paint. Not so much for aesthetics but mainly for visibility and to protect some particle board surfaces against moisture.
When truing the drum cylinder I was collecting the dust simply by means of a handheld vacuum tube. That is not practical, of course, so I have made a simple cover to which I can attach the vacuum.
Last week I did not write an article because I was very busy and it was only late in the evening on Sunday that I realized it is not Saturday anymore. I guess I am getting old.
