[Woodworkers] Chuck's Cutting Boards

[gcw804 at aol.com]

Chuck
They look great. I'm sorry I wasn't on your distribution list. 
Gary Williams

-----Original Message-----
From: chuck.steger at gmail.com
To: woodworkers at sawdusters.org; gcw804 at aol.com
Sent: Mon, Dec 26, 2022 5:49 pm
Subject: RE: [Woodworkers] Chuck's Cutting Boards

<!--#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 p.yiv9025323091MsoNormal, #yiv9025323091 li.yiv9025323091MsoNormal, #yiv9025323091 div.yiv9025323091MsoNormal {margin:0in;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;}#yiv9025323091 p.yiv9025323091MsoListParagraph, #yiv9025323091 li.yiv9025323091MsoListParagraph, #yiv9025323091 div.yiv9025323091MsoListParagraph {margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;}#yiv9025323091 span.yiv9025323091EmailStyle19 {font-family:"Arial", sans-serif;color:windowtext;}#yiv9025323091 .yiv9025323091MsoChpDefault {font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 div.yiv9025323091WordSection1 {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 filtered {}#yiv9025323091 ol {margin-bottom:0in;}#yiv9025323091 ul {margin-bottom:0in;}-->Gary,   Thanks for the reminder! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was nice and quiet yesterday because I will celebrate Christmas tomorrow with my daughter and her family.   Okay, so lots of pictures. I’ll explain each with some lessons learned at the end. If you’ve never done something like this, I hope it helps. If you have and you read something that you might improve on or offer as a suggestion – please do so! I don’t think the photos do justice to the color in the resin.   My first picture is no picture. I made my grandson an Excavator construction toy using the Wood magazine plans. I have made him several over the years so it adds to his collection. Hopefully, heirloom as he gets older. I finished this about 4-6 weeks ago which gave me the woodworker false sense of security that I was way ahead of schedule!   All the lumber used for my boards is lumber off of my property when I built my house. I hired a guy to bring in a portable sawmill and we milled 600 board feet of red and white oak back in 2009. All boards were finished with at least one coat of Walrus Oil and at least one coat of Walrus Wax on top of the oil. I say “at least” because I did 2 of each on some.      The natural edge charcuterie/cutting boards were really my plan for all the boards. I needed to make 9 boards. I like how they look and they were a pleasure to work. They are all sanded to 400 grit with flap sanders and a ROS. They feel great to the touch. However, to do a natural edge board, you need the perfect width lumber with bark on both sides. Unfortunately, I only had one board like that which did 4 boards. I have several other dual-sided natural edge boards but they are too wide. So, I pivoted to river charcuterie boards.   I had 2 choices for river boards. I could use a wide board with natural edges on both sides and cut out the middle but that is a waste of lumber. Plus, I want to keep my options open on my wider, natural edge lumber. I had a lot of one-sided natural edge boards that were long boards. So what I ended up doing was cutting 42” of a board and then cut that into two 21” boards. That was then my river. It was the same board so color and grain matched. I had an interesting dilemma with my longer, store bought form at 24” long and I’ll describe that below.   There are 4 boards all using Eye Candy pigment. There is kind of a sports theme. The Orange board is for my daughter’s family that roots for the OK State Cowboys. The red board is for my sister and her husband who root for the Razorbacks. The blue and maroon board is for my other sister and her husband who root for Ole Miss and Miss State. And the black board is for my granddaughter who’s favorite color is black 😊.   Lessons learned:   
   - Forms: You may recall I purchased one (12 x 24) and I build a re-usable one (12 x 20) using ¾” melamine covered MDF. I really like this as it is real flat. 
   
   - The first reusable one was a disaster. I thought the melamine would help plus I sprayed with mold release. The good news is it didn’t leak a drop outside the form or even under the form (i.e. I didn’t lose a lot of resin under the board). However, I had to use a hammer to remove the ends and sides (picture included). I had to literally cut the bottom of the form off of my board. Fortunately, my band saw has 12” capacity. I cut up to the melamine and then used a modified putty knife (with a sharpened end) to chip off the melamine. Before I cut it, the ¾” was just too thick to pop off of the form. This worked. Another piece of good news for both the bad form and the new, better form, is that when it was stuck to the MDF bottom, I ran it through the planer. Talk about a flat sled where the board won’t come off! When I popped the board off of the form, I had a perfectly flat top.
   - 2nd, improved form: From a resin forum, I was told to use tuck tape (not duct tape) and a copious amount of mold release. I still used melamine coved MDF but covered in tuck tape (even at all form joints) and a lot of mold release. The sides and ends popped off with finger pressure. They had silicone caulk on them but a quick swipe with a paper towel and it came right off. Took less than a minute to clean both sides and ends, The silicone on the bottom popped off easily as well. However, the board didn’t just pop off the bottom of the form. It was a little stuck (hence, I ran it through the planer). But, with my putty knife on all 4 sides, it popped off. But, you can see in the picture where I damaged the tuck tape with my putty knife. Not sure how to repair that. Remove all tape and start over? Cut out bad piece with an Exacto knife and retape? And, why did it stick at all????
   - Purchased form: This is the way to go if you are doing multiples or are selling these. A quick pop on the ends and sides with a rubber mallet, turn over on the bench and tap some more, and the board drops out of the form. Clean up is a breeze. I also used mold release on the form but probably didn’t have to. A lesson learned here is keep the bottom supported. The first pour I had elevated on blocks so I could use my clamps to hold the boards down in the form. Where the resin was (the river) it made a little bubble on the bottom where it pushed the plastic form out a little. No big deal to clean up but shouldn’t have had to. Plus, that’s extra resin used. So the 2   nd pour, I still had elevated but I put a MDF sheet under the form to support the entire bottom and that worked.
   
   - My finished boards are roughly 12 x 20 (I say “roughly” because cleanup takes a little off). My form is 12 x 24. If I cut my boards at 24” long, I would need 50” (because I cut an inch long) off of a board vs 42” or 44” (depending on form). That’s a lot when you are trying to get multiple boards out of one piece of lumber. Also, I would have to pour more resin and resin isn’t cheap. So I ended up cutting my boards at 21” and adding a 1.5” cap at each end that spanned both boards. It was a face grain to end grain joint but all I need it for was as a dam for my pour. That worked great and then I cut the end caps off.
   
   - Resin: I’m going to cut to the chase here. 72 hour cure (deep pour) is better than 24 hour cure (the forum people agree). I now believe this but didn’t at first.
   
   - I was using 72 hour cure before but wanted 24 hour cure due to time being an issue. I called the same company that makes both products and was given bad information that messed me up. 
   - Resin cures by heat and as it heats, it releases bubbles. The deep pour is more forgiving because it gives the bubbles time to release. You still have to use a heat gun or torch but the results are better. You can pour all at once with deep pour. If you use 24 hour, you have to do multiple pours. Not saying you can’t use 24 hour, but it takes more care (IMO). I did it but had to do so in multiple pours. And, you have to do it when the resin is tacky. You could do it after it cures, but then you have to rough up the surface and sides for better adhesion. 
   - Deep pour gels and is workable anywhere from 8-12 hours (my brand – yours might be different). That is where you get your swirls because the epoxy is thick enough to retain the swirls. 24 hour gels around 3-4 hours and if you do a deep pour, you will have bubble problems.
   - The manufacturer steered me wrong and my black pour did not come out very well. I tried to fix it but it didn’t look good. I had all the boards finished with oil on them and everything when I said I’m redoing them. I had originally sanded to 600 grit but I took them to 2000 grit and that made a huge difference. Some people say only sand resin to 2000 and stop wood at 400 but I did both at 2000. On the black one, I had already branded the board so I ran it through the planer again and re-sanded but this time I used the bottom as the top and it made a world of difference. The bottom looked better than the top because of the bubble issues.
   - The blue and maroon had to be poured when it was like honey or it would have just blended. You have to really watch it because when it’s in a cup, it’s several inches deep vs. being in a river. When 24 hour resin sits deep like that, it generates heat which accelerates curing. I actually ruined 2 cups of resin because I waited too long. And, as I have stated before, resin is not cheap.
      Sorry this was long. Happy New Year!!!  Chuck  From: Woodworkers <woodworkers-bounces at lists.sawdusters.org> On Behalf Of Gary C Williams via Woodworkers
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2022 4:20 PM
To: woodworkers at sawdusters.org
Cc: gcw804 at aol.com
Subject: [Woodworkers] Chuck's Cutting Boards  OK Chuck,   Christmas is almost upon us and with the exception of the initial burst of emails about the cutting boards, molds, and resin you've been awfully quiet.  So one has to assume that you've been busy making live edge/resin cutting board for Christmas gifts.  Since I'm pretty sure that I'm not on you gift list, maybe you can share some photos of what you've created?  Have a Merry Christmas!  Gary Williams  
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