Finger Groove in Cutting Board Ends
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25 September 2015 at 11:12 pm #130832
I am making a cutting board out of highly figured 6/4 walnut, with the face grain as the cutting board surface, and the end grain at the narrow ends. I would like to cut shallow finger grooves in either narrow end, and I don’t know the best technique to cut such a groove cleanly into end grain. Can I use a mortise chisel and cut the groove and clean up with a router plane? I am fearful that the mortise chisel will leave a ragged edge in the end grain and that the bottom surface will be uneven, and this will be a highly visible spot. I don’t have a router table to cut this groove. Any thoughts on techniques would be much appreciated.
26 September 2015 at 2:33 am #130834Do you mean a place to get your fingers under when it is on a flat surface? If so, what I do is use a spokeshave and shape the underside near the end grain until it 1) looks good, and 2) feels right.
This means it can only be used one way, but I am OK with that. Here is an example. I didn’t do this one, but I do something similar. Like I said, I use a spokeshave so mine is more rounded and gradual
26 September 2015 at 5:00 am #130835I wouldn’t use a mortise chisel (or bevel edge chisel) on end grain because you just might split the wood. Maybe a gouge would work, but it would have to be very sharp to deal with the end grain. And you might have to find a gouge with small enough curvature to meet you needs.
27 September 2015 at 3:10 am #130843One easy solution is to just put the finger holds on the long sides. Then you don’t have to deal with cutting into end grain problems, and you’ll have a longer surface area to work with. Cut out a stopped rabbet in the side, or just spokeshave a nice curve, and you’re done.
A sketch would help. 🙂
Sounds like you are cutting the equivalent of a stopped dado (stopped housing) at the edge of the cutting board. Double-stopped, really. Maybe approach it as such? Cut a knifewall, then work it down with your chisel. On a normal stopped housing, you’d hog out the waste and level the bottom from the end, but here you’ll need to do it from the side. This is a bit dangerous because you’ll be cutting with the grain instead of across it, so there’s the danger of the grain diving on you, but if you are sure that your knife wall is always deeper than your from-the-side paring, you’ should be okay if you’re careful. A router plane could level it.
If it isn’t clear, the chisel and knife work is from the face grain side, not the end grain side, except for the paring, if I understand what you’re trying to make.
7 December 2015 at 6:26 am #132970I made a tomato cutting board in the shape of a tomato and use the stem end for a handle to hold between thumb and forefinger and used a gouge on the bottom side for a thumb groove and a finger groove. It works really well, Perhaps it would for your project also? It’s really neat (I want to say groovey!) because you can follow the shape of fingers both for left and right hand use as well as make it whatever depth you want.
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