Inlay Cutting Board

[Bill_L]

It's maple on walnut. 15" x 21" x 1.75". Used a 22 degree V-bit and a .125" EM for clearing. Switching to a 15 degree V-bit for subsequent boards.

[scottp55]

Excellent Bill!
Too pretty to cut on that side(Great for serving though with such a nice handle cut!)
Beautiful work!!

[jay pieper]

Bill,

Very nice job on the end grain cutting board.
Nice layout with the walnut ,orientation of the pieces is really
good. Maple is always a nice contrast to the dark walnut
I like the finish, I'm assuming you used mineral oil, it has
a deep look to it.

[Bill_L]

I used Howard Butcher Block Conditioner. It's a combination of mineral oil, beeswax and carnauba waxes.

[Holzarbeiter]

What a beautiful piece of work, Bill. I wouldnt let anyone near that masterpiece with a sharp instrument...shoot Id give 'em the stink eye if they had a plastic spork in their hand!

[Bill_L]

Actually it was simply a test to see if my Navy Flight Surgeon's wife thought it was suitable. She is usually a hard critic but when she saw it I lost any chance of bringing it back home. Thus I now have four walnut and one maple blanks ready to try some other designs. The actual carving is a breeze. It's building the blanks that's a pain in the rear!

Bill

[SteveNelson46]

One of the best cutting boards I've seen. A real showpiece.

[Savannahdan]

Nice. We have a walnut cutting board about that size that I need to do an inlay with.

[scotttarnor]

WOW ! Nice work !

[TReischl]

Absolutely GORGEOUS!

[mtylerfl]

Outstanding work, Bill! “Silky Smooth”, too. I love the finish!!

[garylyb]

That is really beautiful. Why would you need to go to a 15 degree bit?

I just finished this one for my daughter using a 60 degree bit, There is some tear out around the edges I was thinking of going to a 30 degree bit next time.

I certainly agree about the time spent gluing up these boards, it take a lot more time that the actua inlay work.

I used end grain maple for the inlay, it looks like you used face gran, is that right? Would there be any issue mixing face grain inlay with end grain for the board.

[Bill_L]

A 15 or 18 degree bit is just a preference that gives you an almost straight inlay yet allowing for sharp corners. Yes I did use face grain maple for the male part but as I said in my second post, this was a test. Due to a time constraint I used what I had on hand at the moment.

[CAcnc2448]

Bill_L or Garylyb would you mind sharing your settings (flat/start depths for male/female pieces)? I've been doing some tests to try this before putting my glue-ups under the knife and am having trouble getting a consistent fit. Any suggestions are appreciated, I think I've ready every post on inlays in the forum! Thanks!