On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:33:49 -0800 (PST), Jeff
wrote:


I am almost finish my cutting board project, Consisting of 200 wooden
block (2 inch by 4 inch, and 2 in thick). I have glued them together,
but wanted to rest and glue this on a large piece of wood for more
support. I was thinking plywood, but a friend said to use presswood,
because it wont work like plywood.
What wood would I best use?
thanks

ken

Is this an end-grain cutting board? It sounds like it. You'll probably
want to glue those pieces in rows at a time. I'd make some sort of
gluing jig that allows you support two sides and clamp two sides.
After they come out of the gluing jig, I'd square the rows with a
jointer and table saw. Then you should be able to glue the board
together. I'm not sure why you couldn't use plywood for a gluing base.
Lay wax paper on top of it.

Hi Jeff,

The board is almost finish gluing. I did use strips , passed in the
planar to make sure it is straight.
ok here is my design, the plywood is not for building the board but
will be pernanently glued.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
TttttttttttttttttttttttttttttT
TttttttttttttttttttttttttttttT
TttttttttttttttttttttttttttttT
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
where the T are blockes with 2 inches in depth and the 't' are blocks
with a 1.5 inch in depth. The plywood is there to solidify even more.
Once it is glued, the board is flipped over and the plywood (or
presswood), is no where to be seen.
just want to know whch one to use, plywood will work in time? making
cracks on the board?
ken

Is that view from the top or the side? It looks like the edges are ten
inches thick and the interior is 7.5 inches thick with plywood filling
the difference. Did I get that right? If that's the case, the plywood
serves as a spline. That is an acceptable use of plywood. I'm not sure
why presswood would be superior. Maybe your friend knows something we
don't...

remove 4 'T's at the end or the first and fifth line so as to make it
a rectangle. But i see it ok in the reply windows, not sure why it is
not the same way in view mode. It is a top view of the board where the
plywood fits on the small 't' making the board 2 inch thick
everywhere.
He said that plywood can twist in time and press wood wont. Is this
sounded?


Personally, I'd use plywood but I'll defer to the group. I like to
think I understand your design and I'm hard pressed to think you'll
have a problem with it twisting. I'd like to know *why* he thinks it
will.

Jeff

Am I missing something obvious? I don't understand why you would put
anything on the bottom of a 1.5 or 2 inch thick end grain cutting
board. If properly glued wouldn't this have all the strength needed?
Also, no matter what is attached on the bottom won't the board itself
want to expand and contract across the grain and either split if the
backer is glued on or at least come unglued? I would think you would
just want a 2" endgrain slab.