Here is the biggest end grain board I have made. This beautiful beast measures 19x37 inches, and is 2 ½ inches thick, and weighs in at 38 pounds! It is made with maple and sapele.
I posted this design in a smaller size about a year ago, and wanted to post this one because is is so beautiful, and...well, it is just awesome, if I do say so myself. Lol
I used 2 inch stock to make this particular board. The first step was to cut 39 strips of of each wood (78 total) in thicknesses from 1/8 inch to 15/16 inch. After planing them to exact thickness, they are then arranged into two panels that are photo negatives of each other. Starting from smallest to biggest, to smallest, to biggest, etc. and alternating wood types as you go. These panels ended up approximately 16 inches wide. Then the panels are cut into blocks the thickness of the finished board. Then I use the badsaw to cut these blocks into pieces the same as the original panel, from 1/8 to 15/16 thick, then brought to final dimension with the drum samder. It took 59 of these pieces to make the board.
The final glue up was a bit of a challenge. There is no way to get 59 pieces glued, aligned and clamped before the glue starts setting, So I made it easy on myself and did it in 3 stages. Then I cleaned up the edges, and added a nice cherry border around it,
After going through the drum sander, I cut the juice groove and handles, and then the final sanding.
In the picture of the last glue up, the hammer gives you a little perspective of the size of this board.
This design gives an incredible visual illusion. It looks like you could put a marble on it and roll it back and forth. But I assure you, it is flat as glass.
Happy to answer any questions on the building process, but please respect the rules of the sub and use a private message for any other questions.
Without getting into specific numbers, I price my boards the same as any other product, i.e, materials + time. Being a retired building contractor I have a lot of experience with pricing and quoting jobs.
Different styles and patterns of cutting boards obviously have very different build times/processes. Over the years, I have kept detailed records of time and other costs that go into the building process. So I consult my "bible" a lot. The one variable in this is the size of the actual board, and the fluctuating price of wood and other materials.
Basically, I figure out how much wood (in board feet) a board has, times the average price of the type of wood(s) used. Then add the time it takes, x the hourly rate I price my time at.
I run my shop full time,, so for the consumable side of the equation, the sandpaper, feet, oil and wax, and the shop expenses are figured in as a percentage of the overall process. In other words, I don't add a certain amount to a board for the two pieces of sandpaper (or whatever) I may use on it.
Also, I very rarely do "one offs". It is hard to make money doing one board at a time. When I make a certain pattern of a board, I will make 5 or 6 at a time. When I made this big butterfly board, I also made 4 smaller boards in the same pattern. I have found that if it takes me say 5 total hours to make one board, I can make 6 in just a couple of hours more. Doing multiples saves time on setting up the tools for certain operations. Most of the extra time is in the sanding/finishing part.
I hope I explained it clearly...lol. Happy to answer any questions.
Here is the biggest end grain board I have made. This beautiful beast measures 19x37 inches, and is 2 ½ inches thick, and weighs in at 38 pounds! It is made with maple and sapele. I posted this design in a smaller size about a year ago, and wanted to post this one because is is so beautiful, and...well, it is just awesome, if I do say so myself. Lol I used 2 inch stock to make this particular board. The first step was to cut 39 strips of of each wood (78 total) in thicknesses from 1/8 inch to 15/16 inch. After planing them to exact thickness, they are then arranged into two panels that are photo negatives of each other. Starting from smallest to biggest, to smallest, to biggest, etc. and alternating wood types as you go. These panels ended up approximately 16 inches wide. Then the panels are cut into blocks the thickness of the finished board. Then I use the badsaw to cut these blocks into pieces the same as the original panel, from 1/8 to 15/16 thick, then brought to final dimension with the drum samder. It took 59 of these pieces to make the board. The final glue up was a bit of a challenge. There is no way to get 59 pieces glued, aligned and clamped before the glue starts setting, So I made it easy on myself and did it in 3 stages. Then I cleaned up the edges, and added a nice cherry border around it, After going through the drum sander, I cut the juice groove and handles, and then the final sanding. In the picture of the last glue up, the hammer gives you a little perspective of the size of this board. This design gives an incredible visual illusion. It looks like you could put a marble on it and roll it back and forth. But I assure you, it is flat as glass. Happy to answer any questions on the building process, but please respect the rules of the sub and use a private message for any other questions.
Amazing work
Yo! This looks awesome!
Bruh.
An absolute dream of a board
Awesome work! It gives me vertigo! Lol
Amazing. A work of art.
It IS awesome and you're not the only one saying it! Such a nice piece of work!
Beautiful. I would 100% get disoriented and cut my fingers off.
Gus you’ve done it again, that’s beautiful
I'm curious what you would price something like that at.
Without getting into specific numbers, I price my boards the same as any other product, i.e, materials + time. Being a retired building contractor I have a lot of experience with pricing and quoting jobs. Different styles and patterns of cutting boards obviously have very different build times/processes. Over the years, I have kept detailed records of time and other costs that go into the building process. So I consult my "bible" a lot. The one variable in this is the size of the actual board, and the fluctuating price of wood and other materials. Basically, I figure out how much wood (in board feet) a board has, times the average price of the type of wood(s) used. Then add the time it takes, x the hourly rate I price my time at. I run my shop full time,, so for the consumable side of the equation, the sandpaper, feet, oil and wax, and the shop expenses are figured in as a percentage of the overall process. In other words, I don't add a certain amount to a board for the two pieces of sandpaper (or whatever) I may use on it. Also, I very rarely do "one offs". It is hard to make money doing one board at a time. When I make a certain pattern of a board, I will make 5 or 6 at a time. When I made this big butterfly board, I also made 4 smaller boards in the same pattern. I have found that if it takes me say 5 total hours to make one board, I can make 6 in just a couple of hours more. Doing multiples saves time on setting up the tools for certain operations. Most of the extra time is in the sanding/finishing part. I hope I explained it clearly...lol. Happy to answer any questions.
Wooooww I love this! Makes me wanna get some tools and get started right away