A good set of knives is always needed in any kitchen; but it's hard to use them if your drawer knife block is too small to hold all of them. My mom has had this problem almost forever; the cutting utensils have never fit in to the weird plastic and wood holder that we have and end up strewn every which way. I decided that I needed to set things straight! literally.

Step 1:

Items Needed

One piece of wood as big as the drawer you want it to fit in.

Router

Various router bits

Circular saw

Sandpaper

Can of clear coat

Stapler

Step 2: Cut It to Size

The piece of wood I had was actually cut from my failed attempt at making a fire canoe. Since it was too big to fit in the drawer I measured how big the drawer was and made a paper "map" of it. I used the map to mark the edges on the wood, I tried to mark it so that I had a bit of a natural edge. Then, I used my circular saw to cut the edges off.

Step 3: Plane

I wanted the piece to be as flat as I could get it with the tools I had so I decided to use my router. If you have access to a planer that would be easier than using a router. I mostly eyeballed my way around to start out. After a while of that I soon decided to set up a little jig by screwing the router to a small piece of wood I had and moving it around on top of two blocks.

Step 4: Drawing and Stapling

I traced the knives on my "map" of the drawer from largest to smallest, which I thought looked the best.

Step 5: Routing

For most of the knife spots I used a 1/2 inch bit and plunged it about a quarter of an inch. Then I routed the rough shape of the blade part and did the same for the handle part only twice the depth.

The bread knife is laid out differently so it was a little bit trickier.

Once all of the knife spots were rough cut I put the actual knives in for a test fit. If they didn't fit very well I marked the spot with a pencil and used the router again.

Step 6: Details

Since the router bits make round cuts I used a chisel to make them into points and to remove any imperfections. Also, I used some medium grit sandpaper to remove some of the burn marks caused by the router and to round some of the edges.

After test fitting it in the drawer I realized that the drawer handle bolts interfered with the piece of wood so I went back with the router and removed some material to make it fit.

Step 7: Clear Coat

After I removed the imperfections I clear coated the wood to bring out some of the color

Step 8: Put Knives in It!

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20 Comments

Eh Lie Us!

5 years ago

Great look.

jeanniel1

5 years ago

Pretty good for not CNCing it!

KellyCraig

5 years ago

Rub some mineral oil on those knife blades and you'll be amazed how beautiful the wood is. Mix in some bee's wax and Carnuba wax and you have a down town finish.

Another plus of the mineral oil is, those cracks may disappear, as the moisture lost from years of drying is replaced with oil.

A small bottle of mineral oil only runs a couple bucks.

mylesie

5 years ago

Great idea but just a thought! Would it not be safer to make two finger grips in the handle end of the knife sections for ease of withdrawing?

cirano

5 years ago

Steps were easy to follow, I found the use of animated gifs added clarity to the descriptions. (I didn't even have to read the description to get the core of the idea). Thank you for that.

Question: what does this do to the weight of the drawer (especially when it is pulled out completely)?

Irishintx

5 years ago

Nice up cycling idea!
Nice work

stevefah

5 years ago

An excellent job; took lots of patience. I wonder if this would be doable in styrofoam or the foam they use in cosplay.

clazman

5 years ago

Great project right down to the gnarly piece of wood used!

You got my vote!

Stufasa

5 years ago

brilliantly simple; simply brilliant. Great idea. My wife wants to put in a new kitchen this year and I'm absolutely making this when the new millwork is installed.