Introduction: Knife Block

  • This quite unusual but practical knife block is a relatively fast and simple project for your CNC machine...
  • There is some manual work involved (edge rounding, glueing and sanding) but with the right tools it won't take too much time...

Step 1: Things You'll Need:

Bill of materials:

  • (Beech) plywood:
    • 700 x 290 x 15mm
    • 460 x 340 x 15mm
    • 350 x 340 x 15mm
    • 260 x 340 x 15mm
  • Magnet Ø25 x 5mm (NdFeB)
  • Some 6mm dowels
  • Wood glue
  • Clear varnish or walnut oil
  • 3x Felt pads
  • Your favourite kitchen knifes

Tools:

  • End mill (around 3mm)
  • Corner rounding bit
  • Sandpaper

Machinery:

  • CNC mill
  • Manual router

Software:

  • Estlcam or another CAM Software
  • A 2D CAD Program to customize the knife slots

Step 2: Overview:

  • Each main part consists of two respectively three 15mm boards that will later be glued together. It is much simpler to machine it this way than creating solid, thick parts...
  • Perfect alignment of the boards is ensured by some 6mm dowels...
  • The 3 main parts are held together by glued mortise / tenon joints. This is rock-solid and very simple to do on a CNC machine but you need to be aware of material thickness tolerances. If your material is considerably thicker or thinner than 15mm you should change the drawings accordingly - otherwise you'll face a lot of manual rework to fit the parts...
  • The shields knife slots need to be customized to match your blades - you can do this with most 2D CAD programs...
  • The sharpening steel is just held by a strong magnet inside the soldiers "helmet" - so it unfortunately won't work with ceramic ones...

Step 3: Lets Start:

Play the Video for step by step instructions...

Step 4: Project Files:

The .zip file below contains all required .dxf drawings and also the finished Estlcam project files...

Step 5: Some More Pictures: