I really like the way curved lamination looks so I figured I would make an attempt at it and surprisingly it turned out quite nicely. If I were to do this again (which I think I will) I would make it on a larger scale and use a few more clamps.

Here are the tools / materials you will need to complete a project like this:

TABLE SAW
MITER SAW
ORBITAL SANDER
THICKNESS PLANER OR BELT SANDER
ROUTER
CLAMPS
WOOD GLUE
STRIPS OF WOOD
2 X 4
BUTCHER BLOCK OIL

Step 1: STEP 1: Make the Pattern

I started out by cutting a 2x4 on the miter saw to 18 inches long. From there I made a few "lazy S", or OGEE, drawings on the 2x4. When I finally had the drawing the way I wanted it, I took a permanent marker over the top of it and made a nice defined black mark. I don't own a bandsaw but my scroll saw seemed to work great for cutting the design out. I just went in the middle of the black mark and tried to do it with as little stopping as possible. A jigsaw would work just fine on this as well. Just be sure that you keep it flat. I ended up having some stops of course and I took my orbital sander with 80 grit sandpaper to smooth out the pattern.

Step 2: Step 2: Rip Boards and Glue

So, I used maple and hickory for my two wood choices. You can use whatever you'd like, it's just what I had laying around. Each piece of stock was cut at roughly 17 to 18 inches. I was going for a finished 16 inches so anything longer is okay here. Then I went the alternating route and set everything out for glueing upon a couple 2x4s. I poured some glue into a small container and drizzled it on the strips. Then I took an old paint brush and smoothed everything out.

I took one end of the 2x4 pattern and screwed it to my workbench. Then the strips were stacked in an alternating pattern against the 2x4 we previously made. I had to work quickly here because the glue was drying very rapidly. I also want to note here that the glue I used is good for wet conditions.

Then I took 2 F-clamps, one on each end and squeezed them until the strips started pulling up slightly. When this happened I used another board to span across so that the boards would lay flat while they dried. I found out that more clamps would have helped.

I glued this project in halves. The first half was left to dry inside the pattern for 4 hours, although next time I will wait a little longer as one piece separated and had to be re-glued. Then the second part was stacked on top of the first and glued and clamped together as well. This I would wait for 24 hours.

Step 3: Step 3: Finishing Touches

After everything had dried I ran the cutting board through the thickness planer. I was trying to remove as little as possible while still achieving a flat piece. The same went for the bottom side. This also could have been done with a belt sander, or even an orbital sander with a lot of patience.

Remember we made this board slightly longer than we needed so there was no need to worry about tear-out from the planer. Having sharp blades left this piece pretty nice anyway.

After the planer it was time to square up the two ends. I stuck the cutting board back into the pattern and laid it flat against the fence of the miter saw and cut off as least as possible on both ends.

After the board was square I used my palm router with a round over bit and went around the entire top and left the bottom flat.

Then it was time for sanding. I used an orbital sander starting out with 80, then 120, then 220 grit sandpaper. This was also done on each face, side and end of the cutting board.

Now we've reached the finish line. I used a butcher block oil for the finish. In all honesty I would think that a beeswax oil or linseed oil might look better but this was all I had at the moment and was too impatient to wait!

I really hope that you guys found this informative and I have been gone for quite awhile but I'm back and happy to see you all again! Thank you for looking!

I also recently started an ETSY store where I will be selling all of my projects. If you're interested here is the link!

https://northernmnbuilders.etsy.com