How to Make a Tardis End Grain Cutting Board

Hi everyone, my name is Ashley. I'm author of the blog Handmade with Ashley and I am excited to share the details on my latest project: a Tardis end grain cutting board. This is my first end grain cutting board, and despite a few flaws, I’m happy with how it turned out.

The following items are some of the tools and supplies that I gathered to create the Tardis end grain cutting board.

Tools (affiliate)

Supplies

Walnut
Maple
Cherry
Wood Glue
Mineral oil or Butcher block oil

Step 1: Mill the Boards

Straigten the boards with a jointer and planer. Plane all the boards down to the same thickness. (I planed my boards down to 3/4″ thick.)

Step 2: Rip the Boards and Cross Cut the Strips

On the table saw, rip the boards to the same thickness as the board. (In my case this was 3/4″ wide strips.)

Cut the strips of wood into 2″ long pieces.

I did this on my bandsaw. I went with 2″ tall pixels to account for future material loss. (Final thickness of the Tardis cutting board was a little more than 1″.)

Step 3: Glue Up the Pixels

I used this the template Tardis end grain cutting board. (I wanted four different colors, but I only had walnut, maple and cherry on hand.)

Use a straight edge to help with alignment, and glue up the pixels. I recommend gluing a few sections at a time and then gluing the cutting board as a whole.

Step 4: Flatten the Board With a Router Flattening Jig

Ensure the board surface is level and the dried glue is cleaned up. On a long grain cutting board such as the one I made here, I would run the cutting board through the planer on both sides. Unfortunately, using a planer with an end grain cutting board is dangerous and not recommend.

There are a few things you can do to clean up the surface of the board:

Build a router flattening sled
Sand aggressively
Use a drum sander

I built a quick router flattening sled from scraps, and I used my trim router to level the surface. I lost a lot of material at this step.

Step 5: Sand and Prep the Surface for Sealing

Sand the entire surface of the cutting board. Cycle through 80, 100, 150, 220 grits of sand paper. Grab a damp cloth and wipe the board to raise the grain. Finish sanding with 220 grit sand paper again.