Life In 19x19

(This thread will take several months to run its course. I’ll update when something interesting happens. Photos will be links to imgur.)

2019.07.18: Delivery of 2” maple cutting board, 21” x 17” (5 x 53.4 x 43.2cm), made by John Boos Company. This was a limited time offer from Sur la Table, an American kitchen and cooking supply shop, for $100, free shipping, and I took advantage of a $25 coupon. It should fit a standard Japanese-style grid with some breathing room (16.75 x 18.0 inches or 42.5 x 45.0cm). I have two other boards that will easily fit within the edges of this big maple block.

https://imgur.com/gallery/0mQji9U

https://imgur.com/gallery/3if3QtV

The board is a factory glue-up of nine or ten randomly oriented , full-length (not spliced or finger jointed) sapwood sticks. Together they mass 17-18 pounds (8kg). The sticks’ adjoining edges are obvious but the grain is lovely and shows good maple-y figuring from three different cuts: flat, rift, and quarter—everything except endgrain.

https://imgur.com/gallery/21UXjLq

Planning on 19 on top and 13 on the verso side, I’ve two options for applying the grids: Laser etching and CNC engraving with a 1mm router bit and filling with epoxy. I will use a marking pen filled with a lacquer or India ink only as a last resort. Experimenting and testing require fitting my project into the schedules of the folks who have the high tech toys so I won’t have anything new to report for several weeks.

Here’s a link to the company that makes these remarkable wooden objects:
https://www.johnboos.com/

This link to the special offer product at Sur la Table will expire sooner or later:
https://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO- ... ing+Boards

Hi David,

Big project; good luck.

2019.08.01 Project Update: The laser machine I was hoping to use is operated by someone I don't trust so, nuts. On the hunt again for a more suitable laser engraving shop. O I might just go with a CNC router.

I found this old post from 2013 by bonobo:

> Here’s a Web site with goban grid files in diverse formats (GIF, PDF, EPS) and also with a script to make your own:
> http://www.gungfu.de/go/gobans/konstruk ... lates.html

Unlike most other links from so long ago, this one is still active. The EPS file was a great help, thanks, bonobo.

bogiesan wrote:[…] old post from 2013 by bonobo:

> Here’s a Web site with goban grid files in diverse formats (GIF, PDF, EPS) and also with a script to make your own:
> http://www.gungfu.de/go/gobans/konstruk ... lates.html

Unlike most other links from so long ago, this one is still active. The EPS file was a great help, thanks, bonobo.

Nice and you’re welcome!

In case you need that file edited in any way, you can send me a msg.

2019/08.06 UPDATE:

Laser etching is far more complicated than I could have imagined.

I talked to a professional engraver and she was enthusiastic about the project but not very encouraging. Her experience with blocks of laminated sticks, such as massive maple cutting boards, is maple tends to leave a brown burn line and each stick in the glue-up responds differently to the laser because the grain is aligned differently and they each come from different trees or parts of the same tree. So the laser burn lines usually change color and possibly depth and width at each glue line and the glue is a major issue. The glue reacts unpredictably, possibly boiling off or smoking badly and throwing scorch marks, and allowing the burn line to penetrate off the laser spot. Or it might just work out fine.

I am moving on to investigating CNC engraving and filling with a black epoxy, lacquer, or other medium.

I am accepting suggestions.

I am accepting suggestions.

Anything not done by laser, i.e., by hand, is going to be quite tricky.

Might be resurrecting this project in the next few months because I have a friend with a friend who has a CNC engraving router that can be loaded with a tiny 1mm bit with 0.025mm accuracy.

Generally, this process, when used for wood engraving that will be filled, requires the surface to be carefully prepared and over-coated with a couple applications of a polymer sealer or clear lacquer. After the engraving is completed (and the corners are carefully straightened with tiny chisel cuts), the filling medium is squeegeed over the surface, pushed evenly into all nooks and crannies, and precisely squeegeed off, hopefully leaving a perfectly level surface with no streaks or stains that must be sanded off.

We're debating the fill medium: epoxy or a lacquer. Both have benefits and both have weird properties that can bee the job difficult. Epoxy will cure up and be hard as, umm, epoxy. Lacquer requires a bit of experimentation to get the mixture and viscosity correct because you only get one chance on the board.

bogiesan wrote: We're debating the fill medium: epoxy or a lacquer. Both have benefits and both have weird properties that can bee the job difficult. Epoxy will cure up and be hard as, umm, epoxy. Lacquer requires a bit of experimentation to get the mixture and viscosity correct because you only get one chance on the board.

Dredging up an old thread, but did you end up engraving and filling the board?

driph wrote: Dredging up an old thread, but did you end up engraving and filling the board?

Sorry for not closing the thread. Sadly, the project just kept getting delayed. Then I found a very gently used 2" board online and gave the cutting board away to a friend.