Making Maple Cutting Boards

Making two long grain, laminated maple cutting boards. The material is decent quality maple 1x that I sort into heartwood and sapwood pieces, if possible, so they can be alternated to make a patterned effect in the final product. This is my standard pattern for this type of cutting board, and I always put the hole in the board. Some people like it, others don't. I like it because you can carry the board to serve food with it one handed, if necessary. The finish is a mix of beeswax and food grade mineral oil. You can buy this already mixed up or do it yourself. Cutting boards that are laminated together with many pieces of wood are susceptible to delaminating or a little splitting if they're not conditioned on a more or less regular basis! The wood doesn't stop breathing [ever] so changes in humidity, and particularly washing them with soapy water regularly causes frequent expansion and contraction which eventually causes splitting. Conditioning helps keep the wood at a more even moisture content and less prone to this. This is a phenomenon of el-cheapo cutting boards, very expensive commercial ones, and all of the ones in between.