In 2016 we took a wonderful vacation to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It’s a beautiful area with unspoiled beaches and not a lot to do but admire the scenery; think of California Highway 1 with almost no food choices.
On one of our beach walks we collected a bag of beautiful beach rocks. Someday I would do something with them…
Fast forward five years and I finally decided what to do; I’d make a “River Table” style cutting board. A “River Style” table or cutting board usually refers to a board with live edge (bark attached) and epoxy resin. Many people fill the holes in slices of burls, roots, or interesting logs to get dramatic effects. Here’s a link to a nice example.
I decided to make mine from spare walnut that I had left over from my charcuterie project. To simulate the live edge I used a grinder and situated the sapwood (a lighter color wood) to be the “bank” of the river.
You can get the general idea of the construction:
- You make a mold (cut wood, wrap with clear tape, nail together and then waterproof the joints with sealant). You can also buy rather expensive (but reusable) silicone molds.
- Arrange whatever filler you want into the “river” and dye the epoxy (mine has a slight blue color)
- Let the epoxy cure for a few days
- Trim and Polish.
The epoxy choice is important. Epoxy can produce noxious odors, so I spent extra to get “odorless” resin since I was doing the work in the basement. Epoxy also needs heat to cure; the temperature needs to be at least 75 fahrenheit (24C) to cure. To achieve that I built what I call the “EpoxyBake Oven”, which used an aquarium heater in a water bath to raise the temperature an insulated box into which I placed the mold. Because water changes temperature slowly I could gain absolute temperature control. Here’s a picture of the setup:
After the curing it was off to the CNC to level the surface and make it absolutely flat to the wood:
Then a polish with 600, 800, 1500, 2000 grit paper and automotive polishing compound:
The completed board: I wish I was a better photographer!
