Owens Corning
Cheese Board
CheeseboardWoodsmithThere are a couple methods for making the fancy routed design in this cheese board. You can set up your router table with stop blocks and spacers as we did for the routed trivets project. Or you can rout the design with a box jig and a hand-held router. That's the approach we took this time. With a box jig you don't tie up your router table. And once you've built the jig, it's easy to use again in the future (everybody wants one of the cheese boards once they see it). Sometimes that's the fun of building from a jig -- it makes building an exact copy of the project quick and accurate.

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The Blank

Usually when building a jig, we build the jig first and then use it to make the project. For the cheese board, we started out making a cheese board blank and then made the jig to fit around it. That way, we were sure the blank would fit tightly into the jig and the jig would be square.
Note: To use the jig to make duplicate cheese boards, you have to cut the blank to fit tightly into the jig.

Building the Blank. To make the blank, start by ripping four pieces of 4/4 stock (13/16" actual thickness) 1-3/4" wide and 12" long. Then edge glue the pieces to form a 7" wide blank, see Fig. 1 in cboard01.gif. Once the glue dries, plane the blank flat and sand it smooth. Note: The blank could be made from one wide piece of stock, but it might warp, and we tend to think of a cheese board like a cutting board -- it should be built up.

Cut to Size. After the blank is flat, cut it to a finished width of 6-1/2", see Fig. 1 in cboard01.gif. It looks best if the center joint line is centered on the blank, so trim a little off each side. Then square up to a finished length of 11".

The Box Jig

After the blank is cut to finished size, build a box jig to fit around it. The box jig is actually a frame with stop fences screwed to the top of it. Once the blank is placed into the frame, the router can work around the inside of the fence and rout the design.

An Explanation. Before going any further, a little explanation of the size of the jig seems necessary. The whole point of the jig is to rout a border and checkerboard pattern of V-grooves in the cheese board. The location of the pattern is determined by the diameter of your router base and the location of the stop fences in relation to the cheese board blank.

Some Math. To determine the distance from the fences to the edge of the cheese board blank, you have to do some math. First, measure the diameter of your router base (ours is 6") and divide it in half (3").
From this distance, subtract the distance from the outside of the cheese board to the center of the V-groove border. (The design calls for the V-groove to be 2-5/8" from the top edge and 5/8" from the sides and bottom edges, see Cross Section in Fig. 2 in cboard02.gif.) So in our case: 3" minus 2-5/8" equals 3/8", and 3" minus 5/8" equals 2-3/8". This means that we had to locate the edge of the fence 3/8" from the top edge of the cheese board blank and 2-3/8" from the side and bottom edges, see Fig. 2 in cboard02.gif.

Width of Frames. We decided to make the fences 2" wide, and we wanted to mount them flush with the outside edge of the frame pieces. This meant that the frame pieces had to equal the width of the fences (2") plus the distance from the cheese board to the fence (3/8" and 2-3/8"). So our top frame piece (A) is 2-2/3" wide and the side and bottom frame pieces are 4-3/8" wide, see Fig. 3 in cboard03.gif.

Note: Round bases vary in diameter. If your router base is 5-3/4" (Rockwell/Porter Cable) in diameter, your top frame piece (A) should be 2-1/4" wide and side (B) and bottom (C) should be 4-1/4" wide. If your router base is 6-1/4" in diameter (Makita), your frame pieces would be 2-1/2" and 4-1/2" wide. From this point on, the figures in the artwork and in the parentheses in the text will be for a 6"-dia. router base.

Building the Frame. Once all the figures are determined, you can get back to building the jig. We used 3/4" plywood to construct the jig. Start building the frame by cutting two side frame pieces (B) to the exact same length as the cheese board blank (11") and to the width determined above (4-3/8"), see Fig 3 in cboard03.gif. Then, to make it easier to remove the blank from the jig, cut notches for finger holes in each piece, see Fig 3 in cboard03.gif. Next, cut the bottom frame piece (C) to width (4-3/8") and the top frame piece (A) to width (2-3/8"). To determine the length of the top and bottom frame pieces, measure the width of the blank (6-1/2") and add the combined width of the two side pieces (8-3/4"). Then cut the top and bottom frame pieces to this length (15-1/4").

Side Fences. After the frame pieces are cut to length, the fences can be cut. The side fences (D) create a lap joint over the top and bottom frame pieces to hold the frame together, see Step 1 in Fig. 4 in cboard04.gif. Cut the side fences (D) 2" wide and 17-3/4" long.

After the side fences are cut, screw them down to the side frame pieces (B) so the outside edges are flush and there's an overhang on each end, see Step 1 in Fig. 4 in cboard04.gif.

Shop Note: We used drywall screws to screw all the pieces together so we wouldn't have to pre-drill. Nails could be used, screws are easier to re-adjust.

Screw Frame Together. Now, clamp the frame pieces together tightly around the cheese board blank, see Step 2 in Fig. 4 in cboard04.gif. Then drive screws down through the four corners to hold the frame together.

Top and Bottom Fences. Next, measure the distance between the two side fences, and then cut top and bottom fences (E) to this length and to a width of 2", see Fig. 3 in cboard03.gif. Finally, screw the top and bottom fences down to the top and bottom frame pieces, see Step 3 in Fig 4 in cboard04.gif.

Setting Up the Router

After the box jig was built, we set up to rout the border and checkerboard design.

Adjusting the Bit. Start by mounting a sharp 1/2" V-grooving bit in the router. Then lower the bit to rout a 1/4" wide
groove. (Check the depth and width by making a test cut in a piece of scrap, see Detail in Fig. 5 in cboard05.gif.)

Center the Base. Once the bit is set to the correct depth, check to be sure the bit is perfectly centered on the plastic router base plate. If it's not centered, the routed groove won't be a uniform distance from all four fences. If the bit is off-center, loosen the screws and center the base plate on the bit by measuring in at least two directions.

Spacer blocks. Next, cut five 3/4"-wide plywood spacer blocks to use when routing the design. Cut two of the spacer blocks 11" long and the other three 7-1/4" long, see Fig. 6 in cboard06.gif.

Shop Note: To get a perfectly symmetrical design, the cheese board blank should be exactly 6-1/2" wide and the spacer blocks exactly 3/4" wide. To check the spacer blocks, stack all the blocks with the saw edges together and measure the stack. It should be an increment of 3/4" (5 blocks x 3/4" = 3-3/4").

Fastening Down the Jig

After cutting the spacer blocks, we secured the jig to our bench between bench dogs, see Fig. 7 in cboard07.gif. (Or use double sided carpet tape.)
Next, insert the cheese board blank into the jig and check
that the blank sits flush with or slightly above the
surrounding plywood, see Fig. 8 in cboard08.gif. If the blank
is lower, shim under the blank with several thicknesses of
tape.

Routing the Design

Finally, the fun begins -- the actual routing. To check that
everything is set up correctly, we always rout a test blank
first. (We used a piece of scrap plywood.)

The Border. To rout the border, hold the router base tightly
against one of the fences, turn on the router, and lower the
bit into the wood. (Don't start at a corner -- it tends to
burn.) Now rout clockwise around the inside of the jig, see
Fig. 9 in cboard09.gif. Move quickly and keep the router
base tight against all fence.

The Horizontal Grooves.
Once the border is routed, clean out
any dust or chips from the jig. Then place one of the 11"-
long spacer blocks inside the jig against the top fence, see
Fig. 10 in cboard10.gif. (Note: Keep the face of the plywood
spacer block up and the sawcut edges to the sides.)
Now hold the router base tight against the spacer block and
make a horizontal pass working from left to right. Since the
spacer block is 3/4" wide, the center of this groove should
be 3/4" from the center of the border groove, see Fig. 10 in
cboard10.gif.

Next, add another spacer block and make a second horizontal
pass working from left to right, see Fig. 11 in
cboard11.gif.

Stop Block. After the two horizontal grooves are complete,
the short vertical grooves can be routed. These grooves run
from the top border groove down to the second horizontal
groove. To stop them, we cut a stop block from a 3/4" piece
of plywood.

To determine the width of the stop block, place the V-groove
bit in the second horizontal groove and measure the distance
from the router base to the bottom fence, see Fig. 12 in
cboard12.gif. (Ours measured 6-1/4".) Then cut the stop
block to fit between the side fences.

The Vertical Grooves. Now place the stop block against the
bottom fence and one of the 7-1/4" spacer blocks against the
left side fence, see Step 1 in Fig. 13 in cboard13.gif. Then
with the router against the spacer block, rout the vertical
groove.

Next, insert a second 7-1/4" spacer block against the first
spacer block and rout the next vertical groove, see Step 2
in cboard13.gif. Finally, insert a third spacer block
against the second and rout the third vertical groove, see
Step 3 in cboard13.gif.

After the three grooves are routed on the left side, follow
the same routing sequence with the blocks against the right
side fence. (Rout from top down.)

Uniform Squares. Once the grooves are routed, measure the
squares between the grooves for uniformity. If the spacer
blocks are the correct size and the bit set to the proper
depth, the tops of the squares should be uniform (about 1/2"
by 1/2").

The first time we measured, we found that the middle square
was a little narrower than the rest. So we made another test
piece and that time consciously tried to press the router
tightly against the spacer blocks. This kept the spacer
blocks tight against each other and the second test piece
was right on the money.

Finishing off the Board
After the routing is complete, lay out three 3/4" diameter
holes near the top of the cheese board, see Fig. 14 in
cboard14.gif. The first hole is used to hang the cheese
board on the wall and the other two form inside arcs when
cutting out the handle.

Before drilling the holes, also lay out a 1" radius for the
top end of the handle. Then drill the holes and cut the top
to shape, see Fig. 14 in cboard14.gif.

Radius and Bullnose. Next, rout each of the four corners to
a 3/8" radius and rout a bullnose profile on all the edges
and the hanging hole, see Fig. 15 in cboard15.gif.

Finish. We finished the cheese board with two coats of
Marten's Wood Preservative (Butcher Block Oil). This
combination of oils and waxes penetrates into the wood and
hardens. Martens says that their "ingredients meet
requirements of the FDA as a food additive but it's not
intended for internal use."
If you prefer a surface finish that looks like a varnish,
you may want to use Behlen's Salad Bowl Finish which also
contains safe ingredients.
A less expensive option is Mineral Oil, available at grocery
and drug stores.

List of Illustrations:

cboard01.gif
cboard02.gif
cboard03.gif
cboard04.gif
cboard05.gif
cboard06.gif
cboard07.gif
cboard08.gif
cboard09.gif
cboard10.gif
cboard11.gif
cboard12.gif
cboard13.gif
cboard14.gif
cboard15.gif

Provided by Woodsmith Magazine
(c) 1996, August Home Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission, HouseNet, Inc.

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