I've had this cutting board my cousin made for about 8-9 years ago, and it just exploded a few years ago during the night (I thought my fireplace glass cracked). I don't know if it was super dry condo conditions, I wasn't oiling it enough (about once a month with beeswax/mineral oil combo), or what. It's never been dropped or anything.
The two main cracks go right through. The board is about 30" x 18" x 2"
there is no movement in the board. No shifting or creaking and it isn't flexible or moveable in any way. Don't know if that matters.
I thought of epoxy, but that would destroy my knives. Any suggestions how else I might go about fixing it, or is this thing toast?
My theory is the flat grain walnut border caused this issue, it is going to expand and contract differently than the end grain center area. They wanted to move in different directions but were locked in with the glue. The result is a catastrophic failure when the tension was too great.
You could try and dump a bunch of glue down the crack and use a shop vac to suck it down into the fissure, then use a bunch of clamps and see if you can pull it back together.
This particular design may have benefited from a full immersion soak every month or two vs just a top coat.
I haven’t seen a failure like this before and there are surely other people that will know more about this than me but that is my assessment.
All that said - it’s a nice board!
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My theory is the flat grain walnut border caused this issue, it is going to expand and contract differently than the end grain center area. They wanted to move in different directions but were locked in with the glue. The result is a catastrophic failure when the tension was too great.
You could try and dump a bunch of glue down the crack and use a shop vac to suck it down into the fissure, then use a bunch of clamps and see if you can pull it back together.
This particular design may have benefited from a full immersion soak every month or two vs just a top coat.
I haven’t seen a failure like this before and there are surely other people that will know more about this than me but that is my assessment.
All that said - it’s a nice board!
Aye, it is nice. I don't often see that cousin these days, but this was one of his first of a handful of boards - just a hobby project when he had some time off.
Speaking of immersion. That was suggested by someone I know and would be doable with a smaller board that would fit in, say, a sink. However, this one would need a bathtub and 20 litres of mineral oil. I thought about a heavy duty bag tied pretty tight around the board, and then try soaking it that way. It works for brining a turkey...
Will try the glue/vacuum/clamps, then sand and maybe bag-soak
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You could cut the border off and trim away the cracked parts to be left with a plainer but more useful board.
That was my brother suggestion as well. He's got a table saw and said he give it a try - but definitely last resort
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattington
I haven't done a fix like this myself, but The Wood Whisperer has a video on how to fix a crack in cutting boards which involves using epoxy.
I can't remember for certain, but I think came across that video a few months ago when I first started looking into how to fix it. A lot of the comments re: epoxy align with my own. If worse comes to worst, going that route and retiring the board from the kitchen and using it as work bench sorta-thing
Aye, it is nice. I don't often see that cousin these days, but this was one of his first of a handful of boards - just a hobby project when he had some time off.
Speaking of immersion. That was suggested by someone I know and would be doable with a smaller board that would fit in, say, a sink. However, this one would need a bathtub and 20 litres of mineral oil. I thought about a heavy duty bag tied pretty tight around the board, and then try soaking it that way. It works for brining a turkey...
Will try the glue/vacuum/clamps, then sand and maybe bag-soak
If you end up sanding be sure to spritz with water and let dry to raise your grains. I do it after I finish sanding at 320. Spritz, dry and a quick re sand at 320 and it should be good after it gets wet the first time.
You can buy 4L of mineral oil at UFA in Airdrie for about $30. I use that and a shallow Rubbermaid tub to soak mine.
Keep us posted on your results! Reach out if you have any questions.
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It looks like the end grain centre shrunk more than the end grain ends.
You could try to glue and clamp it back together, but I suspect you would be more successful if you cut it in half first, glue and clamp each side individually, then glue and clamp the two halves back together after planing the cut edges smooth.
Okay, thanks guys. It's been glued, clamped (I had to buy some pipe clamps, mine weren't long enough), sanded, dipped, waxed, and buffed.
I got the glue all the way through using both a shop vac and then helping it with compressed air. Messy as hell, I eventually realized I ought to be taping off my some of the surface to contain mess .
Sanded it, sanded it, sanded it, spritzed it, and then sanded it. It wasn't until I took these photos when I realized how poor of a job I did I. But it'll have to do. Some of the cracks closed, one of the bigger ones did not.
I soaked the board in mineral oil about 12-16 hours (I forget now). at first I added 1.5-2 litres of mineral oil into the bag, and flipped the it every hour. Within a couple of hours the bag was nearly empty leaving a vacuum, which lead me to believe the board sucked it all up. So I added more oil, about 1 cup at at a time and continued to flip it. By morning there was maybe 250ml remaining in the bag. But I have less than half of 4L remaining.
As I let the board drip dry, oil kept leaching out of it for about 36 hours. I applied beeswax after about 12 hours, but it still found its way out. so left it for a about two about two days. before waxing it again.
Last edited by Sr. Mints; 06-26-2020 at 02:50 PM.
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I've found that beeswax works well by warming an oven to 250, turning it off, then putting the board in to heat soak. Helps the wax work its way in. Sometimes I'll re-apply and put it in for another round.
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That looks pretty good. I think if you had made a slurry with the glue and wood dust from sanding it might have matched a little better, but it looks nice anyway.
Oops, I kept thinking the one with the massive crack in the video was yours.
How to fix cracked cutting board?
