End-Grain Cutting Board

by Logan · Jul 9, 2026

Intermediate Home Décor #gift #glue-up #hardwood #kitchen CC BY 4.0 — Attribution

Build time: A weekend
Material cost: $50–100
Wood: Hard maple + walnut
Finished size: 16" × 12" × 1 1/2"

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Overview

This is an Example plan, has not been validated

The checkerboard end-grain board: the classic woodworking gift, and the project that teaches you glue-ups. End grain is kinder to knife edges and self-heals shallow cuts, which is why butcher blocks are built this way.

The trick that makes it easy: you do two glue-ups. The first makes a striped slab; the second crosscuts that slab and rotates the pieces to expose end grain. No piece-by-piece checkerboard assembly.

Materials

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Finishing

1 × Food-safe mineral oil · 8 oz
1 × Board butter (oil + beeswax)

Hardware & consumables

1 × Waterproof wood glue (Titebond III) · 8 oz
4 × Rubber feet with screws

Lumber & sheet goods

4 × Hard maple · 2" × 2" × 24"
4 × Walnut · 2" × 2" × 24"

Tools

Table saw — Ripping strips and crosscutting the slab
Thickness planer — Flattening after the first glue-up ONLY — never plane end grain Also works: Hand plane, Random orbit sander
Clamps — At least four 24" clamps
Random orbit sander — 80 through 220 grit

Everyday tools (hammer, tape measure, square) are assumed.

Build steps

1
Mill the strips
Step 1 of 6

Rip your maple and walnut into clean, square 1 3/4" × 1 3/4" strips, 24" long. Alternate-species strips must be the same dimensions or the checkerboard will drift — check with calipers if you have them.
2
First glue-up: the striped slab
Step 2 of 6

Glue the strips face-to-face, alternating maple and walnut, into one striped slab. Even clamp pressure, glue on every face. Let it cure overnight — this joint gets crosscut tomorrow and needs full strength.
3
Flatten the slab
Step 3 of 6

Scrape off the dried squeeze-out and run the slab through the planer (or hand-plane it) until both faces are flat and parallel. This is your last chance to use the planer — the next glue-up produces end grain, which planers tear out violently. Do not skip flattening now.
4
Crosscut and rotate
Step 4 of 6

Crosscut the slab into 1 3/4"-wide pieces. Rotate each piece 90° so the end grain faces up, and flip every other one so the species alternate — the checkerboard appears. Dry-fit and admire before any glue.
5
Second glue-up
Step 5 of 6

Glue the rotated pieces back together. Alignment matters more than pressure here — clamp a flat board (waxed, so it doesn't stick) across the top to keep everything level while the clamps pull sideways.
6
Sand, round, and finish
Step 6 of 6

Sand from 80 to 220 grit. Round the corners against a can, ease every edge, and cut finger grooves if you like. Flood the board with mineral oil until it stops drinking, then finish with board butter. Screw on the rubber feet.