Putting things together...

Week Thirty-One:Woodworking

There is a long list of knowledge and skills of which every grown man should have at least a rudimentary understanding. The talents included on this list are as varied as basic auto maintenance, how to balance a checkbook and the proper way to attack a Cover-2 defense. Unfortunately, as proven several times throughout this experience, I am deficient in far too many of these fundamental man-skills and therefore must make an attempt to familiarize myself as many as possible. Hence this week’s essential ability: woodworking.

Before getting into the process, however, allow me to provide the back story for this week’s experience. For the last several years’ worth of birthdays and Christmases, my girlfriend Jackie has been eagerly requesting a buffalo-shaped cutting board. But while this seems like a relatively easy demand, the subsequent search for said item has repeatedly proven itself futile. Aside from the occasional misshapen and overpriced piece at local arts and craft shows, none of which have been worth buying, it has been nearly impossible to find the coveted buffalo cutting board. Therefore, after years of frustration I decided to take the initiative to showcase my creativity and craftsmanship in making the board myself. Of course, since this was a recent decision it only made sense to incorporate the process into my yearlong adventure, 52to30.

I decided to start this adventure in the usual place, scouring the Internet for directions on how to construct a cutting board. Surprisingly, this is a relatively popular activity so there was no shortage of information and I quickly started to put together my plan. Once I compiled a list of materials and had a general idea of how to begin I started sorting through images of standing buffalo to use as a stencil for my board. I easily found an acceptable outline (not too detailed or cartoonish) and used a copy machine to blow the image up to the appropriate size, approximately 18”x12”.

My first real hiccup during this process was actually trying to find the right wood for my board. First, I was surprised to find several local hardware stores unable to help me in my quest for wood. After unsuccessfully visiting and calling a few of these stores I eventually wound up at a little place called WoodCraft, a wood-working specialty store whose validity I recently questioned – ironically enough. Going for the contrasted look of alternating light and dark strips of wood, I wanted to use maple and walnut but I was disappointed to learn they were unavailable so I had to settle on my back ups - oak and cherry.

With all the materials and plans assembled I started to measure my blocks of wood into 1-½ inch strips to be reassembled in alternating order. However, as I was getting ready to cut these strips I quickly realized I didn’t have the right saw to make such straight, thin cuts. It was beginning to dawn on me that this would be a little more difficult than I had originally envisioned. Thankfully though, whenever a situation like this arises I know exactly who to call – my good friend Terry.

Terry owns close to every tool imaginable and loves having an excuse to use them so, even though it was after 10pm when I called, he invited me right over to start working. After quickly discussing the plans, he quickly formed a strategy and we got to work. As previously mentioned, I now realized what I was in for so I was very thankful for Terry’s help since it would ensure a much better job. Rather than a trial by fire, I would be learning everything from someone who knows what they’re doing. Or so I thought.

After changing the blade in the table saw and calibrating the measurements (my previous pencil lines rendered meaningless) Terry started to cut the first strip of wood. Having not operated a power saw since Middle School Technology class, I decided to let him get things started while I watched and learned. However, as the blade cut into the board, Terry’s basement started filling with thick, white smoke to the point that you couldn’t see past five feet. Once the strip was cut, we turned off the smoke detectors and fanned away the smokescreen, Terry realized he put the blade in backwards.

Thankful that the friction didn’t start the wood on fire, we laughed it off, fixed the blade and started over. Things went much more smoothly from this point on as Terry cut the first board into strips before allowing me to do the same with the second. Next, we laid out the strips in the light-dark pattern to find the best combination to our puzzle – minimizing gaps and putting the two roughest edges on the top and bottom since they would be cut off anyway. Finally, we bonded these strips with wood glue before clamping them together to dry overnight.

When I arrived at Terry’s house the next night I was totally reassured by our progress. Looking at that board all sealed together and ready to be worked pumped me up beyond belief so after ensuring the strips were solid we began the process of sanding. Once again, Terry started off but we took pretty regular turns as we progressed from rough to fine sandpaper and the cutting board was made incredibly smooth before our eyes. This process is quite remarkable when you see rough, slightly uneven planks of wood come together as an even, smooth surface.

Once the sanding was finished it was time for the hard part. First, I took my stencil (the enlarged copy of a buffalo, cut out of several pieces of paper) and placed it in an ideal spot on the board, away from any major defects or gaps. Thankfully my calculations were correct and it fit perfectly! Using a pencil, I lightly traced the stencil onto the wood before touching up a few spots and retracing the shape with a fine-tip marker. My apprehensions were eased quite a bit when I saw how well it looked on the paper. Unfortunately, the most difficult part of all would be cutting it out.

Of course, as previously mentioned, if anyone has the right tool for the job, it’s Terry. This was no exception as he unveiled the fancy little handheld saw with turning radius, blah, blah, blah. (Sorry, I wasn’t taking notes so I can’t remember it’s official name.) With a strategy in mind Terry started cutting the wood, making slow but steady progress. I took a turn cutting along the top hump of the buffalo where the line is easier to navigate but even this didn’t last very long. We’d come too far at this point for me to screw it up so I deferred to Terry’s expertise. My job during this process was to rotate the board, adjust the clamps when necessary and keep the cord from getting caught.

After about fifteen to twenty minutes of heavy concentration on both our parts, Terry finished the cutting and the buffalo had taken shape. We decided to call it quits for the night and continue next week. Jackie’s birthday isn’t until next Sunday so we’ve got time to finish before then. However, all the tough jobs are done and we only have to sand the edges and stain the finished board with butcher-block oil – essential for sealing the wood against seepage from food products.

I am so happy with the cutting board at this stage and I’m very proud to have been a part of this process. Granted, Terry easily did most of the work but this experience was more about learning. I could have attempted this entire project on my own but there’s no way it would have been anywhere close to this successful. Instead, I would have been terribly frustrated in the process of creating a piece of crap which would have only been a tremendous waste of my time, energy and money. Instead, I learned way more about woodworking than I ever imagined, had a ton of fun with one of my best friends and created an incredible birthday gift for the woman I love. Sounds like an all around awesome experience to me.