The American Flag Cutting Board - Part 2 

Thanks for watching the video and commenting. I appreciate it! Good luck on your build!

Thanks for watching Part 2 of the American Flag cutting board. This board was actually commissioned for the veterans clinic at the law school that I work for in central Missouri. It will actually never be cut on. I would have a hard time cutting on this board, as well as some of the others I've done. Ultimately, of course, it's up to the paying customer on how they'll use the board, but was happy to know this one would be more of a show piece. To answer your questions, yes, the stars could be engraved on the back side as well with some forethought and preparation.

@@DEJaegerWoodworking Thank you so much for your kind answer.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on a short vacation. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video. I appreciate the comment and compliment.

Thanks J P, appreciate the compliments as always. I had gone through several iterations of using the CNC to do an inlay, but am still working on that technique. Still hope to do a board with some inlays soon.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on a short vacation. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video. I appreciate the comment and compliment.

Thanks for watching the video and commenting. I appreciate it!

Thanks for watching the video and commenting. You can actually buy food safe epoxy for cutting boards, but you'll need to make sure that is specified in the product description. The epoxy I used in this board doesn't describe it as food safe, however, I made this board for a veterans clinic who simply wanted it as a decoration and isn't being used for food preparation. In my own mind as hard as epoxy is, and as non porous as it is, I can't image that food having limited exposure to it is going to kill anyone, or even make them sick. But that's just me.

Thanks for stopping by to watch the video and comment. I did see what you were talking about in the video, but I assure you that it was my work table surface that is a little on the uneven side. The board ended up completely solid with no flex or rocking on a solid surface. Here's a little trick if you do end up with a little bit of rocking on your cutting board and you're putting feet on it. Attach the feet, then turn the board over to see if you have any rocking. Determine the corner that is causing it and remove the foot from that corner. Take a small circular felt pad like you put on the bottom of a vase of something to prevent scratching, and place it between the board and the foot you remove. Screw the foot back in until it's firm, but don't over tighten. That little extra bit of space should eliminate the rocking on the board, and nobody ever knows it's there.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on a short vacation. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video. I appreciate the comment and compliment. I had purchased a stamp and hot iron previously and just wasn't happy with it, so once I got the CNC machine, I thought, why not just laser your name/logo into the project itself? I really need to work up a better logo so I just did the name. The CNC has really opened up some options.

Thanks for watching the video and commenting. I appreciate it. Even many years in I don't really consider myself all that talented. I watch a lot of videos and tips from other woodworkers, and I fail a lot, which teaches me even more than my successes.

Absolutely man, you are very talented! Keep up the good work. Not only is your woodworking great but your video editing, filming and narration is on point.

Thanks for watching the video and commenting. You can actually buy food safe epoxy for cutting boards, but you'll need to make sure that is specified in the product description. The epoxy I used in this board doesn't describe it as food safe, however, I made this board for a veterans clinic who simply wanted it as a decoration and isn't being used for food preparation. In my own mind as hard as epoxy is, and as non porous as it is, I can't image that food having limited exposure to it is going to kill anyone, or even make them sick. But that's just me.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on a short vacation. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video. I appreciate the comment and compliment. The blade is a Freud Thin Kerf rip blade. Here's a link on Amazon... smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000225UH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Unfortunately, I do not have a video on the sled that I made, but there are several great ones on RU-vid.

Thanks for stopping by to watch the video and comment. I purchased the SainSmart Genmitsu CNC Router Machine 3018-PROVer. Here's a link on Amazon's website. I've been pretty happy with it for never having used a CNC machine. Takes a lot of trial and error and there's a great Facebook users group of users that can really help you troubleshoot issues. smile.amazon.com/SainSmart-Genmitsu-3018-PROVer-Switches-Emergency-Stop/dp/B07ZFD6SKP/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=SainSmart+Genmitsu+CNC+Router+Machine+3018-PROVer&qid=1627778848&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSVNTR1ZNMTNMSEJKJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTMxNDAwMlRFN1pFMEQzRVRaSCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDY4NTk3MUxKSjg2TUNMUDdVMiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I’ve been looking at the same model for over a year and I think you just sold me on it

@@Jayhadd21 It took me about that long to finally pull the trigger. I also bought the 5 watt laser for it and have used it to burn a variety of things (coasters, bottle cap collectors, etc.). I even it now to burn my logo into all of my projects. It's been pretty handy to have.

@@DEJaegerWoodworking I was thinking I would be too small for things like that but you have proved me wrong… so I’m going to have to pick one up… is this perfect for custom cutting board

@@Jayhadd21 That really is the only drawback to that size of CNC machine. You are pretty limited on things that you can engrave, or be creative and rout what you need at a specific point, then put it together with other parts of the project. I decided to get the smaller CNC machine just too see how much I would use it before thinking about upgrading to something a little bigger. I still haven't made that decision because the smaller machine seems to be able to do everything that I've wanted so far.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on a short vacation. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video. I appreciate the comment and compliment. I did some pretty extensive research on the CNC laser. I wanted to start out small so I went with a desktop version. I knew it would limit some of the projects I could use it on, but expense and how often I was going to use it were really the driving factors on my purchase. In the end I ordered a SainSmart Genmitsu CNC Router Machine 3018-PROVer and have been pretty happy with it. It had a little bit of a learning curve, but I had never used one before, so that was to be expected. They have a pretty good support group on Facebook which helps get users up and running and to assist with other issues. At some point in the future I can see upgrading to a larger CNC, but for now, it works great for what I need it to do. Hope that helps.

@@DEJaegerWoodworking Thanks for the reply. Hope you enjoyed your vacation. After seeing your laser and looking at options I decided to make the plunge and bought a 3018 too. Yes, there is a steep learning curve but have been able to operate the laser without much trouble and am now learning to operate the router. You have enspired me to make cutting boards and would like to engrave my name on them but the 3018 is too small. The only way I have come up with is to put the board long ways into the 3018 and find a program that will allow me to rotate my signature vertically and then engrave. How did you do yours? I also turn pens and am looking for a way to engrave pens too. Be well.

@@kirbywheeler4479 Congrats on your CNC purchase! I've really enjoyed using mine for various projects. I've burned some custom drink coasters with various logos and sold them as gifts, and a few other things. I really need to use it more often, but with the other woodworking projects and video editing, time is in short supply. In regards to rotating your signature, I just used a basic text editing program to type out my signature and rotated it, then saved it as a .jpg file. I then open that file in LaserGrbl (free program), sized it and adjusted the burn settings, then saved it to a .nc file which the CNC machine reads. I did a LOT of test burns, but finally got things tuned pretty well.

Thanks for stopping by to watch the video and comment. I did see what you were talking about in the video, but I assure you that it was my work table surface that is a little on the uneven side. The board ended up completely solid with no flex or rocking on a solid surface. Here's a little trick if you do end up with a little bit of rocking on your cutting board and you're putting feet on it. Attach the feet, then turn the board over to see if you have any rocking. Determine the corner that is causing it and remove the foot from that corner. Take a small circular felt pad like you put on the bottom of a vase of something to prevent scratching, and place it between the board and the foot you remove. Screw the foot back in until it's firm, but don't over tighten. That little extra bit of space should eliminate the rocking on the board, and nobody ever knows it's there.