Butchers table chequer board effect????

[Leeswoodcraft]

Hi all !!!! Just joined the woodwork forum site after talking to a guy ( dave ttc) at the Jeff's shed wood show ... And apparently this is the place to ask any questions I have ... So here's looking for some advice / guidance !! I want to make a butchers table with the chopping block to be in a chequered fashion as I've seen on some chopping boards ie 2 different colours ,,, what would be the recommended materials to use and how do I stain the colours ????
I would also like to make some items with a distressed finish as in a white finish where you can see the wood through it so it looks old and really don't know where to start on this .... Think that's enough to keep you all busy for now and I look forward to some tips Cheers all lee!!!

[bsrlee]

Firstly: No staining. The light/dark checkerboard effect in most modern chopping boards is done with the heart and sap wood from plantation trees - usually 'rubber tree' thinnings from rubber plantations.

The 'old fashioned' way was to use 2 timbers of contrasting colours and similar expansion co-efficients cut into square cross sectioned strips which were then glued up in panels of alternating light/dark timbers with the long grain running the length of the strips. These panels in turn were glued up into thicker panels so that the colours alternated (you need an even number of strips for this to work). This process was repeated until the 'panel' was as big as would fit through the shop's band saw, whereupon they cut them into slightly over length pieces, squared them roughly and glued up the final huge piece. After that it was all hand planning, with the final cross grain surface being done with a low angle plane - where the name 'block plane' comes from - they were used for flattening the surface of butcher's chopping benches. This is a real PITA to do without lots of clamps, space and time, a big capacity saw, sharp planes and lots of elbow grease.

The 'quick' alternative is to use veneer, cut multiple squares and then glue them down onto a stable backing like Marine or Hoop pine plywood. Not suitable for cutting on, appearance only and if it gets wet you can have the whole lot bubble and peel off.

As for the 'distresed' finish, I think you are looking for the 'farm' finish that was popular a few years ago. The method I have seen in print is to use a 'milk paint' (Porters make real milk paint in Australia in fairly pastel colours - its a powder you mix with water, if unused it goes rancid after a few days when mixed but keeps for yonks if kept dry, you can get brighter colours on line from the US - eg Lee Valley sell a good range) then paint over it with an oil based 'enamel' paint. The enamel paint should start to wrinkle and crack after a few weeks. You can use multiple coats of milk paint in different colours to give multiple show through colours, sanding back areas that would have been exposed to wear in real life, then sanding or scraping through any thickening in the oil based paint layer.

[Glennet]

As for the 'distresed' finish, I think you are looking for the 'farm' finish that was popular a few years ago. The method I have seen in print is to use a 'milk paint' (Porters make real milk paint in Australia in fairly pastel colours - its a powder you mix with water, if unused it goes rancid after a few days when mixed but keeps for yonks if kept dry, you can get brighter colours on line from the US - eg Lee Valley sell a good range) then paint over it with an oil based 'enamel' paint. The enamel paint should start to wrinkle and crack after a few weeks. You can use multiple coats of milk paint in different colours to give multiple show through colours, sanding back areas that would have been exposed to wear in real life, then sanding or scraping through any thickening in the oil based paint layer.

I don't know where you are in Melbourne but Grimes Paint in Research sells milk paints and also oil/water mix paints that give the sort of finish you may be looking for.

[Avery]

Here's a video.

Making a 3D end grain cutting board

There are lots of other videos on the same topic. a Google search will find them.