Best glue for wooden cutting board.

[Sled Puller]

After seeing my beautiful restored oak table get another gash in it, it is time to build a nice cutting board.



Mini Butcher block, maybe, it will be 1 1/2'- 2" thick.



What glue have you guys had the best luck with?





Gene

 

[illflem]

Plastic Resin Glue. Brown powder that you mix with water. At every hardware store.

 

[dan_gilson]

Titebond II is water resistant and is 1 part (i. e. no mixing). It works just like yellow carpenter's glue.



The next step up would be some of the new urathane (one brand is called gorilla glue www.gorillaglue.com) which you put on 1 side and the other you wet down with water. It bubbles up. You must wear latex exam gloves otherwise you might get your skin stuck.



The next step up would be a marine epoxy. 2 part. Need gloves also. Cleanup is a pain. Need to scrap any runout with scraper after it hardens.



I think the Titebond II will work just fine as long as you do not soak the board in water or run it throug the disk washer.



Note: A better cutting board is the white ultra high density plastic. These are what the butcher/meat cutter use because of greater sanitation. They are dish washer safe and when they get really worn you just take a belt sander to them and they are as good as new for a few more years. They are also about a 10th the cost of good hard maple. So unless you have your heart set on spending a weekend making beautiful noise in the shop go down to your local kitchen supply and spend $15 to $25.

 

[Sled Puller]

Ixnay on the plastic.



I have the maple, been eyeballing it everytime I walk into the garage. 1x4, should finish at 15/16.



As far as food or soft drinks goes, I'm a believer in glass and good hard maple!



I hate plastic on my food.

Thanks for the info.

 

[dan_gilson]

I understand. Let that saw sing. Keep all yer digits.

 

[Bill Lins]

I'm a big fan of Weldwood contact cement. Coat both surfaces, let 'em dry, and be dang sure you put 'em together the way you want 'em the FIRST time- there AIN'T no SECOND time!

 

[JBoesl]

Titebond 2 I have built many of them useing it. By the way bateria dies faster on maple than plastic.



Jason

 

[pnwradar]

I'll second the vote for Gorilla Glue. It's a bit more expensive than Titebond, but you use a lot less glue. It reacts with moisture to cure, so you run a thin bead on one piece, spread it out with some laminate or popsicle stick, lightly mist the other piece with water, and clamp up. Really simple to clean up overrun, any glue that seeps out when you clamp turns into crispy foam when it dries. I seem to get about 20 mins working time, which is long enough to make sure it's right after adding enough clamps to hold it there.



Aside from being more expensive, it also surface cures in the bottle, giving a nice crust on the top of the glue. Either store it upside down, or get small bottles. I've been seeing little 4oz sample bottles at the hardware shops that are about right for my glacial project pace.



A note about wearing gloves: it has a long working time, so it's unlikely that you'll glue your fingers together. However, it will darkly stain your skin (wears off in a few days, don't ask me how I know this).



After you've got it all glued up, planed down, and looking just right, the local kitchen store will have bottles of food-grade mineral oil. Perfect for coating wooden utensils and cutting boards, helps to keep them looking nice and makes cleaning easier.



-jon-

 

[DarrellB]

Jon's right, The Gorrila Glue is pretty tuff stuff. We use it all the time at the cabinet shop to glue up cutting boards and butcher-block table tops. I have built several using the gorrila clue and never seen one come apart. Once you get it sanded down were you want it take the mineral oil (food grade) and coat it about 5 times, and in between each coat let it sit and soak in about an hour or two. And it never hurts to give it a good coat every other month or so. We usually make most of our butcher-block tops 1 1/2" thick, seems to work out best that way.



Good luck on the project and watch the fingures.

Big D