Leaderboard

I borrowed @dgman’s idea from the Spring scroll saw challenge and made this for my wife, Connie, who the grandkids call Nonnie. She fills our yard, porch, patio, etc with beautiful flowers and has 3 bird feeders, a hummingbird feeder, and a bird bath.

I timed myself and cut one of these in 4 minutes! Of coarse it looks nothing like a Dachshund but that just makes the puzzle way more challenging.

And only take the lightest of cuts with each pass. I've heard of some folks using a planer sled and adding a sacrificial block to the ends of the board, so that it takes the tear out instead of the cutting board. Again, I've never done it and have no intentions of doing it, but I believe it can be done.

I've made a couple end grain cutting boards, but never ran them through the planer to flatten them. I've watched a couple YT videos and believe it could be done, if you took precautions. However, for me, the risk outweighs the reward. I don't want to take a chance of ruining the board after I've put all the time & effort into getting it to that point. For me, it's better to put the time & effort into getting a good flat glue up so that you minimize the flattening required. The last one I made, I took a lot of time to ensure my cross cuts were straight & square. I used cauls to ensure my final glue up was as flat as possible. A few minutes with my 6" ROS, working through the grits, 60 - 100 - 150 - 220. It didn't take long at all, compared to the time I had already invested. A lot of people use a wide belt sander and that would be ideal, but I don't have one and am not inclined to get one anytime soon.