End Grain Coffee Pour Over Station

 

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Full video build is below, followed by detailed instructions with tools and measurements!
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This was such a great little project. Scrap hardwood is not easy to come by and is quite pricy when bought, so I wanted to make the most of it. I had the concept for an end grain cutting board project influenced by Homemade-Modern's coffee pour over station design a few months back. Not having the proper tools to do it or the materials, I shelved it until I knew I was ready / skilled enough to pull it off. The time is now!

MATERIALS
African Mahogany Hardwood (About 3 BF of 4/4 Stock at 8.5" long)
TiteBond II Wood Glue
Mineral Oil
Galvanized Pipe (see details below!)
Wood Screws

I started by ripping all of my wood into strips at 1.375" on my Miter Saw with the grain. A table saw works better for this if you're looking to do many cuts, but a Miter Saw with a stop was efficient for the number of cuts I made. 

Next, I grouped my strips into sets of six and laminated them together. My one regret here is not mixing up the pieces into more of a pattern based on the various looks of the end grain. Next time! 

Make sure you use lots of glue and a credit card make it very easy to spread and cover all of the surfaces. 

I then clamped all my sets of 6 to dry overnight. I lined up the ends as much as I could and used a mallet and a scrap piece to keep everything very flat (or as much as I could!)

The next day, I ran my pieces through the planer. The manual recommends to not plane anything shorter than 12 inches, but the key should be to not plane anything shorter than the distance between the two rollers of your planer. Otherwise, it will get caught and I honestly couldn't tell you what kinds of things might happen then. If I had to guess, a black hole will open up and the earth will collapse on itself. So tread lightly. My pieces ere 8.5 inches, so I was set to plane and it all came out great. I then square up the sizes of each piece in preparation for ripping strips again. 

I ripped 25 total strips at 1.5" from my 5 pieces, meaning I could get two boards (one with 12 strips, one with 13).

I laid out my pieces on my clamps, flipped a few pieces to mix up the end grain pattern, and then rotated them 90° in preparation for my end grain glue up. 

Same recommendation as before. Use ample glue, spread it well to cover all of your surfaces, square up your edges with scrap pieces or a mallet, and clamp slowly to avoid slipping. Also, you should clamp from the top to avoid bowing, and you can go back after 10 minutes and wipe off excess glue with a wet rag. 

As hard as I tried, this didn't quite glue up flat. I think my surface was uneven to start. You live and you learn. 

Now there is a ton of controversy in the woodworking community about planing end grain. This being my first project and just unsure of all of the consequences, I chose to use my stationary belt sander to flatten everything. It took quite a bit of time, but worked well and left me with a smooth flat finish on both faces and all of the sides. 

I opted to not use a router to take down my edges. Instead, I could just rotate my piece slowly on the belt sander and they rounded out very nicely. Had I wanted another edge style, I might have chosen the other route. After belt sanding, I switched to orbital sanding at 120, followed by hand sanding at 220, 320, and 400, including a wet sanding at 220. Oil won't raise the grain, but knowing this is a cutting board that will likely get wet quite a bit, I wanted to make sure I did a wet sanding to avoid having the wood rough up down the road. I was so stoked at this point at how this project was coming together. 

I'm using a food safe mineral oil specific for cutting boards for this project. This is definitely the most satisfying part of the build. Seeing the grain pop was a lovely experience. I applied two coats an hour apart and wiped off any excess oil once it had dried. 

My pour over station uses five galvanized pipe pieces including (all 1/2"):

  • Floor Flange
  • 8" Nipple
  • Elbow Fitting
  • 1/2" Nipple
  • Tee Fitting

That all are screwed together and held in place with friction. I'd recommend cleaning your pieces with a degreaser or dish soap (at a minimum) before final assembly. 

Last up, I measured out, marked my drill holes, drilled pilot holes, and screwed in and tightened my pipe flanges to one end of my cutting board. And then I was done! I'd call this first project a success. 

Now all I need to do is buy a funnel for the pour over station!

Really digging this thing!

TOOLS
RYOBI 10 in. Sliding Compound Miter Saw
12” Rafter Square
RYOBI Cordless Orbital Sander
RYOBI Cordless Orbital Sander
RYOBI Combo Power Tool Kit
RYOBI Drill Bit Set
ROCKLER Bench Cookies (Set of 4)
Wen 12.5” Thickness Planer
BESSEY Economy 2.5” x 24” Clutch Clamps
BESSEY H Style Pipe Clamps
Hand Sanding Sponges (220, 320, and 400 grit)
Rubber Mallet
5-Gallon 4.5 Peak HP Wet Dry Vacuum
Air CompressorShop Vacuum
Screw Driver
Spray Bottle (for wet sanding)

Thanks for reading! I would be so grateful if you could please subscribe to my Youtube Channel for future projects. I put out videos every other week.

Cheers!

Zach

 

The Vintage Wooden Crates

 

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My full video of the build is below, followed by detailed instructions with tools, materials, and measurements! 

As stated in the video - the awesome thing about this project is how easy it is to make a few of these crates from just one sheet of plywood - I purchased a single $40 piece and was able to build three large ones specific to the free space I have.

MATERIALS
1 x 4' x 8' Plywood (3/4" thick)
Minwax Colonial Maple
Minwax Wipe On Satin Polyurethane
TiteBond II Wood Glue
1” Brad Nails
1” Pocket Hole Screws
Black Inkjet Printer Ink

Here is a simple diagram of how I went about slicing up my wood. The red highlights are excess wood you'll have left over for another project. I ended up not using all of the longer strips as well.

My measurements can be found below when I show all of my cut up pieces, but realistically, you can make these to any size or shape you want - just make sure you plan out roughly what you'll be able to cut from the wood you purchase so you don't run out halfway through and need to go to the store again!

I started out by using my newly purchased Kreg Rip Cut and Ryobi Circular Saw to make large rips of my plywood - the Rip Cut is a great substitute tool for those who don't have a table saw or do not have someone to help assist you in feeding/ripping large pieces of wood. 

Once I had my larger strips ripped, I took to my Miter Saw to cut the pieces into their final size. In the pictures above, I'm ripping my Front/Back pieces as well as my Side pieces. For the side pieces, since they were 21" long (much longer than any Miter Saw can cut), I cut one side of the piece, then flipped it over and lined it back up with my blade to finish the cuts. 

Using the Miter Saw was much more efficient for the smaller cuts as the Rip Cut, although awesome, gets tricky when trying to make smaller cuts (the large straight ruler is not adjustable in length, so if you try to clamp small pieces of wood down, etc., the track will run into your clamps and you won't be able to make cuts without adjusting them). Hard to explain - but just trust me on this one. 

My measurements can be seen above as well - again - I cut them this way to fit my specific space. 

Next, I took to creating my logos. Now, I don't have a laser cutter or a CNC machine and I wasn't looking to purchase any stencils, etc., so I researched and found a DIY method that is awesome and can be easily replicated by anyone with a printer.

I chose Coca Cola and Anhueser Busch as my two "classic logos" and then created my own Cutting Bored logo w/location and dates using my own brand guidelines. Again - choose any logos you want for your projects!

This was an interesting process to go through as I had never done it before. The way you do it is to design your logos and then print them out at whatever size you want as a mirrored image onto wax paper. Wax paper is thin and tricky and can easily get bunched up in your printer feed, so I recommend taping it down to another sheet of regular printer paper so it feeds through easier. Also, feel free to print out very large logos on separate pieces of paper and then combine to form larger ones incase you think a standard 8.5 x 11" piece of paper will be too small - I did this with 2/3 of my boxes. 

Once your logo prints, press it against the wood you want to to apply it to (be accurate and meticulous about this as the ink immediately begins to bleed over) and use any credit card type object to flatten and push the ink onto the wood fully. NOTE - only inkjet printers will work for this method as the ink will be wet and won't stick well to the wax paper. If done correctly, the ink will bleed nicely into the wood permanently. If you want to go a different route, you can absolutely purchase stencils and spray paint and apply accordingly.

I also recommend using thicker logos for the ink method specifically - as you can see - the Cutting Bored and Coca Cola logos are much more legible than the Anhueser Busch logo. Still look great though!

I then drilled and assembled using my pocket hole jig and pocket hole screws - this is always my go to method for assembling projects that will have hidden joints. If you don't have a pocket hole jig, you can use wood screws, nails, or other types of joinery to piece together. 

All assembled! 

Sanded down using 60 grit sand paper to round all the edges and wear them down - your goal is to make them look old!

Decided to cut our holes for handles on the boxes. You can get super precise with this if you choose, but I mostly freehanded things using a hole saw and my jig saw - they work well for the theme of old/vintage for this project. 

I added a few slats to the Coca Cola box using glue and finish nails, then cut off the excess pieces using my jig saw. They help give a bit of different character to the box. 

Lastly, I applied a single coat of Minwax's Colonial Maple stain - after looking at all of Minwax's collection, Colonial Maple tended to have the closest resemblance to what old crates look like. I also added in a bit of American Walnut to darken it. I think they came out great. If I could go back, I think it might be fun to stain them all slightly different as to give them variety, but to each their own! I also applied a single coat of Minwax's Wipe On Satin Polyeurethane finish to give them protection and a bit of sheen. 

All finished and in their new home! These are fantastic for extra storage (I will use them to store smaller tools, film production equipment, and other electrical and building related equipment I own. If you want building information on the bench featured above, you can check out my blog on it here.

Now get out there and make something unique of your own!

TOOLS
RYOBI 10 in. Sliding Compound Miter Saw
RYOBI Miter Saw Stand
RYOBI Cordless Orbital Sander (60 Grit)
RYOBI Combo Power Tool Kit (Drill, Impact Driver, Circular Saw, Multi-Tool)
KREG K5 Pocket Hole Jig
KREG Rip Cut
12” Rafter Square
Hammer
Hole Saw (2”)
Hand Sanding Sponges (120 Grit)

 

FILM / EDIT EQUIPMENT:
Canon Rebel EOS T2i
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens
Rode Microphone
Voice Recording
Adobe Premiere (Editorial)

As always, thank you for reading! I would be so grateful if you could please subscribe to my new Youtube Channel for future projects. I put out videos every two weeks.

Cheers!

Zach

 

Power-Carved "Lissome Table"

 

Thanks for checking out the full article! 

Full video build is below, followed by detailed instructions with tools and measurements!
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking here!

Wow! What an insane project. I really never know what I'm getting into with some of these ridiculous builds until I'm deep into it and realized how ambitious of a project it truly was. 

MATERIALS
8 x 1" x 3" Ash Hardwood (20 BF milled down)
Natural Danish Oil
TiteBond II Wood Glue

I drew inspiration for this piece from named Caleb Woodard, an incredibly talented woodworker who creates stunning pieces that have amazing shape and contour of all types and sizes. Thanks for the inspiration! Check out his page when you have a sec!

Lissome is a term that describes a shape as thin, supple, and graceful - so that was what I was going to go for with this one of a kind piece. 

My first step was to measure out the size of my space and determine a Length x Width x Height for my project. After that, I could determine what I wanted my rough shape to look like, and from that, I could determine the amount of material to purchase. 

My methodology for this was as such:

  1. Determine Length x Width x Height of table
  2. Divide the depth (width) of my table into "slices" of a certain width (I chose 3") so that I could have five slices at 3" wide to make the final width of 15" for my table
  3. Determine what I want the outside shapes to look like (roughly)
  4. Determine the shape of the inner three slices so that I could transition from one outside shape to another - this was a lot of trial and error until I got to a shape I was happy with
  5. Create a side profile of your shape to make sure the transition is adequate
  6. Knowing now the five layer/slices I'd wan to build, determine the number of laminated pieces I'd need for each slice shape, and then transition those numbers to an overall lumber order
  • The first photo shows my five slices. 
  • The second photo shows those slices color coded based on the length of each piece (example: red = 5 inches)
  • The third photo is all of my pieces mapped out on dimensional lumber. I determined I'd need to order 8 x 10' x 4/4 stock wood cut at 3" wide each. Thus, each slat would be 10' long, roughly 1" thick, and 3" wide. 
Image 5.jpg

Above is the final number of pieces I cut for this project - it was a bit time consuming but probably the fastest part of the whole project! Just set up a stop on your miter saw. 

Next, I could begin laminating my individual slices. I took this slow and consistently referenced my design plans (print them out for reference). Since I chose not to use finish nails to hold my pieces in place as I did not want to hit anything when I was eventually carving this piece down, I took the clamping very slowly, just slowly tightening each section so that nothing slipped and it all stayed flat. Doing this on top of a flat piece of plywood was very helpful and avoided any big mess in my driveway. 

A tip I picked up from Lumberjocks for spreading glue is to use an old credit card - works quickly and very efficiently for getting a thin, solid layer of glue. I let each glue up cure for 12 hours each. 

I repeated this process for each of my five layers. Again - this will take some time, so prep accordingly, as you want to give each section proper time to cure. 

Even though I was careful to keep things flat, the pieces still needed flattening on each end before laminating. I used my stationing belt sander for this - and it was very quick and efficient. You can see the difference in the first and third photo. They were all prepped for final lamination now. 

Again - no finish nails to hold this in place, so with each layer I stacked, I took it slow, spread the glue evenly, and clamped up incrementally to avoid slipping. The photos show the progression of each layer, resulting in the final raw shape in the last photo. Not bad right?

I also laminated my table top at this point (my 5 x 23" pieces) - very simple and straight forward - just make sure to use clamps on the top and bottom to avoid any "bowing" and spread the glue evenly. After 10 minutes, you can go back and wipe away excess squeeze out. Let it dry for 12 hours before doing any work on it. I wasn't sure what my final length would be for the top, so I aimed high knowing I could cut away whatever I needed. 

Time to shape! ArborTech sent me their Turboplane Blade for free to use in this project. It comes with everything you need to attach it to your 4" or 4.5" angle grinder. 

This thing is POWERFUL. I love it and was so excited to use it to shape my final table. Below is a sequence of photos of me carving up my piece.

I tried every method in the book to sand this down, starting with belt sanding (80 grit), orbital sanding (60 grit) for curves, more fine shaping with the Turboplane, use of a small dremel sander, and then hand sanding with 60, 120, 220, 320,and 400 grit papers. 

However, no matter what I did - I just couldn't get this thing to flatten out - it was smooth, but it was wavy and frankly, looked like crap. If you reference the second photo where I am orbital sanding, you can see the grooves I am referring to - those just couldn't be flattened with my current methods. At this point, I was very close to giving up (or settle for lame), but chose instead to go through a bunch of channels to figure out how to flatten wood carvings, etc..

Enter - some good advice from Caleb Woodard himself and the 40 grit flap disc. This was a game changer. I removed the blade guard on my angle grinder and went to town on my project. Within an hour or two of consistent sanding - being careful not to push too hard but hard enough where needed or staying in one spot too long to avoid burning, this thing suddenly smoothed out like crazy. Wood shaping at its finest!

I then could switch to finer sanding (again!!), including orbital and hand sanding at 120 and 220 grit. This really helped bring out the smoothness in the contour of the piece. I finished with a dry and wet sanding at 320 grit, and this thing was ready for finishing. Flat as can be and smooth as ever!

Below are the steps for cleaning up the table top.

I flattened/sanded down the surface on my stationary sander, which got rid of nearly all of the glue. I then cut to my final length using my circular saw (I also cleaned up the edge straight on my stationary sander as I didn't have a straight edge to follow).

I then used a 1/2" round over bit with my plunge router on the under side of the table to give it a sleeker profile (my first time ever using a router - they're wonderful). Lastly, I went up through the grits from 120 to 320 to smooth down the top in prep for finish. 

To finish things off, I wiped on a coat of Natural Danish Oil using a microfiber rag to both the top of the table and the table itself. I love this stuff - makes the grain pop beautifully and allows you to feel the wood once it cures. I recommend it for any project where you just want to make it pop!

And finally...I was done! the picture below doesn't do it justice (maybe?), but I'm thrilled with the coolness of it. I think my favorite part is the cool transitions between the edge grain and the end grain. And overall, it just looks awesome. 

Everyone has asked me if I am planning to ditch the wood table top and substitute in a glass top. I think now, after seeing it all put together, I will do this - but I just won't be able to finalize it immediately - so for now. Enjoy!

Few final tips for you here:

  • The TurboPlane works well to carve lots of material away as well as do fine planing - after I carved everything down I went back and did light passes to further shape and contour the project to cut down on sanding
  • A flap disc is a must to take down the carving grooves - you will not be able to flatten out the curves to make it smooth flowing otherwise (as far as I can tell)
  • An orbital sander works best to begin giving you the rounded smooth shape you want, followed by hand sanding with a sanding sponge.
  • The TurboPlane makes a MESS! So be prepared for shavings to be everywhere and you to be covered in sawdust. 
  • Buy a face protector and gloves for this, and wear a long sleeve shirt when carving/sanding - you'll need to be shielded properly from all the material flying everywhere
  • Do not make your blank shape too small - if you do, you'll really struggle to get your angle grinder into the tight gaps and thus potentially ruin your project before it even has a chance

TOOLS
ARBORTECH TURBOPlane Blade
MAKITA Paddle Switch 4.5” Angle Grinder
RYOBI 10 in. Sliding Compound Miter Saw
RYOBI Miter Saw Stand
RYOBI Cordless Orbital Sander
RYOBI Belt Sander
RYOBI Stationary Bench Sander
RYOBI Router Set
RYOBI Drill Bit Set
ROCKLER Bench Cookies (Set of 4)
BESSEY Economy 2.5” x 12” Clutch Clamps
BESSEY Economy 2.5” x 24” Clutch Clamps
BESSEY H Style Pipe Clamps
Hand Sanding Sponges (120, 220, 320, and 400 grit)
Flap Discs (4.5", 40 Grit)
12” Rafter Square
5-Gallon 4.5 Peak HP Wet Dry Vacuum
Air Compressor
Spray Bottle for wet sanding

FILM / EDIT EQUIPMENT: 
Canon Rebel EOS T2i:  
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens
Rode Microphone
Voice Recording
Adobe Premiere (Editorial)

Thanks for reading! I would be so grateful if you could please subscribe to my Youtube Channel for future projects. I put out videos every other week.

Cheers!

Zach