Cutting Board Epoxy Inlay

Watch this overview video for the cutting board epoxy inlay as well as general epoxy tips and tricks.

Estimated time: 1 minutes

You can buy plenty of high quality cutting boards online, or you can build one yourself.

We built an end-grain cutting board using the plans from the Wood Whisperer. You can find the "plans for that cutting board here":http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/how-to-make-a-butcher-block-cutting-board/

Estimated time: 1 minutes

You can download vector art from the internet to create your inlay picture, or you can freehand it yourself.

Once you have the image created as a SVG file, import the file into Easel. If your inlay will be the same width as the width of your bit, simply do an “On-path outline” of about 3/16" deep. If it is not the same width, use a pocket or fill operation.

If the edges of your cutting board are round or if you don’t have a good corner to zero off of, consider moving the center of your image to the (0,0) coordinate in the lower left. This way, you can zero your machine to the center of your cutting board and have it cut from there. The linked Easel project I’m using here has my art centered at (0,0) like this.

Make sure to set your material and bit size correctly in Easel before starting. If you have two different types of wood in your project, pick the harder wood so that the feed rates are more conservative.

Consider doing a test run in some cheap plywood first so that you don’t ruin an expensive cutting board!

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Go ahead and colorize your epoxy using dyes, powders, or even acrylic paint like we did.

We used a food-safe epoxy called "ArtResin":http://www.artresin.com/ . Remember to mix very thoroughly!

Then use an industrial syringe to fill in the inlay with epoxy and then let it cure for 24 hours.

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Sand down the epoxy until it is level with your working surface.

Estimated time: 60 minutes