My brother is a musician, and his birthday was fast approaching, so I decided to try my hand at an end grain cutting board with a keyboard theme. This was a first for me, so I thought… how hard could it be? A couple YouTube videos and I had the gist of how to build one. I did read somewhere about some dimension issues, so I was careful to lay it out before cutting any wood. Keep reading to see how I made it.
PLANNING THE LAYOUT
Yes, the dimensioning was one of the more challenging parts of this project. I started by measuring the keys on a piano as a baseline. You would think it would be easy from there, but as I laid it out, I realized the math doesn’t work out. The gaps between the real piano keys are smaller than the 1/16” walnut spacers between the 7/8” wide white keys of the cutting board. This throws the width of the black keys off by a small amount (0.052”). The problem is, if you don’t correct for the difference, the error stacks up across the width of the triple black key section, and the offset against the white keys adds up to 3/16”. Since there are two sets of triple black keys, that’s a 3/8” error across the board.
The final dimensions I worked out.
There are four patterns that make up the keyboard. A section of two black keys that sit above a section of three white keys, and a section of three black keys that sit above a section of four white keys.
MAKING THE BLACK KEYS
I used walnut stock bought as cutoffs from a local mill, so I’m limited to small rough-cut boards with my inventory.
I start by turning the rough-cut lumber into finished boards. I finish one face on the jointer, then one edge perpendicular to that face. Once I have the two reference surfaces established, the thickness planer mills the faces parallel.
Walnut boards milled and ready for cutting on the table saw.
I then cut them to slightly wider than the final key dimension on the band saw.
The planer finishes the black key’s widths to the exact dimension.
At this point I need to keep the two thicknesses separated. As I calculated in the layout, there are two slightly different widths of black keys.
MAKING THE WHITE KEYS
The white keys are made up of three different widths. The full width of all the keys is 7/8” at the distal ends. Like the black keys, the white keys filling the gaps between the black keys are two slightly different widths.
I start with 2″ thick maple stock and cut it the same length as my longest walnut piece.
After flattening one face and creating the reference edge on the maple block, I slice off one-inch pieces on the bandsaw which will be planed to their final dimension of 7/8”. Because the stock is 2” thick, I cut enough material in half on the bandsaw to make the full-width keys. The rest are sliced into narrower pieces to create the narrower end of the white keys.
TIP: Each time I make a bandsaw cut; I reestablish the edge of the stock on the jointer before making the next cut. This removes the saw marks and gives me a new flat edge to run against the bandsaw fence and the planer bed. It takes more time up front, but I believe the finished pieces are more accurate.
Planing strips of maple to the final thickness. These will be cut into narrow strips to be used as the sections of white keys between the black keys.
The black key patterns cut to width and arranged prior to glue-up.
Between the wide sections of white keys are thin strips of walnut. I used the drum sander to get them down to 1/16”. If you don’t have a drum sander, you can use a sled to mill pieces this thin using a thickness planer.
ASSEMBLING THE BOARD
Gluing up the triple black key section. Notice the longer thin strip of walnut. The strip of maple below it is not glued on, but is a caul used to exert even pressure on the 1/16” strip of walnut. Without a caul, the clamps could introduce a slight wave in the thin strip. The double black key section is glued up the same way.
Gluing up the white keys in both the three and four groups together. Notice the waxed paper between the third and fourth white key to keep the groupings separated. The far-most strip of maple is used as a caul to keep even pressure on the 1/16” strip of walnut.
The pattern of each of the glued-up sections as they relate to each other. The goal is to ensure a single octave of key sections are the exact same width when assembled. Here, you can see the upper and lower groupings are perfectly aligned. Also note that the upper and lower 1/16” slices of walnut to the right of the third white key must be perfectly aligned.
Because this is an end-grain board, each of the sections is cut into lengths that are equal to the thickness of the board and stood on end before gluing the entire pattern together. I set my stop on my modular sled and cut enough pieces to make the keyboard.
This is a dry fit of the cut-off sections to check alignment.
Rather than glue the entire keyboard at once, I glued up the key sections separately first. Here are the double black keys aligned and clamped.
Once each section was done, I glued the sections together to create the full-width keyboard.
The rest of the board is an assortment of cherry blocks to offset the maple and walnut. I cut a bunch of strips, then cut them to length on the sled and stood them all up on end. Normally, I would make these squares the same size as the rest of the squares on the board, but I didn’t have thick enough cherry stock.
I use a bench vise with bench dogs as a glue station. It’s a flat surface, and using cauls, I can apply even clamping pressure to all the pieces with the vise. Packing tape wrapped around the edge of the cauls keeps the glue squeeze-out from adhering the caul to the board.
Notice the first piece in place in the upper left corner.
One thing to consider when making an end-grain board is grain direction. Because the board expands in the length and width of the board, it’s a good idea to alternate the direction of the grain to be sure the board expands evenly at all points throughout the board.
Before gluing up the board, I arrange all the pieces off to the side in their final pattern. With the limited amount of glue working time, the last thing I want to do is decide the placement and orientation of each piece as I pick it up, add glue to it and set it in place. Preparation pays off here. Sure, a few pieces get turned around in the mayhem of glue-up, but a few misaligned pieces will be inconsequential.
In the perpendicular direction, I use pipe clamps and cauls.
The keyboard and cherry sections ready to be married together after trimming the cherry section to the exact width of the keyboard. The two sections are separated by 1/16” walnut pieces.
Finally, I added more cherry blocks to the sides to the board.
Trimming and squaring the board on the table saw.
Flattening the board on the drum sander. Some people take light passes on a thickness planer, but planing end grain is a dangerous move and I DO NOT recommend it.
After easing the edges with a round-over bit and a few hours of final sanding to 320 grit, the board gets a laser-engraved logo and is ready for finish.
The board after a short soak in food-grade mineral oil. The board is still wet, but the matte squares show how the end grain soaks up the oil at different rates depending on the variations in the grain. The final appearance will be a matte finish across the board.
I wrapped the board inside an old pillowcase and let it sit for a week or so before applying a few coats of butcher block conditioner. The cloth soaks up the oil that blooms back to the surface over time. The conditioner has waxes in addition to mineral oil which seals the board.
CONCLUSION
This board is not difficult to make once you lay it out, though like any end-grain board, it is time consuming. With a good set of calipers and patience with light passes through the thickness planer, accurate dimensions will result in a nicely aligned keyboard.
The tools I used to make it were:
- Miter Saw
- Jointer
- Thickness Planer
- Table Saw
- Crosscut Sled (see my build here)
- Band Saw
- Drum Sander
- Pipe Clamps
- Random Orbital Sander
- Dial Caliper
- Tape Measure
