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Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

A package arrived today containing just over 3 board-feet of birdseye maple. The arrival of the lumber has derailed my "Walnut Project 'X'" plans a bit, but I have a more interesting project at hand... a "kraut cutter".

* Click photos to enlarge

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Upon opening the package, I was surprised to see what $65.00 in rough birdeye maple actually looked like... At over $12.00 a board-foot I cannot afford many errors.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Due to the fact that I only have a 6-inch wide powered joiner, I used a #5 jack plane and a #7 joiner plane to get one side of the 8-inch wide boards flat.

I planed from the high side of the board toward the low side to establish the initial face of the board, though it was far from being flat at this stage.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

It is difficult to see the actual "birdseye" in the pictures. What looks like tear-out (or dimples) to the left of the plane is acually the "birdseye" in the maple.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

The board was edge joined prior to running through the planer.

The "birdseye" pattern is a bit easier to see in the photograph just to the right of the leg-vice.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After quite a bit of work, both boards are now planed flat and ready for layout.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Now that both boards have been planed, I started to work on the base of the kraut cutter that holds the cutting blades.

Due to the amount of moisture that the board will endure, I wanted to limit relying on mechanical fasteners or standard glue joints to hold the cutter together. To achieve this, I decided to construct the board with sliding dovetails.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a Freud dovetail bit, I created a dovetail that is 3/8" tall and 5/8" wide.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

This board, with dovetails on each long side, will form the base of the kraut cutter.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

You can see how the dovetails will provide far more mechanical strength as opposed to the small amount of increased glue area that the small tenon created on the original plywood base.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using the original base as a guide, I marked and cut the base pieces at a matching angle to the cutting blades, which will be installed later.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using the original rails as a reference, I marked out the new rails on another piece of birdseye maple.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After I cut the new rails to width, I clamped them together and planed both the top and bottom surfaces flat and smooth to remove any saw blade marks.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I started planing the face of the rail smooth with a #4 smoothing plane and finished with a card scraper.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

With the help of the layout lines, you can begin to see how the dovetails on the base will eventually slide into the side of the rails. The shaded areas will be removed with a dado blade on the table saw. I will complete the dovetail using the aforementioned dovetail bit installed in the router table.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Here you can see the two dados that were machined into the original rail. The top dado allowed the "box" holding the cabbage to be slid back and forth over the cutters while the lower dado provided a way to attach the base.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a dado blade, a featherboard, and a push-stick, a 3/8" wide dado was cut into the two new birdseye maple rails.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

The layout lines and the first cut dados give a good perspective of how these rails will be constructed. The lower dados are providing relief for the next step which will involve a 5/8" router bit and the router table. Once the dovetails have been cut, the dado blade in the table saw will be adjusted and the larger dado above the dovetail will be created.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

In comparison to the old rails, the two new rails look fresh and clean. I hope that the dovetail joint between the base and the rails will alleviate the need for screws like what was used in the original.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After adjusting the dado blade, a second, wider dado was cut which will later accept runners that will be attached to the side of the cabbage box.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I used a router plane to make sure that the bottom of the dado, which will accept the cabbage box rails, was flat and smooth along the entire length of the dado. Hopefully, this will allow the box to slide smoothly without binding.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After both dados were cut, I returned to the router table and cut the dovetail groove that will accept the dovetailed bases.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Upon test fitting the joint , it appears that the bases will slide in smoothly. The combination of the mechanical joint and some glue will hopefully keep the bases from ever seperating from the rails.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a round-over bit, the sharp edges on the top of the rails were relieved.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Both rails will need just a small amount of cleanup before they are ready to be glued to the bases, but most of the work is now done.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Since the original blades were rusted and had began to pit in spots, I decided to bead blast them and give them a "rust brown" finish.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Following the directions on the bottle of Laurel Mountain Forge "Barrel Brown and Degreaser", the metal blades, mounts, and screws were oxidized over a sink filled with hot water. The hot water provided enough humidity to accelerate the process. You can see the initial blue/green color of the metal as it oxodizes.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After a couple of hours, the rust "scale" was lightly rubbed off, resulting in the brown colored shown in the picture. A coat of vegetable oil kept the blades from continuing to rust.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Due to how the dovetail was cut through the entire length of the rail I had to devise a way to hold the cutter supports in position.

First, I notched out a recess for the cutter blade support using a sharp chisel. The marking gauge was used to create a starting cut, or line, for the placement of the chisel.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Second, I made filler piece that was beveled on both ends to match the beveled bases, as well as beveled one face to fit into half of the dovetail track in the rail.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Here the support piece has been fitted in place. You can see how it creates a slot to retain the blade support.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After test fitting the blade support, glue was applied, both bases were slid into place, and the assembly was clamped. Once the glue dried, the clamps were removed.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After a light sanding with 320-grit sandpaper, I decided to install the three blades. I am really happy with the way the rust browning turned out. The contrast between the dark blades and the light colored birdseye maple is nice.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a Freud Box Joint Dado set, I ran a test piece to see if the jig, or blade, needed any adjustments.

The dado blade was set to cut 1/4" wide box joints.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After cutting all four sides of the box, I applied some "Titebond III" glue and clamped them in place.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Once the glue dried, I removed the clamps and sat the box inside of the cutter rails to make sure it has enough clearance to move freely back and forth.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

You can see that I could have raised the dado set just a hair to make the box joints stand proud of the sides instead of the sides being proud of the box joint.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a #5 jack plane I took my time in planing the sides flush with the joints. My biggest concern was blowing-out the far side joints as the plane blade exited the wood.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

You can really see how well the Freud Box Joint Dado set cut. I have to give credit to the blade, not my setup...

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I started to use a card scraper to clean things up a bit further, but gave up on it due to opting to sand the last bit of the proud joints flush. This should avoid any more risk of blow-out.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I should have tweaked my table saw setup just a bit when I cut the box joints. Two of the sides were low and two were high by just a small amount. I took a few shavings off with the jack plane in order to make the top of the box flush.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After the box was completed, it was time to move on to making the runners. Before I cut any wood, I took a piece of scrap to see what kind of clearance I would have over the blade screws.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After cutting a strip of birdseye maple to width, I used a #4 plane to remove the small amount of saw blade marks.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After a few test fits, the runner fit easily, but solidly in the rail. This was my starting point and would be adjusted once attached to the box in order to allow for expansion and smooth movement.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Prior to cutting the runner to length, I squared one end of the runner on the shooting board.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After marking the length of the runner, it was cut using a sharp Japanese saw. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but I cut the runner slightly oversized to allow for trmming on the shooting board.

After being cut to the proper length, the runner was once again test fitted.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I attached the runners one at a time to the side of the box. I took some extra care to make sure the runner was flush on both ends and even with the bottom of the box.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using my bench to clamp the box securly, the second runner was glued and clamped into place.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After the glue dired, I removed the clamps and used some 220-grit and 320-grit sandpaper to clean up both the box and the runners.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

The last piece to construct for the kraut cutter is a top for the box. The top will allow the last pieces of cabbage to be pressed down toward the blades without risk of cutting your fingers.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After cutting the top square and slightly shy of a tight fit, the top was planed smooth and touched up with some 320-grit sandpaper.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

This piece definitely had more "eyes" than the rest of the cutter. It should make for a nice top.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a hand screw clamp for safety, I routed a finger hold into the handle using a cove bit.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After routing the finger hold, I squared the ends of the handle after it was cut to length.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using the handle as template, I marked out where I was going to recess the handle into the top. This was done to create more gluing surface and to absorb some of the force that will be exerted on the top as the box is pushed over the blades.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using a 3/4" forstner bit, I removed most of the waste in the recess.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After the forstner bit removed most of the material, you can see the small amount of cleanup that was left. A couple of different size chisels should make the remainder of the work go pretty quickly.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I used a 1" chisel and a mallet to trim the long sides of the recess.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I tried my best to sneak up to the line...

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Once the recess was completed and test fitted, I applied a decent amount of Titebond III and clamped the handle into place.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

Using the drill press and a 2" forstner bit, I cut a slight hole into the back of the cutter base to insert a project medallion.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After allowing the two-part epoxy to set, the medallion is firmly attached.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

I applied a pretty heavy mixture of mineral oil and bee's wax. Though is looks like a mess now, I will reapply another coat in an hour or so when the first coat is absorbed.

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

The finish is dried and the kraut cutter is complete!

Thank you for viewing the entire project progress!

Birdseye Maple "Kraut Cutter"

After the kraut cutter was delivered to my brother, it was tested and passed!