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How to Cook Beef
Cutting Board Contest
Instruction
Information
Cutting boards are one of my specialties. I make them all the time. I have some of my personal ones up for sale and I have used a lot of the ones shown on Atomm. Well, over the past year I have been curating a group of newly designed Highland Cow cutting boards. Here is one of those for you to try out. Let me know what you think. I will be posting others as time allows.
Included with this project is the plans in both XCS and SVG format along with instructions.
Instruction
Step1: Before you begin
I have been creating cutting boards for a long time. I started simple with just quotes and phrases suited for the kitchen. Then I started to get into the silly and humerous. Then I found that pictures add a lot of depth to the quotes. I started to put my own designs up online and found that people really liked them.
So now I have a batch of Highland Cow Humor boards and this is the second one. A lot of people really like these. While I do a lot of my own art for my designs, in the interest of saving time and money, I used AI to make most of my highland cows for these. AI just made the process less time consuming and for those times that the art did not come out the exact way I wanted, I would move it into my art program and erase what needed to be erased and add what needed to be added.
The boards I use are pretty easy to engrave and get a nice dark color without having to add chemicals using the settings shown in the photo attached to this step. Keep in mind that I use the P2 for this so if you use a different machine you may need to sacrifce a board or two to find the correct settings to get these dark colors, but you should be able to without a problem. If found these boards on Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJJBLQWV?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1
These boards are 11x5 and the design included with this project is set to fit on that size board.
I used the honeycomb for this but you could very well do this with the slats of the P2 as well.
I hope you enjoy this board and if you do, please leave a like on it and a comment that you would like to see more and I will try to post them up.
Step2: Engraving your board
Adjust your engraving to the size of your board. Make sure to measure your laser height and then set your engraving to align with your board. Use the close up camera to help center the engrave. Once that is done, key in your settings or use the ones above and run your engrave. Using the settings listed here, will work out to about 22 minutes engrave time.
Once finished, you may have overburn. Run 80 to 120 grit sanding paper over the surface until the overburn is gone then run 200 grit to smooth out the face. Blow out the engraving to remove all dust.
Coat the board with your choice of finish.
Step3: Tips and Tricks
Here are a few things that may help you with engraving cutting boards.
Once you have your board in place, draw a rectangle that is roughly the size of your board then set that rectangle to a different color from your engraving. Select the rectangle and then in the upper right corner, change the output to off so that it does not engrave. Line the rectangle up with your board with the camera (using close camera to line the edges). Once you drop in your engraving, you can use this rectangle to help center your design by selecting both your rectangle and the engraving and using the “Center” function under the “Align” drop down.
To help ensure that your board is perfectly straight in your machine, take a perfectly square item and place it agains the inside front of your machine. (I use a machinest block Such as seen in photo 3). Set your board against this item so that it is perpendicular to the front of your machine. Remove the item you used slowly so as to not disturb where you placed your board. This will help to ensure that your engrave goes on evenly across the board.
While most boards will not move due to their weight, there have been times where a board got shifted slightly. To prevent this, you can take painters tape / masking tape and create a loop with the adhesive side out. and put this on the back of your board. Place this down on your slats/honeycomb to help provide a bit more hold to your boards.
I recommend a label of some sort be place on or attached to the board that states “This board is for decorative purposes only and not recommended for use as a serving or cutting board.”
Step4: Final Notes
I love doing these and I hope to bring you more. Again, if you would like to see more, let me know in the comments.
I do have other cutting board faces available. They are premium products but they are very well recieved and people love them. You can check these and other of my products out (Most are free) at the following link: https://www.atomm.com/profile/15190?utm_source=Social_Share
Give me a follow at the above link so you will be alerted when I post new projects. I hope you like them.
Happy Crafting
