End grain chopping board

Xmas time again. This year seing I've the equipment, I'd have a crack at an end grain chopping board for mom. 

I started with some hardwood off cuts which was cut into about 2" thick strips then glued back together end grain up

Next, the board was cut into 2" strips cutting 90 degrees to the glue lines. 

And glued back together. 

Pine boards that had packing tape on them to avoid the glue sticking to them were used top and bottom to keep the strips aligned. 

Next I made a mdf template and routed the design about 6mm deep into the wood and cut the board in half along the design on the bandsaw

I routed out the waste with a flush trim bit on the router table. This bit followed the first routed pattern. 

I had multiple A4 sheet size light and dark veneer which was cut into strips 3" wide and glued in a overlapping pattern 2 veneers thick. 

The newly glued veneer was sandwiched in the board 4 veneers thick or about 6mm. 

Then whole process was repeated for the other veneer. 

Then trimmed to size on the table saw and planned flat on the jointer. 

Mineral oil was used to season the board and done! 

In retrospect, I should have not overlapped the pattern as it didn't line up exactly the same when glued back together. I still don't understand why that happens. Also I had to trim more off the ends then I would have liked due to it looking faily crap with the colours not lining up, and I ended up with a couple of gaps right at the end of the Lamentations. 

Pretty happy with the end result for a first time, and mum really liked it.

Til next time.