I’ve never used epoxy resin in wood, and had a couple questions. I’m making a cutting charcuterie board that will have pockets in it, some that will be square pockets that are about 1 inch square, and no more than 1/4” apart.

I’ve tried routing out the pockets, then chiseling to the boundary on a piece of oak to practice on, but keep splitting off the web between them. Would doing one pocket, then filing with resin before chiseling the next one provide enough support to prevent that from happening? The board is acacia wood, is it a stronger grain than oak?

Also, how deep should the pockets be? I’ll be using a solid color resin.

I’ve never really done any woodwork like this, but wanted to try it out. Thanks for the help!

There are a number of techniques for filling holes in woodwork, but I wouldn't use them on any cutting boards used in food preparation.  The chances of having small pieces of epoxy or other material chipping away and ending up in food could be like having ground glass going into your food...it just isn't worth it.

My mistake, had cutting board on the brain. This will be a charcuterie board, so no cutting on it.

When you say pockets, do you mean not going all the way through the wood? I’ve only worked with epoxy on some “river” cutting boards. Did an inlay in a few.

Have you tried hogging out the majority of the material with a Forster bit and then coming and cleaning it up with a router/chisel?


ETA: reread the OP. Are you asking if creating one pocket, then filling with resin, would support the web to the next pocket? I’d say likely yes. But filling the pocket with resin defeats the pocket itself, no? I’ve been up for 20 hours so apologize if I’m misreading what you are asking.

I’m routing out most of the pocket, then cleaning up with a chisel. I did find out I was going way too deep, at about 3/8”. Was told I only need to go 1/16-1/8”, so that will help big time. And yes, filling the pocket with colored epoxy, then chiseling the one next to it. Thanks!