Two-Tone (Walnut & Maple)
Solid walnut against solid maple — two clean fields meeting at a center line, end grain up.
Strip layout to scale, left edge to right edge — heartwood tones from the species data the 3D preview uses.
| Finished size | 12″ × 16″ × 1 1/2″ thick |
|---|---|
| Construction | End grain (two glue-ups) |
| Strips | 6 |
| Species | Walnut, black, Maple, hard (sugar) |
| Difficulty | intermediate |
| Est. lumber to buy | ≈ 3.6 board feet (incl. 15% waste) |
Opens this exact layout in the free designer — live 3D preview, printable cut list, and lumber cost at your prices. Edit anything.
About this pattern
The two-tone board splits the layout into two solid fields — three 2″ strips of walnut against three of hard maple — then runs them through the end-grain process: glue the six strips into a panel, crosscut it into 2″ slices, stand the slices on end, and glue again. If you flip every other slice end for end, as the standard two-glue-up method has it, the halves alternate side to side and the top reads as an offset two-tone weave; keep every slice in the same orientation instead and you get two clean solid blocks meeting at a single center line.
Decide which look you want before the second glue-up — it is the one choice that defines this board, and there is no undoing it. Either way, end grain at 2″ squares is forgiving on knife edges and self-heals shallow cuts, which is why butcher shops used this construction for a century. Oil generously; end grain drinks the first few coats.