Cutting boards, Chess board, Dec 2021

I decided in 2021 all my Christmas presents would be hand made. I didn't get 100% but close!  

Build notes

These projects (except the chess board) were all built the same way. Strips of the different woods cut to length and glued together. I used Titebond III for the glue-up as this requires the highest water resistance, obviously.  I've read that normal water based glues are OK, but wanted to have the best durability.  

Top facing edges are all routed with a small rounding bit. The end grain rounded edges are tricky and need a lot of hand sanding to get smooth.   The bottom edges are cut at 45 degrees to make for easy picking up.  Top surfaces sanded with 80, 120, 240 and 360 grit.

For finish,  I soaked overnight in pure white mineral oil.  The next day I rubbed in a 1:4 mixture of beeswax to white mineral oil wax / paste. I mixed this up before hand by heating the oil in a pot and adding the beeswax until fully melted.  I then poured it into small tins where it hardens to a paste. I will include these tins as part of the gift so it can  be reapplied after longer use.