Cutting Board Design Software

Viewer Project - By Jay
Added on May 12, 2009

This project is a bit different, as it is actually a piece of software, designed and submitted by Jay. Let’s check it out”

“Hi Marc! Long time listener, first time writer. First of all, I just wanted to say what a great job you do. Your videos and blog are absolutely informative and easy to follow for an amateur woodworker such as myself. I look forward to everything you put out. I just started putting together my basement shop late last summer. In fact the sole reason why I got started in woodworking was because I got hooked after watching your cutting board video (and promptly watched the rest of your videos), so many thanks to you! Since then I have engulfed myself with as much woodworking text as I can. After building an end table and some shop furniture, I actually got around to making my first cutting board based on your design. I attached a picture of it for your information, finished according to your videos. I really liked how it turned out.”

“Anyway, I wanted to try out new designs so I tapped into some of my limited programming background that I have and made a program in Visual Basic (I deemed it, CBdesigner) that lets you virtually design a cutting board in a matter of minutes by defining each layer. Also attached is a picture of the program showing your own design to illustrate how it works. I made a shout out to you in the program (I’m sure you can recognize it). I posted it at Lumberjocks to see what other people thought of it. I’ve been doing some small updates to the program based on people’s recommendations. I know you’re Mr. Apple so I’m not sure if it can run on your Mac, but I just thought you might be interested in it too. :) Not sure if a program qualifies as project of the week or not but I thought I’ll let you know know about it.”

Discussion

Chris May 12, 2009 2:10 pm

That is a great idea for a program. Good Job Jay

Reply
Ben H May 12, 2009 5:06 pm

Very Cool, Thats a great way to come up with new designs and color scemes. Thanks!

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Tom May 12, 2009 11:17 pm

Fantastic! I’ve built about 10 of “Marc’s” cutting boards. I’ve also experimented with differing patterns, but I was not pleased with any of them because it was very hard for me to imagine what the final result would look like before making the cuts and glue ups. My brain doesn’t process spacial things well. This makes things super simple for a simple brain.

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Pierre May 13, 2009 5:41 am

Great job and nice initiative.

Sure help in giving you a pre-look of the finish product.

pierre

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Blake C May 13, 2009 5:50 am

Assuming it is in VB.NET, us mac folks can probably run it using a thing called “mono” from macports. I write a lot of c# windows forms apps for work, and manage to run them them this way actually on my mac.

Anyways, this is very cool software–I love it when people do things like this because woodworking software is rare :)

Reply
Chester May 13, 2009 10:57 am

I wrote to Jay already but I think that the real value of the program may be in helping to buy rough-sawn wood. When I did my first board, my wood supplier did not have 6/4 pieces. He had 5/4 and 8/4 pieces, so I had to do some fast recalculations to try and figure what it would do to me if I used 5/4 pieces. Everything turned-out well but it was a “leap of faith” in a cold wood barn.

Reply
Big Bill May 13, 2009 9:04 pm

Very cool ! Thanks for this. I was able to download and run off of your Lumberjocks post. Works great.

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Grantman May 16, 2009 2:19 am

Hey, Blake C, what do we Mac users use again? I’ve never heard of mono. What is is and where do I find it?

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Isidor May 17, 2009 5:11 pm

I am having trouble downloading. It says that I have A file missing. Do I need to register? Having trouble with that also. Any Ideas?

Reply
Isidor May 17, 2009 5:35 pm

maybe I cant use on vista?

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Ken in KANADA!.. Eh!? May 17, 2009 11:05 pm

It is a nice program! I would like to eventually see an expanded selection of woods but more importantly it would be really cool if we could add angle designs like 45 Deg. angles or segmented type of designs like you would see in woodturners segmented bowls and stuff. I realize that may take a bit of time to free up the design possibilities but once done it would be well worth it!!

Keep up the great work!

Reply
Tim Dorcas May 18, 2009 9:37 pm

I have been making a lot of cutting boards lately and using this application is critical for confirming my design decisions. It really helps to take cutting boards to the next level. Thanks!

Tim

Reply
- Billy G December 10, 2017 7:06 am
  
  Your name is Dorcas!
  
  Reply
Isidor May 19, 2009 6:20 pm

Anyone have the software on vista??? I still cant download

Reply
jeff s May 22, 2009 5:48 am

another software option is Lamination Pro for PC ( or Mac using Boot Camp )

http://www.woodturnerpro.com/software/lamPro.html

Lloyd Johnson a woodturner who developed the software for segmented turners. I saw the product demonstrated at the Segmented Turning Symposium held at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking (MASW) last November.

I could easily see using the software for cutting boards; Or for you period furniture folks who want to make your own bandings. Steve Latta teaches a Decorative Details class at MASW each year (stringing, bell flowers, cuff feet, bandings,etc. )

Hope this helps

Reply
CrackPotWoody June 13, 2009 11:32 am

Jay,

I wanted to say Thank You for creating and making this available to us.

I make a lot of cutting boards, both endgrain and flat.

This will definitely be a tool I will use on a regular basis. It’s simple to use and gives a great visual before making a cut. I’m looking forward to creating some new designs.

I also like how you’ve been willing to take input from users and expand on it.

I’m looking forward to more enhancements. Keep up the great work.

Thank You,

CrackPotWoody

Reply
CarversGallery.ca October 14, 2009 9:33 am

Just wanted to say thanks. I am currently working on a cutting board and butchers block island for my wife and this tool is a great time and wood saver.

Thanks again!!

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Moabite1978 November 18, 2009 11:15 pm

Can you suggest different butcher block patterns or a site where I can check out diff patterns BEFORE I start cutting my wood…thank you so much. Your Youtube videos rock!!! You gotta be kidding me, funny and super informative. Thanks!!!

Reply
- thewoodwhisperer November 18, 2009 11:23 pm
  
  Thanks for the kind words! Honestly, no, I don’t know of any place where you can check out the different patterns. But I have seen some really crazy ones. If you use a board that has both heartwood and sawwood in it, like walnut or cherry, you can get some AMAZING looking boards! But when trying new designs, I think you’re just going to have to experiment. You might even consider using some construction paper and playing with designs. Different color paper might help you visualize how things are going to turn out.
  
  Thanks for checking out the site!
  
  Reply
  - Frank Kovach January 27, 2010 9:41 pm
    
    Don’t you mean sapwood?
    
    Reply
  - Skip Borland February 7, 2023 8:55 am
    
    Jay, thanks for creating this and further thanks for sharing. I just downloaded the zip file, can’t wait to install and see how it works. Have something in mind I haven’t seen anywhere else out on YouTube and am struggling to figure out how to put it together. Hopefully this will give me some insight.
    
    Marc, thanks for sharing this. And by the way, I’ve torn a lot of my machines apart (for the better lol), tuned and upgraded with help from your videos. And thanks for introducing me to Alex Snodgrass, probably the best tuning I’ve managed to date. Much appreciated…Skip
    
    Reply
Frank Kovach January 27, 2010 9:53 pm

I don’t have “THE SOLUTION” to the cutting board design issue, but I made two cutting boards following Marc’s design EXACTLY. Well, make that one and a half. The second I made thinner but I got a longer board out of it. Anyway, since then I have made a total of four. I have saved on my computer 12 different google sketchup files with 12 different final patterns that I thought I liked the looks of. I haven’t figured out a [easy] way to design from rough wood to finish product, but after a comical cutting board session in the shop (which I gave to my sister as a Christmas present) I figured out this rule of thumb: when you are cutting your initial rip cuts out of your stock, use as many different species as you want (my sister’s board used four). The width of your first glue up (minus any cuts to square up) is the width of your board. Your second round of cuts-the width of those cross cuts will be the depth of your board, and you figure the length by how many of those cuts you will be able to make. I don’t worry too much about making it the perfect size. So far all of mine have been different sizes, and that’s okay, in my book. But THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, if you want symmetry in your pattern, is to make sure you follow this rule: your first assembly must be symmetric! Whatever size you cut the boards to, this pattern must mirror itself. It sounds simple (and probably is-all of you are probably groaning at the idiot pointing out the obvious) but I just use what I call the mirror method. No matter what sizes I’m going with, I assemble from left to right, and when I reach the middle, I mirror what I just did to finish it out. Or, if you don’t want symmetry in your pattern, just do what I did with my sister’s board, and then call it “edgy.” :)

Reply
Doozer September 5, 2010 8:49 pm

I just stumbled across this
Cbdesigner software, it would really be helpful to me. But for some reason i cant get the program to run with windows 7 . Even tried all the different ways to fix it. … Does anyone know if it will run under wondows 7? And does the creator of the software offer any help?

Reply
Dave KLein December 7, 2010 10:27 am

Cant get it to run on windows 7 either

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troy November 11, 2011 4:45 pm

i am tyrying to run this as well with no luck. any advice or help out there?

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Kevin October 26, 2012 11:42 am

To run in Win7:

You need to install a file called COMDLG32.ocx, which is not supplied with Win7. Two ways to do this, depending if you are running 32 bit Win7 or 64 bit.

Google the file name and download it. Check the file properties and make sure Win7 is not blocking the file. If it is, click “Unblock”.

64 bit: Place the file in c:\windows\SysWOW64. Click “Start”, type “Run”, then type “regsvr32 %Systemroot%\SysWOW64\comdlg32.ocx”. Don’t type the quotes.

32 bit: Place the file in c:\windows\System32. Click “Start”, type “Run”, then type ” “regsvr32 %Systemroot%\System32\comdlg32.ocx”.

I have a 64 bit sytem, so the 64 bit directions work, and CBdesigner runs fine on my Win7 machine. I couldn’t check the 32 bit instructions, but it should work. If not, google “COMDLG32.OCX” and you should find some discussion on bulletin boards that will help.

Reply
Jay December 7, 2013 5:34 am

Hi guys! This is great software, I’ve used it several times over the last few Christmas seasons. My laptop bit the dust this Spring and now I have a Win8 machine. Will this work on Windows 8, or my MacBook Pro? I’m a little nervous to register the comdlg32.ocx file having no idea what might happen. Thanks

Reply
- Steve March 18, 2014 2:01 pm
  
  Yes, this software does work on Windows 8. Take the exact same steps as Kevin describes above (i.e. add “%Systemroot%”, which i hadn’t seen suggested elsewhere) and it should work. I had trouble as I was NOT running the command prompt in administrator mode, so I got error 0x8002801c, but if you push the windows key, get out to Windows 8 interface, type “cmd”, and then click the app once and select from the menu at the bottom, “Run as Administrator”, and then everything should work!
  
  Thanks Jay Sanchez for posting the program!
  Steve
  
  Reply
- Skip Borland February 7, 2023 8:56 am
  
  Jay, thanks for creating this and further thanks for sharing. I just downloaded the zip file, can’t wait to install and see how it works. Have something in mind I haven’t seen anywhere else out on YouTube and am struggling to figure out how to put it together. Hopefully this will give me some insight.
  
  Marc, thanks for sharing this. And by the way, I’ve torn a lot of my machines apart (for the better lol), tuned and upgraded with help from your videos. And thanks for introducing me to Alex Snodgrass, probably the best tuning I’ve managed to date. Much appreciated…Skip
  
  Reply
Dawie March 30, 2015 4:27 am

Good day

I want to download the software but the link website does not exist anymore. Can anybody send me the install file?

Thank you

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo March 30, 2015 7:10 am
  
  Link seems to work for me. http://www.lastalias.com/cbdesigner/
  
  Reply
  - Lucio Carrozzo January 15, 2017 7:43 am
    
    Hi Mark
    
    You one lucky man because the rest of woodworkers has no joy in opening the website?? Do you another link by any chance to share
    
    Rgds
    
    Lucio
    
    Reply
- Bobby January 15, 2017 9:10 pm
  
  Hi i am from Australia and looks like link not working from my location
  
  Reply
jarrell December 28, 2015 10:06 am

Has anybody got this to work on a Mac

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Tom February 29, 2016 7:21 am

Any special instructions to use CBDesigner on Windows-10 Pro 64-bit OS?

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- Marc Spagnuolo February 29, 2016 8:25 am
  
  You’ll want to contact the software maker. I’ve never actually used the program myself. I’m a Mac guy. :)
  
  Reply
Bobby January 15, 2017 9:08 pm

Hi, I am trying to download this software but somehow web link is not opening or not there anymore. sounds like very good software.

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Gene June 4, 2017 10:03 pm

The problem i am having is that it WILL NOT save the custom board.

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Joseph Loccisano October 21, 2017 7:58 am

I have a Mac, I would love to use this program.

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Carol Czuk February 8, 2018 12:37 pm

To get it to print in Windows 10…I saved it by clicking on “Save As”. This saves it ax a xxx.cbd file

Next I clicked on “Export/Print” and my Cutting Board Designer folder opened up. From there, I saved it as a pdf.

After that, the PDF opened up and I was able to print it. The PDF document included both; instructions and pics for the Edge Grain and End Grain versions in one document.

There may be a quicker way, but this worked for me

Reply
John Chirico January 12, 2021 12:32 pm

have you guys tried this one. It is Web Based works with anything!

https://www.cuttingboarddesign.....-bc2722f74

Reply

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Cutting Board Design Software

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