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 After removing the clamps this board blank is scraped to remove the glue pips. In a well made glue joint, the pips pop off very easily leaving a clean edged joint. I use a flush plane for this, but you could use a cabinet scraper or even a long knife; just flex the blade a bit and drag it along the joint line.
 Next we run the blank through the wide belt sander with a course sanding belt installed to level all the strips and knock off any glue lines. If thare is any surface glue, angling the board as it feeds through helps to prevent this from embedding in the belt and burning. This sander can handle up to a 16 inch wide board in a single pass, but because of the open ended design of the sander we can sand up to a 32 inch wide board by sanding one half, flipping it around and sanding the other half.
 Now we grab the template supplied by out client and use that to lay out the final shape of the board. We need to allow for a 3/4" lip that will be formed on the sides that rest on the edges of the sink. No lip is needed along the part that traverses the sink. To get that 3/4" extra I use a compass set at 3/4" to trace around the outside of the template. Because the templates are never perfect I will need to go back with a straight edge and drawing tools to even out the straight lines and fair the curves in the corners.
During this project we're making two boards, neither of them are "standard". These over the sink cutting boards were originally designed to be triangular, with the hypotenuse running almost across the diagonal of the sink. Charlotte's board is more like a rectangle with a corner nipped off, and John's board is almost square with a hole cut in one corner. These wrinkles cost a little extra, but if it gets them a board that better suits their need then it's worthwhile.
 Once we have the perimeter of the board established I trim the blank to finished size and shape. I start by cutting both edges along the grain using the rip fence. That makes the width correct and both long sides parallel to one another. Then I can use the cut-off sled to trim the ends.
 I take the board to the band saw and rough cut the curves, then we go to the stationary belt sander to finish the curves and remove saw marks left by the band saw.
 Finally I lay the template on the board and check to see that I have no more than 3/4" sticking out around any part of the template. If not, this step is done. If so, I'll trim a little more until it's right.
This board is John's so I've laid out the hole but have not cut it yet. I'll do that with a jig saw then smooth the hole with a drum sander. But that is not a normal part of these boards so I won't get into the details in this discussion.
 On Charlotte's board the trimming and shaping steps are the same except I have to cut off one corner from the rectangle instead of planning to make a hole in it.  When it's done it looks like this and is ready to have the lip routed into its under side.
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