The Test Cut

Tools

Free calculators and design tools that run right in your browser — no account, no upsell.

A walnut and maple end grain checkerboard cutting board on a kitchen counter

Cutting Board Designer

Design an end grain board, turn it over in 3D, and get a build guide with a drawing for every cut.

  • Checkerboard, chevron or brick, in any two woods
  • What to buy, wood by wood, waste included
  • A printable guide, one drawing per step
Design a board
The same board shown three ways side by side: off the planer, sanded, and finished

Finish Simulator

See roughly how a finish lands on your wood before you open the can, and the sanding plan it actually needs.

  • 83 woods, each off the planer, sanded and finished
  • Oils, hardwax oils, varnish, poly, shellac, lacquer
  • The grit to stop at, and when finer backfires
Try a finish
A drawer fitted with a black Gridfinity baseplate and printed bins holding drill bits, Forstner bits, router bits and screwdriver bits

Gridfinity Builder

Tell it your drawer and your printer. It works out the baseplates that fill it, and the boxes that go in them.

  • Plates split to fit your printer's bed
  • Filler strips out to the drawer's real walls
  • Boxes with compartments, labels and scoops
Fit a drawer

Quick calculators

Board Foot CalculatorEstimate lumber volume and material cost for a project.Wood Movement EstimatorPredict how much a board will move across the seasons.

New tools get added as the builds call for them. Got an idea for one? Send it to aldapetamedia@gmail.com.