Now that you have your one of a kind cutting board, you should take a moment to familiarize yourself with a couple of wooden cutting board basics. Treating cutting boards with care will allow for years of chopping, cutting and slicing pleasure.

Take the time to care for your cutting board, and you will gain years of cutting enjoyment.

1) Periodically (once every several weeks or depending upon the amount of use), apply an even coat of walnut oil to the work surface of your cutting board. You can heat the oil thereby making it easier for the wood to soak up the oil. The oil will act as a protective barrier, and will repel water. If you so desire, you can go a step further by adding some beeswax pieces to your heated mixture (1/3 oil to 2/3 beeswax is appropriate). The beeswax acts as another protective coating, and smells pleasant. See (Walnut Oil and Beeswax)

2) Try not to allow moisture of any type to stand on the block for long periods of time. Don’t let fresh, wet meats lay on the block longer than necessary. Brine, water and blood contain moisture, which soaks into the wood, causing the block to expand, and the wood to soften. Although your cutting board is reinforced and strengthened with dowels, prolonged moisture exposure can also affect the strength of the glued joints.

3) Use a good steel scraper or spatula after use, as necessary, to keep the cutting surface clean and sanitary. Do not use a steel brush on the cutting surface of your block or board.

4) It is not recommended to cut fish or fowl on the work surface of your cutting board, unless you have thoroughly followed the instructions in step #1…as the moisture barrier must be intact prior to cutting any type of fish, seafood, or fowl on the work surface of your cutting board. ALWAYS CLEAN THE BLOCK THOROUGHLY AFTER CUTTING FISH OR FOWL ON THE WORK SURFACE.

5) Distribute your cutting over the entire work surface of the cutting board so that it will wear evenly. DON’T use a razor-edged cleaver. It will chip or splinter the wood and produce soft spots. Your cleaver should have dull sharpened edge for best results.

6) You can clean off the surface of your cutting board with warm water and soap, but abstain from harsh detergents, and never put it in the dishwasher.

7) You should turn your cutting board over periodically to allow even usage to both work surfaces.

This may seem like a lot of work, but once you get used to it, it will become second nature as is the relationship you will build with your character filled cutting board. Happy cutting!

1) Gathering The Wood

The first step in the process is to gather the wood from the woodpile. There is a molding factory in town that I visit to gather their discarded wood. I transport  it back to the house and store it in the attic sorted by wood type. My usual woods are maple, cherry, oak, and African mahogany.

This is how I transport my wood.

Storing wood in the attic keeps it fairly dry and out of the way.

2) Choosing the Wood

I usually choose what wood a cutting board will be constructed of on a whim. Normally the designs come to me when I lay in bed at night or when I look at my wood pile. I like to make designs that take advantage of the beauty in the wood. I think knots and other general “imperfections” in the wood are a beautiful source of character, they and should be flaunted. Of course, when someone asks me to make one according to a specific design, I will work with that person to get the perfect design for them.

General sizing of wood pieces.

3) Preparing the Wood

Once I have it in my mind what I want the board to look like, I cut the wood into rough cut sections. The thickness of the cutting board is generally decided by the size of the wood that I have. Due to the wood all being discarded scraps, none of the pieces are the same size. I plane the sides of the cut wood to be glued together so that they are smooth and proper adhesion is achieved.

The wood has been planed and rough cut and is ready for gluing.

The planed pieces are ready to be glued and clamped.

4) Gluing

Gluing the wood is a messy, but essential, part of the process. I use a glue that is FDA approved for indirect food contact (see Titebond 2 Glue). I like to use a pretty large amount of glue so that it oozes out when clamped. I use large, 8″ “C” clamps to do most of my bread boards, or bar clamps for larger cutting boards. I let the board sit over night to fully dry.

The cutting board is glued and clamped.

5) Cutting the Desired Shape

Once the glue has dried, I will make sure the board sits flat and is shaped in whatever way the design calls for. To do this I use a hand planer and a jig saw.  I cut off any excess wood, and any design the project calls for.

This is the board marked up for fine cutting.

This is the general shape of the cutting board.

6) Marking/Reinforcement

I use 3/8″  oak dowels to further reinforce my cutting boards. I mark the holes generally 2″ from the ends, and then drill my holes accordingly. I did learn that “fluting” one’s dowels ensures that excess air and glue can escape, preventing hydraulic pressure build-up, when the dowels are hammered in place (see Dowel Application). I tend to line the grain pattern of my dowels both with, and against the grain pattern of the wood. Once again, character can be added here by going against the grain. I generally let the dowels dry in place over night.

These holes are marked and ready to be drilled.

The cutting board is clamped, and dowel holes are being drilled.

The dowels are cut to size, and ready to be glued and hammered in place.

The dowels have been hammered and glued in place.

There is much more involved in the full process of completing a cutting board. Every step is crucial in creating a usable, beautiful cutting board, but these first 6 are like the foundation to a building; without them the building will not stand. Please check in with Tire Swing Designs, and view Part II in the upcoming days.

Woodworking is a part of my life. There is no way of getting around that, and I don’t want to. Engineering is also a part of my life, so I figured I would do what any good engineer would do and solve a problem. For me, this problem was figuring out what to do with discarded and unwanted wood and materials. I decided the best thing to do would be to reclaim it and make it a usable product for somebody to cherish for the remainder of its life. Employing a strict set of guidelines when constructing and refurbishing each piece guarantees every piece constructed, a happy, useful life.
   Before the actual process of constructing a product, outlining and designing what the finished product will look and feel like, is essential. I will admit that there are many changes along the way, but the ultimate goal is to have the piece look like what my mind envisions, and more important what the client ’s mind envisions. Woodworking, Engineering, Designing…..

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This was such a great seminar. Mr. Winn was a good speaker.