Birth Of A Cutting Board ( How A Crazy Chef Started Making Cutting Boards )
Why the heck is a chef making cutting boards?
Life is funny sometimes. Growing up I was never part of a household that did a lot of DIY projects. However over the years I’ve gotten tired of spending money to have people do work that I thought I could do myself. Sometimes I was mistaken, but other times I have been rewarded by doing a project that stretched my brain to dimensions I didn’t think it could attain.
One such project is my current kitchen. We moved into our house January of 2010 and the kitchen was a disaster. We traipsed to all the different home shows, interviewed many different contractors and got bids for all of the work that we wanted completed. The end result was that “Project-Kitchen” was going to take a huge amount of dough. Some of the bids were almost half of what we purchased the house for in the first place.
We were stuck with a kitchen that wasn’t very friendly to cook in and not wanting to spend huge sums of money to remodel it. So after some crazy talk we decided to embark on the remodeling ourselves.
You can see all of the updates as our kitchen has taken shape.
Kitchen Updates 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
To complete much of the work we needed to acquire tools, tools, and more tools. We purchased a table saw, miter saw, jointer, wet saw, hand tools, hammers, planes, routers,… The list is almost endless.
As the kitchen started to take shape I started thinking about what else these tools could do. I’ve never been a woodworker and I’ve never worked with many of these tools before. After some thought I decided to attempt to make a new cutting board. I watched a bunch of videos, read many how-to articles and my desire to make an end grain cutting board grew.
That’s pretty much the seed from which this grew. I started posting pictures of my wood blocks as they were progressing and they were turning out beautiful. For Christmas of 2011 I made some larger cutting boards for family and friends.
From that moment on many people asked if I would be selling my cutting boards. I hadn’t thought about it but after some coaxing I decided to give it a try.
Here is the process that I go through to build a cutting board from scratch for each of my customers. Enjoy looking through the pictures. It take approximately 2 weeks from start to finish before the boards are ready to ship out.
First I go out and pick out my wood. Currently I’m using pine which is a soft wood but in an end-grain configuration it will hold up to the knife edges well and the knives won’t dull like they would on other surfaces.
I cut each board into manageable lengths and get them ready to run through the gauntlet of things necessary to turn out a beautiful cutting board.
After the pieces get cut to length they then are run through a machine called a jointer. This machine helps to flatten out the wood on a few sides so that the rest of the building goes smoothly.
After the wood is flat I go to my table saw and cut my boards into square sticks that are ready for their first glue-up.
At the first glue-up each stick is laid out with glue and clamped together tightly to each neighboring stick. This plank is then left to set overnight.
The next day the plank is pulled out of the clamps, looked over to make sure the glue dried properly and then the plank is planed flat.
Once the plank is flat, back to the table saw to cut the plank into strips again.
Once the strips have all been cut, its back to the gluing table. I first lay all of the strips down to take a look at the grain of the wood and try to pick a pleasing pattern.
Once I decide on a pattern it’s time to get busy gluing them all together. After the glue is applied, everything gets clamped tightly and it sits overnight.
The next day the clamps get taken off and the cutting board blank is looked over. If everything looks great then it’s back to my worktable to flatten and smooth the blank.
Once the blank is flat and relatively smooth, it’s back to the table saw to cut the blank to size.
Depending on the style of the cutting board that I’m making I will cut handles out of the board so that it’s easy to pick up off of the counter when in use.
If everything has went well then the board now goes to final sanding. I sand all of the sides of the cutting board as well as the edges so that the board feels silky smooth and nice to touch.
The board gets another inspection before I mix up my special tung oil mixture and apply it to the cutting board. This happens in two stages. The first day the tung oil gets applied then I wait a day. The next day I apply another coat of oil.
The cutting board at this point is almost finished. It gets set aside for a week to let the tung oil cure.
After the week is complete I look over the board one more time then give it a final coat of paraffin wax. The wax helps to further protect and beautify the board.
I then package up the cutting board and send it off to the excited owner so that they can use their beautiful, and functional art piece. Along with instructions for the care and use of their new board.
You can read those same instructions here!!
Check out our line of hand made kitchen products. Not only my beautiful cutting boards but also other amazing items made with love by artisans that you will be proud to own. http://ourdailysalt.com/shop
Wow. Your cutting boards are beautiful. What a lot of work to create them! The woodgrain is so striking once they’ve been oiled. You’ve done a lovely job of creating patterns in the grain!
Hi Pat. Yes the boards take quite a bit of work but the end result is worth it. Thank you so much for the compliment as well. I do the best that I am able. Thanks again for stopping by. Have a spectacular day.
When I can splurge, I soooooo will be buying one of your gorgeous cutting boards! It would look amazing in my photos too:-) Gorgeous! Hugs, Terra
Good morning Terra. I would love to build a beautiful cutting board for you. I agree it would look amazing in your kitchen.
Thanks so much for stopping by dear. Have a wonderful day!! Hugs Back!!
While this looks nice, pine should never ever be used for a cutting board. Soft woods in general are prone to rot, and will not hold up if for long – even in an endgrain board. Tung oil is a brow-raiser also – the norm is mineral oil with *perhaps* beeswax.
Good morning Drew. Thanks for stopping by. Tung oil is an oil that hardens as it is exposed to air. This happens within the wood and protects it like few other oils. Mineral oil is not resistant to anything, even water, while tung oil is water resistant, acid, and oil resistant. The reason you don’t see tung oil used that much is because it is very expensive. Mineral oil is very cheap. But cheap doesn’t make it better it just makes it cheap. Even Marc Spagnuolo of the Wood Whisperer uses a wiping varnish as mineral oil doesn’t protect very well. With this in mind my cutting boards, properly cared for, will last a very long time.
Have a great day dear.
The cost difference of Tung oil is really insignificant – Tung oil *might* be a few dollars more than mineral oil, but it is certainly not very expensive, as you say.
That aside, a finish that hardens on a cutting board is problematic because it defeats the primary strength of a wood cutting board – its natural anti-bacterial properties – by sealing the grain. Wood cutting boards trap bacteria and prevent them from reproducing. This is why wood has been used for centuries for this purpose.
Another reason not to use Tung oil – it can cause allergic reactions to those sensitive to nuts. ***
Your boards are cute, and will probably do for most general purpose use – but not for me and not for a lot of folks who know what they are looking at.
Drew, Tung oil is very expensive in comparison to mineral oil. Mineral oil can be purchased for pennies in comparison to tung oil. The most expensive mineral oil is still mineral oil and can be purchased cheaply at drug stores and big box marts. Just because you can choose an expensive mineral oil doesn’t make it any different from the mineral oil that you can get for a few dollars. The tung oil is much more expensive in comparison. I challenge you to find tung oil for the same low prices. Also the large cutting board that I make absorbs almost a quart of oil during finishing. So that adds almost $12.00 to the cost of finishing if I was using the prices that you provided. Pretty expensive for a single item.
Mineral oil also softens the wood and cannot prevent food, bacteria, acid, or anything else from attacking the wood in the cutting board. By using mineral oil an attempt is made to fill the space that food and other items might try to invade. But mineral oil always stays in a liquid state and will move out of the sponge of wood as easily as it went in. This is why you have to keep adding oil to a cutting board.
My method isn’t new. Watco uses tung oil in their butcher block oil. Look up the msds on it. They have some other ingredients to enhance the finish but the base is tung oil.
I do realize that some people may have sensitivities to nuts. This is why I offer the choice between the two finishes. If you had spent some time looking at the cutting board and what I’m offering you would have realized this.
I make beautiful cutting boards that are functional and can be used on a daily basis. Many people are enjoying using them right now!!! Not all products are for everyone and evidently this isn’t the product for you. That doesn’t make it a bad product. I enjoy making these boards with my own two hands for people that are appreciative of the time and effort it take to put it together.
Thank you for your thoughts on this subject. Have a wonderful day.
Chef Felisha Wild
I have always wanted to make my own cutting board, I’ve also resolved to try and blow the dust off my woodworking tools this summer, so that my daughters learn that not only can Daddy cook and clean, but Mommy is a whiz with the power tools
. So I’d say I have a goal! I see the debate above about pine, I seem to remember cherry wood being recommended to me once – have you ever tried it?
Thanks for the tips! Will definitely try to line this up for summer!
Oh, and where do you get tung oil?
Cherry is very good – and Maple too – avoid “Ambrosia Maple” much softer than regular maple. Both about the same cost depending on where you get it.
Seriously, though, don’t use tung oil – don’t listen to me, there are tons of articles on the internet about why not to use it ( and I suppose why TO use it). If I post a link here the moderator – or someone – will remove it. Google it – you decide of course – its your project. Mineral oil and beeswax work nicely, and lasts.
Good luck! Sounds like fun!
-Drew M
*g* Who knew that cutting boards could be so conentious? Thanks for the advice, Drew. I’ll be sure to do some more research before making a final decision on oil (or anything else).
Cheers,
Sasha
Um, that was “contentious”.
Hi there Sasha and Drew. Here we go again. Generally speaking hardwoods are used in making cutting boards. There are a few different reasons for this. 1. They are harder and more durable. 2. Hardwoods generally have a tighter grain to prevent food infiltration among other things.
As I mentioned before Watco uses tung oil in their butcher block oil as well as other preparations.
Check out this link. http://www.woodfinishsupply.com/butcherblock.html
Also The Wood Whisperer has an excellent article / video on the making of cutting boards. He goes through many of the finishes that are traditionally used in coating boards. He uses a wiping varnish to protect his boards as it is a more durable finish.
http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/how-to-make-a-butcher-block-end-grain-cutting-board/
Mineral oil is used many times as it is an inexpensive finish but has minimum protection for a cutting board.
As far as types of wood, the sky is the limit when it comes to what you want to use. There is padauk, hard maple, cherry, walnut, purple heart… Just to name a few. Keep in mind that walnut as well as other exotic woods can also create issues with people that have nut sensitivities.
Some other references that you can check out are as follows:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=26893
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/finishing/oil-finishes-their-history-and-use
I have been purchasing my tung oil through Woodcraft as there is a store in my area. I get the gallon jugs but you can purchase smaller amounts as well.
In the end I chose tung oil as the additional cost didn’t bother me and I wanted the benefits of it’s water and chemical resistance. Also unlike mineral oil, tung oil hardens inside the wood giving even more protection from infiltration.
Hope this helps you make an informed decision.
And finally, creative culinary has a recipe for “Wood Butter” it is a blend of mineral oil and bees wax that you can rub on your boards and other wood utensils.
http://www.creative-culinary.com/wood-butter-helps-renew-wood-utensils-and-bowls
Have a wonderful weekend.
Regards,
Chef Felisha Wild
That was an invigorating debate! Your products are beautiful and carefully crafted as is everything you do. I’m a fan.
Hi Dawn. Thank you so much for being a fan.
It was an interesting debate and there will always be debates on techniques, material choices, ingredients, style, etc… No one has a monopoly on correctness. LOL I do my best to design, make and sell wonderful products to wonderful people. 
I know that you do the same. Have a marvelous day.