Low on Inventory

I’m back slaving away in the shop to build my inventory up from the Inman Park show.  Everything sold well, but it was obvious that everyone liked the walnut end grain cutting boards because they sold completely out.   I made a trip to my lumber supplier last week and stocked back up on 6/4 and 4/4 walnut and started ripping and gluing boards.    I never know what a walnut end grain board is going to look like until I start oiling it.  Each one is different and varies from impressive to highly dramatic.  This finished batch has some highly dramatic grain patterns.

Making An End Grain Board

The most popular questions at my shows seem to be “How do you make these end grain boards?” or “What is an end grain board?”.   I also spend a lot of time explaining why there is a significant price difference between the face grain and end grain boards.  In this post I am including a video by Marc Spagnuolo, affectionately known in woodworking circles as the Wood Whisperer.  Mark has a wonderful web site dedicated to woodworking, and people like me get a lot of enjoyment out of his articles and videos.  There are many different design layouts for end grain boards, but Mark came up with one a while back that has become very  popular with my customers.

This video is in two parts with the first one covering the construction and the second covering how to season the board.  This video is part 1 and shows the most important aspect of what it takes to make a board.  The only thing Mark doesn’t show is selecting the wood, planning it down to size, and cutting the strips to width before the glue up process.   This is simple stuff, but just adds more time and labor to the process.  Enjoy!

Today’s Activities

I finally got the custom board done today.  These extra large boards are a challenge for me because I am set up for smaller ones.  For example, my drum sander is 16” wide, but is an open end style so I can do up to 32” wide by making two passes.  This method requires me to take very light passes each time so one side doesn’t get ahead of the other.  It also takes a real steady hand to make sure it starts through the sander level.  At 28 pounds, a good grip is warranted.  It turned out smooth and perfectly flat, so I was very pleased with my efforts today.

My next challenge is to figure out how I am going to package it to ship to California.  I carry shipping boxes for my standard boards, but not one for this size.  Like everything else, I am sure I will come up with something.

Learning New Things

I’ve been a full-time woodworker for almost 8 years, so I’m pretty experienced in most areas.  Over time, projects become easier because in many cases, I have done that same type of project for other customers.  It’s kind of like when I started selling custom closets.  The very first one took twice as long to install as they do today, because I have a better and more efficient process.   I use to take a long time to resolve an unexpected challenge during installation, but there are very few unexpected surprises today because I have seen most of these problems before and know immediately how to correct it.

The same holds true for cutting boards.  I have made hundreds of boards over the past couple of years in all different sizes and patterns.  However, the current one I am working on has presented new challenges.

This is a commission piece that is 25” x 32” x 1.5”.  It is a monster of a board and the largest one I have made to date.  Because of the size, I had to make the strips up in sections.  In fact, I have had to do just about everything in sections.  I probably stared at it for about 30 minutes today, trying to figure out the best process to apply the glue.  I knew it would be a longer process than I was use to with my normal smaller boards, but I needed to make sure the glue didn’t start drying too quick on the front end before I got to the tail end.  I can’t use my regular clamps and cawls, so I had to break out the long clamps and piece together cawls to keep the strips from slipping when applying pressure.

Tomorrow will be the defining moment when I run this monster through my drum sander.  I have a Jet 16/32 sander so I will have to use the open end function and make double passes.  The big challenge is holding the board steady during this operation.

This is the board drying in the clamps today.

Large Glue Up

Why Wood Cutting Boards?

You just can’t beat the look and feel of a quality wood cutting board.  There is a huge difference in the feel of a knife as it comes into contact with a good wood cutting board.  Yes, plastic is cheaper and lighter, but plastic will not last anywhere near as long as a well built wood cutting board. I view wood cutting boards like cast iron skillets.  With proper care, they can be passed down to future generations.

There will always be discussions on wood versus plastic and which one is the best.   Well, I can tell you that once you use a good end grain board to prepare your meal, you will never go back to plastic.  But to all the naysayers, draw your own conclusion from the following information:

Plastic cutting boards use to be considered superior to wood because the grooves cut into a wooden board by the knife harbored bacteria that would infect the next food that was cut. The argument was plastic boards were harder than wood, developed fewer grooves, and were less likely to harbor bacteria. Over time however, studies have shown that wood cutting boards harbor fewer bacteria for these reasons:

Plastic is not water-absorbent and stays wet longer which promotes longer bacteria life.
Wood is water-absorbent and dries faster which shortens the bacteria life.
Wood contains natural agents that retard bacterial growth.

Chicken carries the highest risk of cross contamination.  This comes from cutting chicken on any type of board and not thoroughly wasing it before preparing a salad or other side dish.  This means there is a higher risk of food poisoning.  So it is best to use two boards, one for chicken and one for every thing else.  Of course, a separate board for meats and one for vegetables is the ideal and safest situation.  Once you properly cook the meat, any cross contamination bacteria will be killed.

A wood cutting board can be properly disinfected by washing it with a solution of two tablespoons of bleach to a quart of water.  Then wiped with vinegar to remove the bleach.  Don’t leave the bleach on the board too long because of potential permanent stating of the board.  Here again, dedicating one board to meats and one to vegetables, will eliminate having to deal with this step.

Plastic and glass cutting boards are harder than wood, so they will dull a knife faster.  However, you can put plastic and glass cutting boards in the dishwasher without having to worry about whether they’ll warp and crack. Wood is easier on knives but requires regular care in order to last.

Rinse the cutting board off under the faucet using regular dish washing soap.
Dry the board immediately.
Once a month, rub the board with mineral oil, or use our board conditioner which contains beeswax that imparts water-resistance properties to the board.