Today was a long and tiring day. Both of us spent the morning completing some necessary tool maintenance. And then we got to have fun! We spent this afternoon building a couple of prototypes we plan to place in our Etsy Store — very soon! The first – an end grain “butcher block” cutting board and second, a serving board/platter.
Butcher Block cutting boards are “de rigeur” (i.e. necessary) if you are serious about cooking. They expose the end grain rather than long grain unlike most of the non-plastic cutting boards one finds. It’s sort of like a dart board. The fibers part to absorb the cutting edge allowing it to stay sharp longer. If you ever go by a traditional butcher shop, you’ll will probably see them cutting on either an end grain cutting board or the cross section of a tree stump — depending on how traditional they are and how long they have been in business. End grain butcher block cutting boards are the modern equivalent of the original tree stump. They can be quite beautiful. And now, we are making some.
The other item we started making is a serving platter. In this case, it’s a wooden board with feet. Since we tend to associate platters with parties and special occasions, we are making these decorative while maintaining the resilience and utility of a cutting board. The easiest decoration is to put together a straight lamination of different/contrasting woods that please the eye. Lots of people do this. Some to great excess.
We are experimenting with simple laminations that are curved rather than linear to add visual interest.
We’ve made two variations of each of the above items. Two of the creations have been spoken for. The other two will go into our Etsy Store to start spooling it up. If you’ve read this far, please visit our store and “favorite” it. This will greatly assist to develop our online presence.
Let us know if you find what we are creating interesting. We love feedback!