I haven’t posted here about crafting for a long time, so I decided to do some posting now. I already made my first cutting boards from jatoba and they are currently tested in three different kitchens. Here are the pictures:
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
So far they work reasonably well. Jatoba is very hard so whilst the surfaces get scratched by knife blades, the scratches are extremely shallow and since these are end-grain cutting boards, it will take a lot of cutting to wear out some material. Considering that ordinary side-grain boards from beech wood still hold reasonably flat for decades, I think these will last a lifetime. Which means I won’t need new cutting boards, ever.
My mother already forgot the middle-sized one (with slanted rows) on a wet towel and it warped something awful. But after it dried out, it straightened again and the glue held. She put the board on a wet towel so it does not slide on the table and this was not the first wooden board that had warped due to this ill-thought-out practice. From now on, she is using a silicone mat for that purpose, and the problem is solved. I also put a few offcuts in the dishwasher and they performed as I expected – the glue failed.
Currently, I am making jatoba cutting boards for sale. And just like with knives, I will prepare short documents about how to care for them to customers. That is why I am actually glad that my mother did the thing with wet towel because I would not have thought of it and I do need to know all the different ways these can fail.
Although I must say, if someone gives a wooden cutting board in a dishwasher, then they are probably about as smart as an average Trump voter, and thus probably just as resistant to information. Well, c’est la vie.
When making the next cutting board, my drum sander broke. I had to improvipair it and today I got to work on it for several hours. It does indeed have higher power now and thus it functions a lot better. I might be able to flatten boards without the router, as I originally intended. I did flatten this board like that, and it is huge.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
It is made from black locust and I made it for myself. Not for the kitchen – it is 60×30 cm, a bit too large for that – but for my workshop for leather work. I expect it to be more cut-resistant than even the very best cutting mat. I love how the black locust grain looks and I am contemplating making kitchen boards from it too.
I am writing about making the boards weekly on the knife blogge but I will write a series of posts here too.
Good looking boards.
Very nice.
I particularly like the one with the diagonal pattern. And the handles look good too, just the right size for carrying but also useful for hanging. I greatly dislike those boards which have a hole in one end. It reduces the usable area of the board, and still doesn’t allow the board to be carried by it.
I’m one of those slightly tarnished people who like polycarbonate cutting boards. Since they banned them in the states I had to make my own the last few times I needed them. They do not last forever, only about 20 years, before they start cracking from going through the dishwasher once a week. And, of course, I have to sharpen my cooking knives a little more often. But I do like their durability and ease of cleaning. Pop them in the dishwasher and you’re done. I certainly don’t do that with the few wooden boards I have.
Those are lovely, and I agree that the grain on the black locust board is very beautiful. Well done!
Perhaps you could make your Mom a board with a lip, or something that would fit over the edge of the table so it stays in place while she chops?
The last one (black locust) is absolutely gorgeous. The variety of patterns is striking.
They are all good looking, I love the handles -- as flex said they are practical, but the black locust board is stunning. May you have many years of enjoyment from it’s use.
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Why have handles on a cutting board?
@Tethys, my mother has a board with a lip for kneading dough. In this specific case a board with a lip would be useless because she needed the board in the middle of a table in order to put a hot baking tray on it.
@chigau, a handle on a board makes it easier to pick up from the table and tip it into a pot. Two handles on the biggest one allow it also to serve as a charcuterie board/serving tray. And when not in use, the boards can be stored by hanging by the handle. I made one without a handle (not shown in the pictures) but that one is a special case, it resides in the bread box together with the bread and a bread knife and it won’t be used for anything other than cutting bread. For a generic cutting board a handle just seems overall better to me.
Thanks, Charly.
Nice work. I know roughly how to make cutting boards, but how’d you make those handles? That looks like a challenge.
@SchreiberBike I will make a series of posts about the whole process.
Black Locust is gorgeous stuff!
Seconding Marcus, so stunning