Just Another Piece of Wood

October 29, 2023

I have no big need nor good excuse to build more cutting or charcuterie boards but I did anyway. I bought a piece of cutoff from a wood shop here in town several months ago (around June). It has been sitting in the shop waiting for inspiration or motivation. After building one of my favorite cutting boards in April using a piece of wood with a great sapwood edge, I found another piece with similar characteristics at this shop. I knew it was shorter than what I really needed for a cutting board but I bought it anyway. Not long after purchase, I flattened it, re-sawed it into book-matched slabs, and then planed it to thickness. That was the end of work for months. Those two pieces sat off to the side in my shop for months in part due to motivation and in part due to frustration over not being quite enough wood to copy the work of my original board. I looked for inspiration to use the pretty book-matched panels but was again limited in my imagination given the limited quantity of material. I finally told myself to make a run at it and it will either work or not work but at least those pieces would not be staring at me any longer. I built the core of the board using a similar technique as the pattern board. As expected, the final length was just not going to make a pretty board. I had some leftover walnut and maple already glued from another project and the inspiration hit me to add some of this to the board on both ends to make a reasonable size. The first two photos are the final product (I was lazy so just kitchen lighting). The third photo shows the book-matched panels that sat in the shop for months. It's been so long that I forgot what the wood was but I think it was monkey pod. The finished board is roughly 12 x 18 x 1-7/8. Those pieces that were staring at me in the shop are now staring at me on our dining room table asking what now but at least they are in a finished form.

The post sharing the original board (inspiration / pattern) is at https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/2023/04/completed-wood-project.html if you missed it. The post with a few photos during its construction are at https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/2023/04/wood-preparation.html. I had to construct similar slabs prior to cutting the final board in this post.