Cutting Boards - Part 3

First cutting boards are finished and today I took some pictures before giving them into our kitchens for testing. We shall see how they fare, however I have no reason to expect trouble. But there are two possible sources of problems nevertheless – hidden flaws in the wood, cracks that did not notice, and the glue that I used.

I used waterproof PVA glue suitable for direct contact with food so cut some food on the board and then rinse it with water should not be a problem. Plus finished boards are coated with oil specifically made for kitchen boards. However, in my previous job I learned that it is not wise to take anything for granted unless it is physically tested.

As far as material flaws go, I was intentionally lax this time and I even used pieces that I knew have small cracks. My reasoning is that if these survive the test, material with slightly higher quality should therefore have no problems at all.

I made seven boards of different sizes and for the future I decided to use four size categories for cutting boards.

• small – 200x150 mm

• medium – 280x210 mm

• large – 360x270 mm

• extra large – 440x300 mm

These measurements are just approximate, the exact size will always depend on the size of used offcuts and on what takes my fancy.

This batch contains three small boards. In my experience, this size is the most used in a small home kitchen, just to cut up one onion or a few carrots for soup.

For bigger cooking tasks I made one medium and one large board. For the medium one I have tried to orient the boards diagonally. It was not more work than the others and the result looks interesting. I will try this method in the future again.

And last, but not least, one extra large board. I am not sure how often it will be used for cooking. Its main purpose will probably be to just serve as a background for photographing knives.

And finally, you can see seven boards in the first picture but only six on the remaining ones. Where is the seventh? I did not take a picture of it because it is for over a week in the kitchen in the bread box already. It has no handles and it was made specifically to fit into the bread box and its only purpose will be for cutting bakery products.

Next week I will start writing about making the next board. I tested some techniques on these and with this newly gained experience, I went on to make new ones.