Chopping Boards

I made a batch of chopping boards as Christmas gifts that incorporated some unique carving.

The Design

I wanted to add an element of carving to a standard chopping/serving board. I settled on the often utilised oak leaf and acorn, placed at the corner of the board. I aimed to under cut the carvings adding a layer of complexity and giving them a more realistic appearance. The boards would be solid oak, of various sizes but thickness would be no less than 20mm to make sure I had enough material to carve away without causing it to be fragile.

The Process

I selected some straight grain oak and machined it to the largest size I could. I tried to find boards with plenty of character but with few knots to make hand planing and carving successful. The risk of using a single 'slab' of timber for a chopping board is that it will undoubtedly warp and cup. I tried to mitigate this as much as possible but selecting straight grain oak (quarter sawn would be best) and waiting for a few days after machining to see how the board is likely to cup (the removal of material shows up the tension in the wood). I could then choose a face to carve on and re-flatten the board with a final skim.

I used my small wooden, antique 'coffin smoother' plane (such a nice tool!) with a rounded blade to remove any machining marks. The rounded iron leaves this wonderful texture. A rounded plane iron is traditionally used when removing lots of material to level a board before the final passes with a flat plane. In this case I have left the texture in.

Each carving was sketched by hand. This made each board and each carving unique. Removing the waste and creating the 3d shape involved chopping into the face of the board, down the edge of the board and into the end grain. I wanted to make the leaf look as though it was over hanging and drooping down the side of the board. I also wanted to keep these carvings as small as I dared so as not to take up usable chopping space, which added some extra difficulty!

The Finish

All the boards were finished with pure tung oil. An amazing finish that is free from any harmful drying agents (especially important for chopping boards!) and if applied correctly produces a water proof finish. As oak is very porous I would hesitate in saying these particular boards will be completely water tight, but the level of protection will be sufficient and they are food safe. The down side is pure tung oil takes a long time to dry, so some of these boards left the workshop a little under cured...but they couldn't wait until Christmas 2021.