Projects with wood

Lately  I’ve been feeling compelled to expand my artistic horizons with a few wood projects.

This is one of them.

The cutting board backstory.

Start of the idea ...

On the drive home from visiting mom I stopped at an intriguing wood fantasy castle in Kirby Oregon called the Burl gallery. Actually a gathering of wood artisans who have made an awesome roadside attraction.

One artist is doing fine cabinet work featuring dovetail joints as the cornerstone of his artist expression. Mostly a build to order craftsman he also had a collection of cutting boards made from the scraps generated from the cabinet work. The tourist trinkets for the walk-ins like me.

The artist sales pitch for his superior cutting board was how the dovetail piece keeps the board flat and solid making a longer lasting product. Something the engineer side of me can cherish.

His dovetails were done as “legs” that protruded off the bottom so the boards are “single sided”.

Second part of the idea ...

At home, my spouse, Chaney has a bamboo cutting board that she wrote “meat” on one side and “vegi” on the other with a black permanent marker. This made hers “double sided”.

Third part of the idea, materials …

While out on a morning walk with the dogs we came upon an old dining room table busted down to fit into a dumpster. Being in decent condition and solid oak construction it looked too nice to discard. This re-purposed wood comprises the main board. The materials used for dovetail come from the front lobby of the 140 year old Chronicle building in San Francisco. I only saved a dozen boards from a large pile. The grain is very tight, strong and straight.

My part of the idea …

A drip rail that morphs into a deeper well to capture the spilled liquids. 

And some engraving. One side is engraved "carnivore" the other side is "herbivore"

The finish coating is olive oil which should be reapplied every now and then.

 The CAD software I like for a project like this also has a powerful CAM package. By taking the time to do this project I discovered a way to reconfigure subtractive machining software to output additive control. A new lesson to be put to use soon.