One typical day at work, my co-worker Mike mumbled something about making cutting boards in his wood shop class. My ears perked up and asked if it would be possible for him to make one for me! To have someone, especially a good friend, design a custom cutting board is a Chef’s dream come true! We studied on which wood would be best for a sturdy cutting board. Then discussed end grains, non end grains, double-sided, etc, etc. He also attempted to explain how he was going to actually construct the board. Yes, I am a visually learner so that was difficult! A few days later, we went to buy at a place specializing in all varietals of wood/lumber.
For your information, the best woods for cutting boards are Maple, Walnut, or Cherry. We also looked into exotic wood like Blood, Teak, Zebra, but after some calculations; it turned out to be very costly. After all, I hadn’t seen Mike’s work yet so to trust him with such expensive material!?! (Sorry Mike:) I finally agreed on Cherry wood. Mike picked out a 5 ft tall piece of what seemed to be resemble a 4X4 piece of plank! How on earth was he going to make a cutting boarding with that?
I was completely wrong about Mike’s abilities and he presented me with his specially designed, handcrafted masterpiece. He is in the process of putting mineral oil on it for the next 7 days but it is beautiful. I cannot wait to take it home and even toyed with lugging the 10 lb board to cooking gigs all over Southern California. Thank you Mike for your work in which I will cherish forever.
2 comments:
Wow, what a beautiful piece of cutting board. It's so nice, I would save it instead of using it! Can Mike do one for me too? Well, but it's very heavy to ship across the states. Congrats with your new piece of work.
I loved how you used the unsuspecting piglet as a scale. Great use!
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