As with physical workouts, it is helpful to do some warm-up exercises for woodworking – especially if one has not been in the shop for awhile.  I would never start a hand-cut dovetail without first doing some practice sawing to a straight line and even making at least one practice dovetail before starting the real work.  Similarly, cutting boards can serve as a general warm-up prior to doing any kind of shop work after an extended absence.  Even though these can be simple projects, a lot of woodworking is involved including design, lumber selection, milling & dimensioning, panel glue-ups, and finishing.

This year I had been out of the shop for several months.  In order to get back into “woodworking mode” I decided to — guess what — make some cutting boards.  But rather than re-making previous designs, I wanted to create some new ones.  The picture above shows the mineral oil conditioning step for the boards that I made that include three new designs.  These are shown in more detail below.  There are two elongated bread board designs that embody a unique, contemporary style and incorporate an oversized hole at one end that provides visual interest, handling convenience as well as a possible storage point.  The smaller cutting board is also a contemporary design based on the Reuleaux triangle (all sides with equal length).  This board also includes a stylish hole at one end that provides the same design benefits as the bread boards.

I’ll have to wait and see if these become well liked or not, but I wanted to get the designs not only from my head to paper but also into actual wood pieces.  I’m really curious to see if these designs will be well recieved by the general public.  A craft show is the fastest, most efficient way to get feedback but these are now posted on my Etsy site and I’ll eventually get the feedback but it will just take longer.