If you are like me and love cooking and handmade products than a custom cutting board might be the perfect gift to buy for your significant other. Just think, you get them a beautiful gift for your home, and you have a perfect cutting board to use in the kitchen when your preparing food.
The best type of cutting board to buy for for decorative purposes would be a Harvey Reams cutting board. The best cutting board for food preparation would be a thicker end-grain board with juice grooves and a handle with a food safe finish made by Marktwoodworks in Moreno Valley.
In this article I will do a deep dive into the different types of cutting boards and finishes you might run across and what to look for for a well made custom cutting board.
Is a Custom Hand Made Cutting Board Better than one from the Store
If you are just looking for a functional cutting board that you can use for your veggies than of course the answer is to buy from the store. Its a lot cheaper and you’ll get one that works fine.
Custom boards are better for sustainability and, if you choose the right one, look a lot better in your home. A hand made board made from hardwood will last 50 years with the proper care and still look great when its cleaned up and on display. You can easily resurface and refinish it after as needed(every 5 to 10 years).
If I bought my wife a plastic cutting board from Costco and she knew I could’ve gotten this Harvey Reams board instead our marriage would probably be on shaky ground.
End-Grain vs Edge-Grain Cutting Boards
One of the big questions you’ll run across when your looking for a custom cutting board is which specific cut of wood is better for a cutting board.
End-Grain cutting boards will keep your knife sharper longer and have a lot of amazing designs but are more expensive, typically in the $125 to $250 range. An edge(or long) grain board is much easier to maintain and will typically cost $40 to $150. End-grain boards are a must have if keeping your kitchen knives sharp is important to you.
End-Grain Cutting Board Pros and Cons
- End-Grain cutting boards are usually made of short blocks of hardwood with the tree ring sides glued together giving you good work surface for cutting your food.
- The fibers on an end grain cutting board are facing up, so you are cutting between fibers and not dulling your knife.
- This type of cutting board is more susceptible to bowing, expansion, and contraction if you don’t care for the board correctly.
- End-Grain boards are more difficult to make by hand because you need to make the whole surface smooth which is difficult to do without a drum sander. A planer will tear out portions of the wood and could damage the planer and definitely will ruin the cutting board.
Edge(or Face) Grain Cutting Board Pros and Cons
- Edge grain boards are very durable.
- You are cutting against the grain with your knives which will cause then to wear out sooner.
- Visually, You can see the wood grain designs which make for some beautiful boards.
- Cheaper and easier to make due to the direction the grain is facing.
You can get great cutting boards of either type but, for a hand made board, I’d recommend the End-Grain board if you plan on using it daily and a edge grain board if your getting it for the ascetics. You can find great, beautiful example of each on Custom Z and will be pleased with your purchase.
What Makes a Hand Made Board Exceptional.
If you check on Etsy there is probably anywhere from 90 to 100 thousand cutting boards for sale. If you take a closer look at the listing you’ll notice that most “custom boards” are actually factory made overseas(for $2 to $4), than the seller will laser engrave a picture or your name on the board and sell it for $40.
Sprinkled in with these listings are frustrated local crafters and makers that are selling products they make in their garage or shop as a side gig.
Out of these makers a small number are really exceptional and make outstanding products.
Hand Made Cutting Board Mistake to Watch out for
The biggest rookie mistakes, and easily avoidable mistake with the right tools, are bowed cutting boards, poor sanding, glue up mistakes, and incorrect finish.
- Bowed Cutting board: If you get a cutting board and set it on the counter top, it should lay flat. A 12″x 13″ piece of wood made correctly should not have an uneven shape. the typical causes of bowing is not running the wood through a planer, excessive or improper clamping during glue ups, and using wood with a high moisture content.
- Poor Sanding: Improper sanding can cause an uneven board surface(you can test this to by seeing if water pools in spots), and not using a high enough grit of sandpaper. If the board doesn’t feel smoother than a babies cheek, its not sanded good enough. You should also never get a splinter from a cutting board.
- Glue Ups: One of the current trends in cutting boards is gluing contrasting wood types together for a striped pattern. It looks great until you notice that the maker didn’t have a good straight edge on one of the boards so you can see the glue in a joint.
- Finishing Problems: Make the board and use an appropriate finish. Walrus oil is great, shellac or varnish is not. Cutting boards are used for food so always ask and make sure a non toxic finish was used.
Who Are the Best Cutting Board Makers in Riverside, CA
We’ve done extensive vetting and research on the local makers in the Riverside County area of Southern California and highly recommend Ed Rizzardi and dmiller.designs who are both active in the woodworking community and can be found on instagram .
Ed Rizzardi is a master woodworker who makes custom furniture as well as cutting boards and produces beautiful heirloom quality furniture. You can order anything from him on CustomZ.io here.
DMiller.Designs can be found on Instagram @dmiller.designs and makes awesome end grain cutting boards.
If you are lucky, you can try ordering one of Harvey Reams beautiful boards at CustomZ.io.
Supporting your local makers helps the local economy and keeps these excellent crafters making.