Small Boards & Cheese Boards … And How They’re Different

Small Boards & Cheese Boards … And How They’re Different 1 comment

I have to call them something … even if I know what I call them matters little. In the end, the customer will call them what they want to call them, and at that point my naming responsibility ends.

But I still have to call them something.

I started making cheese boards, and those are, by my definition, small and light weight. Cheese boards are typically no more than 3/4″ thick, and about 8″ x 11″. They may get as large as 12″ x 12″, and may be as thin as 5/8″. I take what the wood gives me, as I like to say, and they end up being the size that they are. I don’t make cheese boards fit some pre-determined size, cutting off good wood to make an artificial standard. That might make it easier on me for packaging & displaying, but I just can’t be wasteful. So, I’m not.

Some people buy cheese boards to use as actual cutting boards because they want a very small, light weight board. That’s OK: I make these boards so that they are fine cutting surfaces. They’re just not big or heavy enough to trim a tri tip. In my opinion.

Small boards are my transitional board between cheese boards and cutting boards. Cutting boards, in my definition, are 12″ x 16″ x 1″ or larger. Anything bigger than a cheese board, but still smaller than a cutting board … is a small board.

I didn’t say I was creative with my naming styles. Don’t judge me.

In the end, all of these boards look much alike when in use.

Many of these boards are chaos boards: they are not symmetrical. Anything that doesn’t fit in my rigidly right-brained perspective is what I call chaotic. Just ask Mrs M. Some people prefer designs from the left side of the brain, so these are humbly submitted.

A final note on these photos. I was fighting 2 time pressures: Mrs M was pushing me to clear everything out of the house as I was prepping the boards for photography, and the sun was moving from a clear sky, to behind a tree, and then back to the clear sky. The result is that these shots have some odd shadows as well as some odd oil smudges in their glossy top coat. I assure you the finished boards are not perpetually in shadow, nor do they have oil smudges on them. Thanks for your understanding, and, please, enjoy!

Small Board 17 – 201. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple, Honey Locust, Bubinga & Jatoba. 8″ x 12″ x 3/4″.

Small Board 17 – 203. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Small Board 17 – 202. Chaos Board. Cherry, Jatoba, Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Bubinga. 7″ x 12″ x 3/4″.

Small Board 17 – 204. Chaos Board. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Cherry, Black Walnut & Purpleheart. 8″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Small Board 17 – 205. Jatoba & Hard Maple. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Small Board 17 – 206. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Cherry & Canarywood. 11″ x 11″ x 1″.

Small Board 17 – 207. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 8″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Bread Board 17 – 501. Hard Maple & Bloodwood. This is an undersized bread board; most are 20″ long. Since this has a handle, it’s not really a small board. According to me! 8″ x 16″ x 1″.