I finished carving my next woodcarving project — a chip carved cutting board. I come up with a simple chip carving pattern and transferred it to a basswood 1/4 x 4 x 8″ board and filled the empty space with a free style leaf design.

I tilted the rosette a little to break the symmetry of the pattern; I think that distortion catches an eye just enough to make the project interesting.

Since the cutting board makes contact with food I finished the board with “John Boos Block Board Cream with Beeswax” — ideal for butcher blocks, cutting boards & wooden culinary utensils. Notice that the cream makes the wood grain slightly more visible.

I inserted five rectangular acrylic pieces that lift the board above table surface so water and bread crumbs on a table can not damage the chip carved wooden surface when I use the board.

I use the chip carved cutting board mostly as a decoration but sometimes I use it as a serving board. Take a look at the picture of my cutting board in use in my room with a nice view.

The picture has not been photoshoped; not even cropping needed. I only re-sized the picture and added the “www.readntry.com” label using Paint. The wonderful view is actually a poster “Alice Dalton Brown, Long Golden Day, Fischbach Gallery”… but everything else is real. 🙂