Ellipti-go cheeseboard

[BillK]

Phone rings Sunday afternoon.

Hi, did you get that Eliptigo picture I texted? Can you make me a cheeseboard with that on it? Oh, and I need it Thursday.

I delivered it this morning (Tuesday).

I was thinking about all the time I would spend fixing the vectors after I converted the bit map to vectors.

So that was looking a little labor intensive. And yeah, you can probably flatten a board with a block plane, but you know a jack plane would be a lot easier.

After thinking about it, decided this needed some photo editing first. Imported the image into my iPad, converted to Black and White, then opened it in Autodesk Sketchbook on the iPad. Literally colored in the black sections and a few white spots cutting down the pixelation from the light glinting. And that produced this:

Which in turn produced this with the same setting converting bitmap to vectors.

And in about 15 minutes of tuning got me to this:

And that’s how I could be carving this Monday afternoon and delivering Tuesday morning.

This board is Hickory. Mineral oil overnight soak, waxed with Carnuba-Beeswax-Mineral oil mix this morning.

Thanks for looking!

[Savannahdan]

Nice! Love hickory and the carvings are nice and clean. Will they flip it over when used for cheese? I have a client wanting something along that line but she doesn't want folks ruining the carving/inlay/engraving. I have a bit more time than you were given.

[BillK]

I recommended they flip for cutting, yes. It’s tough wood and you need a sharp knife to scratch it.
I also recommend hand washing with luke warm water. Some asked me if I could fix a cutting board that was glued together and put into the dishwasher. Got three pieces in a bag.

[litzluth]

A real cutting board should be top end grain. Knife will tend to slip through the end grain. Pain in the bucket to glue all the pieces together, but if you do them as a cube in a sufficient length, you can slice off a number of boards.

[BillK]

A real cutting board should be top end grain. Knife will tend to slip through the end grain. Pain in the bucket to glue all the pieces together, but if you do them as a cube in a sufficient length, you can slice off a number of boards.

I’ve made a few like that. While I think this one will be less put to use for cutting and more kept as a commemorative of the anniversary, I also think the hickory will stand up quite nicely, almost as much as a “real” one.

[scottp55]

HAD to smile at the "real" terminology
Had an Uncle who started as a meat cutter in an IGA in the 50's with one of those
300 pound endgrain butcher block tables, and he Bought HIS table and brought it with him
as he bought his first of 3 IGAs....and kicked and screamed when the laws changed so he couldn't use it!
Sawed off the top again and took it to his home where his family still uses it.
He would have agreed with "real"...
But then he consider ONLY high carbon steel knives a "Real Knife"!
Like most meat cutters and Chefs back then, he Always brought his Knife Roll to wherever he was!

Perhaps a better term would be "Optimal" ???
I don't own a real cutting board, but Do steel my eclectic collection of Real and Unreal Knives Every time:)

GLAD I don't have to fix your 3 piece cutting board Bill:)

[martin54]

I recommended they flip for cutting, yes. It’s tough wood and you need a sharp knife to scratch it.

I would have thought it best not to cut on that side from a cleaning point of view as well as scratching or cutting the graphic. Can see food getting stuck in the carving making it more difficult to clean

Just my own personal view but if it had been me I wouldn't have delivered it until Thursday no matter when I finished it, don't know if this is a customer or family but if you complete something like that really quickly a number of things happen (in my experience). 1. people think it must be a really simple job, sort of just press a button sort of thing 2. next time they want something doing they will expect the same sort of service & 3. They think you don't have any other work to do unless you have charged them a premium for the extra hours you had to put in

May be a bit different if it is Family but I still wouldn't have delivered it as quickly as you did

[BillK]

Ah, Martin, this was for a dear friend who was in need and has helped me many times over the years. I would have made it for him on Sunday if he asked for that. He is also a regular customer and pays a fair price always without complaint. In my career, this type of customer service only benefits your business positively. He knows I made a special effort for him, and won’t forget it when someone asks for a recommendation from him. The persons he gifted it to were extremely happy to receive a personalized meaningful gift. So all around it was a win. I was trained and lived my professional career to always provide this type of service, and for over 40 years it has been kind to me, and I won’t change that now.