Cutting boards

Does this give you memories of shop class in junior high?

Nothing beats the smell of wood shavings, sawdust, and lacquer!

All kidding aside, I recently took a trip to a local middle school to check out these handcrafted wooden cutting boards made by Mr. Jim Young, woodshop teacher.

He made about over one hundred custom made cutting boards this past summer with his son and a friend. Each one is unique and is made from a variety of woods (ash, alder, Philippine mahogany, purple heart, and black walnut). Each board was made with a 26 step process (detailed in the link at the end of this post) and handrubbed with three coats of mineral oil.

I haven't been in a shop class since the early 80's! One of my projects was a small shelf in the shape of a diamond. Bert made a mirrored mini shelf which he still has. One of the classic wood shop projects from our old junior high was the "horsehead napkin holder" made by Bert's oldest brother, which is floating around somewhere at Bert's mom's house. I remember one of my friends made the horsehead napking holder, but didn't get an A on it because the grains were facing different directions.

One of my good friends (she doesn't have a blog name yet, but she went to brunch at Eclipse last year with me and went to Que Huong with a few SD Foodbloggers in the Fall) had one of these in her kitchen and I asked her where she got it from. She said she bought it at a local school's fundraiser to help benefit the woodshop program. I ended up emailing Mr. Young and arranged a visit after work one day. He said I could pick my own board from what he had left. I was hoping I would get one similar to my friend (an AP at a local high school).

This was pretty close to the one she had. I liked how colorful mine was (seen in the photo below). The light was so bright, so the colors are not as brilliant as they are in person. One of the woods in there was called Purple Heart. I forget the other types (even though he told me). The edges are rounded. It feels amazing and it looks beautiful. I kind of feel like I don't even want to use it and just put it on display. But of course, I will use it, but I just want to admire it a little bit more before I start chopping up vegetables and fruits on this baby.

Here's the link to the article on the district website.

I really like the look of my cutting board and am excited to use it soon. I'm also happy that the money goes to benefit the school's woodshop program. With budget cuts nowadays, every little bit helps the kids. The teacher was really nice and appreciative of the support he's received from fellow educators and the local community in the fundraiser.

The cutting boards are for sale and are $40.00 each. They can be purchased with cash or check. For more information, contact Bonita Vista Middle School at (619) 397-2200 or Mr. Jim Young at james.young@sweetwaterschools.org