Here we offer the plan for the wooden cheese board with very nice and simple design. Board has a wooden handle, so it is very convenient for catering and serving.
Wooden cheese board is a practical and decorative kitchen utensil that can be used for cutting and also for serving the cheese. People are often prone to use the same kitchen cutting board to cut all kinds of foods. But then it can happen that fruit gets unpleasant smell if you previously cut garlic or onion on the board. Therefore it is recommended that you have a several different cutting boards for different purposes in the kitchen. Since cheese is a specific kind of food, which is usually being cut right before the serving, it’s good to take one nice cheese board and use it only for cutting and serving cheese.
Dimensions of the board that we suggest are 305mm (12'') x 254mm (10''), but you can easily customize the size for your need.
Various types of wood can be used for manufacturing of the cheese board, but you should always keep in mind that this kitchen utensil comes in direct contact with food, so be careful when choosing the wood type. Properties of wood that will be used have to be suitable for the kitchen utensils manufacture, which means that it should be non-toxic, should not be a potential allergen, should not release resins and tannins and should not react chemically with food ingredients. Besides that, a proper wood for the manufacture of kitchen utensils should not have large open pores, because the pores can retain small particles of food which will enable bacterial development that can cause food contamination. In general, the best types of wood for the manufacture of kitchen utensils – and therefore for the wooden boards – are olive wood and Osage orange. Besides these, there are other suitable types of durable hardwoods like Cherry, Hard Maple, Black Walnut and similar. All these wood types have distinctive figure and are very decorative. Avoid hardwoods like Ash, White Oak and Red Oak, as they are very porous woods that are hard to clean.
When board is cut, sand it with 60-grit sandpaper, sand again with 80-grit sandpaper, then 120-grit and finish with 220-grit until wood became perfectly smooth. Wipe with a damp cloth to remove any sawdust.
For the wooden kitchen utensils that you make for yourself, we always recommend leaving it natural, which means: do not use any finishing. But if you want to protect your wooden cheese board, use some food-safe finish. It can be beeswax or mineral oil. You will frequently find recommendation to use vegetable oils like olive oil, but you should know that many of them will go rancid very quickly, so we do not recommend this kind of finishing.
Maintain your wooden cheese board by hand washing in warm water with mild detergent. After washing, it should be wiped and thoroughly dried. Keep it in a dry place. Never wash it in a dishwasher, because wood will crack.