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Making cutting boards has got to be one of the most popular woodworking tasks. I can't imagine how many cutting board videos have been uploaded to YouTube and others all of the information that abounds ... 

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/ObleuPPO3mM

This article and video are based on my 20 years of reading articles and publications from researchers who test cutting boards to evaluate their safety and report on their findings. 

Read Time: 4 mins

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Lazy Susan's have got to be the handiest things for serving devices whether stand-alone or on a dining room table, a picnic table or on a snack table. The only real problem is that some of them can take up so much room ... but there is a way to economize on the size without giving up on the amount of serving space and that is my making another level to them. 

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/YWqEpnE356w

I wasn't sure what kind of center I wanted for the upper level so decided to make a prototype before making a final version. My first version had a round center column which I did not keep on so wanted to try this style of having simple square wood, but with an arc cut into them to accommodate later bowls and serving dishes ... 

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My inspiration for this pair of wooden utensils is that for many parts of the world, spring and summer are the time of year that is popular for couples to join together in marriage and similar civil ceremonies. These events are joyful time for families and friends to come together to celebrate the event and share conversations and food. In many cultures the cutting and sharing of a desert, like a wedding cake is the representation of the joining together of family and friends.

I have watched many brides and grooms cutting cakes with family heirloom swords and knives, but not every family have items like this ... so why not make something that could become future family heirloom ... a knive and matching cake lifter. But these are far from limited to weddings, they could be used for birthdays, anniversaries or any special event where family and friends might gather together.


Watch this and other similar videos on YouTube - https://youtu.be/0IjEbuV1Nkg

I have never made these before but looked forward to the experience. I wanted these items be more that just cutting up some nice wood and to make them appear different, I elected to glue together different colored strips to form something of a pattern.

Read Time: 5 mins

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Anyone who knows their way around a kitchen will tell you that cooking and serving good food has as much to do with the presentation as it does with how good the food tastes. I think I would have to agree with that statement because when ever I find myself at any kind of a fancy eatery for whatever occassion it might be. The food is always served in a manner that makes it look as good as it tastes. Often this has to do with the combinations and colors of foods, but sometimes what it is served on makes a difference too.
And so it was that a recent trip to a favorite Sushi Bar inspired me to try my hand at  making serving tray for sushi, and well ... anything else that you might want to serve on it too, like pastries, vegetables or any combination of assorted foods.

What I wanted was something simple, but it still needed to have enough detail to make it interesting without taking away from the food, after all the tray is to enhance the food not distract from it.

Watch this and other similar videos on YouTube - https://youtu.be/Hq6OcwCOpl0

To start off with I wanted to platten part to be thick as this is part of the detail. A piece of 3/4" board would have worked as well, but something that is one inch thick makes more of a statement. I thought about what kinds of legs or stands I could use for a tray like this ...

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I love innovative ideas, especially when they can enhance our lives, and what better place to do this than in the kitchen. I wish I could take credit for this neat idea, but I suspect it has been around for many, many years it countries where bamboo grows quite prolifically, and has been in use for a variety of building needs for centuries. Building this knife block has been on my list of things to do for about 2 years. So much so that I even went out and purchased (what I thought) would be more than the correct number of packages of bamboo skewers to build this unit. That shows you how wrong I can be sometimes - I had to go out 2 more times to purchase more. The block that I made has take about 20 packages of bamboo skewers. Next time I will be a bit more careful on the size.

To start off, I search through my somewhat extensive collection of cut-off pieces of wood and came up with a few likely suspects. One piece that I like was both figures and somewhat spalted, and it was even a live edge piece. I decided to plane it down enough to see the grain and then to determine if I would have enough wood left if I were to split it into 2 halves, which in fact worked out fine.