Cutting Time

 A couple of weeks ago I told you how I went to the GOBY Hardwood Mill in Portland. Well today I decided to tackle a project I have been wanting to do for a while now but have been scared to do.( Me scared? I know right... Actually I am a huge scaredy cat). With this particular project though I was scared to use my new Jig-Saw. So last night I had a little tutorial on how to use it and today I decided to tackle DIY cutting boards. A while back I was reading through Centsational Girls Blog and came across this awesome cutting board project here. I instantly knew that I too would need to make my own cutting boards. I mean she makes it look so easy. Also if I could tackle this, think of the christmas gift potential!
First things first... Get the wood... At GOBY these were the two pieces I picked out...

Pretty huh? It's Walnut!  It is a hardwood which is a must when making a cuttingboard. Walnut trees do grow in Oregon, so I lucked out. 

Then I took some large white paper to make a template for the shape of my cutting board. At first I wanted to do some awesome design with great detail. Then I reminded myself it was the first time to use the saw so the more organic, easier shape won. Not to mention this wood is pretty and I wanted to use as much of it as I could. I pretty much used the same shape she did.

 I cut it out...

 Nice and big.. Big enough for a long baguet.

 I cut out a heart in the handle and Cole nixed that idea...

 Check out that pretty piece of lumber.

So I set off to the garage where my Jigsaw and sander were to get to work. Thats me working in my running clothes because today I signed up for a half marathon and I figured I better start training if I actually plan on running it and not walking it. Please take note of the saftey goggles. It is hardwood we are dealing with and you never know when a piece of wood is gonna get you!

 The jigsaw was not as bad as I thought. It just rattles your hand a lot. All I had to do was stay on the line. And I did for the most part.....

 All cut and ready to be sanded.

 Switch out the power tools for the sander...

 All sanded up and ready to get a nice rub down of mineral oil. Do the whole board.

 Look how amazing the wood looks with a layer of oil... I love it.

 And TA DA.... There you have it!  A beautiful, new, homemade cutting board. (I would of put some cheese and crackers and made it all fancy for you but we already ate dinner so I grabbed the next best thing..Fruit from the fruit bowl.) Ok so this is a huge cutting board and I think I am going to hang it next to the chalkboard in our kitchen under the shelf Cole and I recently hung. What do you think?  I think you should make one because it was cheap and really easy. Again if I can do this so can you!