Woodwork Wednesday

Today, I will share a little glimpse into a product that I have been designing in my studio for some time now. I had this idea, that I wanted to create a cheesboard out of a geometric shape. We are breaking in our new engraving and routing machine called the Shapeoko. For practice with programming, I wanted to try routing out a hexagon shape. I have also been dreaming of a hexagon cutting board and designing the piece for some time in my mind.  Together my husband, Ashish and I co-created this piece. As a hardwood, hickory has been a recent favorite of mine, with it's lovely variety in tone and the texture of it's grain. I have been admiring everything in hickory from Scandinavian flooring to countertops. 

The idea began with a simple sketch of a hexagon. I also wanted to try hickory b/c it was suitable and new to me, having already made kitchen boards from walnut and cherry wood in the past. Once, I decided on the overall design and dimesions, Ashish created the drawing in the computer by using a new software, Carbide 3D. 

The Shapeoko, cut the shapes out well, although we did do some troubleshooting due to an error (I will ask Ashish to tell you all about troubleshooting with the Shapeoko machine in another post;) An alternate approach to cutting out this same shape would be to use a miter saw set at 60 degrees, which we ended up trying out as well. 

Onward to my favorite step, which is finishing all sides of the piece. I tend to use my orbital hand sander the most often for finishing. I start with the meduim coarse grit sandpaper for the sides of the hexagon, then used fine grit sandpaper for finishing all surfaces. 

Below is a picture of how the hexagon tile looked after they were sanded and smooth. I like to use 2-3 coats of foodsafe conditioner to seal and polish my kitchen boards. 

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Here they are looking all spiffy and polished. I polish them using lint free rags made from t-shirt material. I envision them being used as a pair or trio to display cheeses. It's a fun way to keep the cheeses separate but together at the same time;)

I bet that you already guessed, that the best part of this photoshoot was eating all of the cheeses at the end!!

These Hexagon Cheeseboards are available for preorder today. All boards that you pre-order will ship by February 2nd, when ready. For this week only, if you place an order, you will receive $5 off on a single board. 

I hope you have enjoyed a little peak of what's being made in my studio today. I will be back on Friday with ispiration for your weekend.