Cheese Board - With Easy Wood Burning

Easy cheese board.

This quick and easy project is great for a gift idea. In this case, for my mum for mothers day.

Things you'll need:

• Some timber for the board (don't use treated timber, must be untreated. Hardwood is best)
• Wood burning tool (Cheap to buy from local hardware stores)
• Hand saw (or electric saw of course)
• Wood oil: Mineral or Vegetable (Vegetable oil from the grocery store will work great, or you can purchase food safe mineral oil)
• Sand paper and block (a small electric sander will make the job easier)
• Pencil, ruler and ideas!

Pretty straight forward, work out what size you want your board to be.

I went with a small narrow board with one slanted edge to give the board a more natural shape and feel.

I drew a design up on the computer to visualise what I wanted it to look like. Easy.

Cut Cut Cut

Once you have the shape right, its time to sand sand sand....

Get the edges nice and smooth and a fine smooth surface on the board.

Draw the design onto the board. With a simple design like this one its easy to just free hand it on, or you can use carbon paper (available from the newsagency) to transfer onto the board.

This is the fun part. Where your design comes to life.

Follow these steps for wood burning:

1. Be patient, wait for the tool to heat up (5-10mins)
2. Be patient, go slowly over the design - do not rush
3. Be patient, have a few practices first if you haven't used one before. Practice makes perfect.

I'm a beginner, so I chose something that would be easy for a first time but still looks great.

I used common vegetable oil available from the grocery store for $3

Wood can be very 'thirsty' so don't hold back. I put a few coats of it on the board using paper towel and left it over night with a very thin pool of oil on top. Came back in the morning and it was perfect!

You can buy food safe mineral oil too which can look great and protect the wood, a small bottle is about $15.

The most important thing is to make it FOOD SAFE! Untreated timber and food safe oil.

Now to head to the shops and buy a nice brie, camembert, cheddar and some crackers.

Enjoy.