This post was originally seen on Craftberry Bush.
Hello, Hello!!
I’m pretty excited about the project I’ve prepared for you today.  I will be sharing how you can take a piece of old wood and create an antique cutting board that looks like it’s been loved for centuries.
Actually, if we are getting technical –Â my husband will be showing us how you can take a piece of old wood and turn it in to a vintage looking cutting board.
He has collected quite a stash of old, weathered and aged wood. Â We wanted to make something really meaningful with it that we could gift to our friends and family on special occasions. Â I’m excited to have something unique and beautiful for when weddings and housewarming gifts are needed.
If you would like to make your own cutting boards (or bread boards), you could use new wood if you prefer and stain it any way you would like.  But if you happen to have some old wood on hand, these can really give the appearance of century old cutting boards.
I’d like to show you the steps to making a cutting board as quick and as easy as it gets, and the tools that can help you do that.  But I’m excited to also share that I’ve provided 10 printable patterns or templates that will help you trace and cut-out a cutting board that you will love, with plenty of shapes to choose from.
Go HERE to get your printable patterns.
Once you’ve chosen your pattern and printed it out, follow these instructions for making your antique cutting board.
First, choose a piece of wood.
Hard woods – such as maple, birch, oak, walnut, mahogany – are great for cutting boards. Â But you could use whatever you please if it is for decorative purposes only. Â If I plan to actually use a cutting board from old wood, I am sure to wash thoroughly and seal with a food safe mineral oil. Â If it is decorative, you may want to consider leaving it in its raw and natural state.
Trace your pattern onto the wood.
A pencil will do just fine.
Next you will cut out the pattern. Â My husbands power tool of choice is a scroll saw, but he says a jig saw will work as well.
At this point you’ll have a nice shape, but you’ll probably want to work on the edges.
To get a nice rounded edge he used a router.
Before he had a router, he always just used an orbital sander to round the edges a bit. Â How curved you want them depends entirely on you.
Then you’ll want to take and sand the entire surface. Â This step really helps to clean up the old wood and refresh it a bit.
Even after all these steps, you’ll still have the lovely character only an old and worn piece of wood can bring.
And there are so many decorative purposes for an old cutting board.
I love to place them here and there against our white walls to bring in some added warmth and contrast.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and I hope it has been helpful for you!
My husband shares other woodworking projects, like this entry table plan, but I really prefer to dabble with fabrics.
Here I’ve shared how to make a ruffle pillow sham.
And one of my favorites to date is this tassel throw blanket.
Thanks for being here with me and we will see you soon!
I would love to print the 10 antique cutting board shapes, however, I am only able to print #1. The others will not download. Could you please help me. Thanks.
These are lovely….and what a story old pieces of wood could tell. I can’t believe I came across your pin, as I just purchased a week ago a jigsaw, table and other items needed (now I need the router) as I’ve been wanting to make my own boards. I’ve been designing boards with paint and epoxy, but the boards themselves can be expensive. QUESTION for you: How and where does one ‘not-in-the-know’ pick out wood – old or new? I have spent time at Home Depot and Lowe’s but I have no clue what to buy, or if there are off-the-wall and better places to find scraps big enough for boards. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks and best of luck on future projects.
That’a beautiful idea, my compliment. May I Know the model of jigsaw? Thank you so much for the answer
Great idea! Now, if only I had the saw, the man and the wood! Actually, I probably do have the wood in my garage somewhere, so I only need two out of the three. A saw would be pretty easy to come by, but the stickler is the man!
Haha! I love it Naomi! One down is better than none 😉 . I still love these boards and gift them when I feel like they would go to the right person who would appreciate them.
These are beautiful!!
gah! These cutting boards are GENIUS! I was JUST looking for some to bring in some warmth to my open shelves in my kitchen, but I didn’t want to spend upwards of $80 bucks! Thank you SO much for this tutorial. We have tons of old wood and dh also has a router that gets very little use. I will be putting him to work, pronto (I’m sure he will love that, LOL). Found your blog via Crystal at Weathered Fox and am all heart eyes about it! Your IG feed is fab too. Have an awesome day 🙂
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Perfect timing on this post, Cami! I ran across a walnut board the other day while digging through my stash and thought about doing a cutting board. Hard to pick a favorite shape from your patterns but it will either be #1, 7, or 10. Thanks for sharing!
Hugs,
Cecilia
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Cami, the cutting boards are beautiful! Great idea for gifts!
Just sad we can’t do them because we have no equipment or place to do that in our apartment…
But thanks for sharing! Maybe one day…
kisses ML