branagan custom

Scrap wood long grain laminated cutting boards are a regular project for me. Now and then just to use some shop scraps, or to try and sell to make a few dollars I’ll knock together a batch over a few days or a week. I have gifted and sold quite a few of these but prior to August 2023 I hadn’t used one consistently myself. I thought it was about time to put one to the test.

Eating my own cooking? I think it’s important to put your own work to the test so I want to do an honest and open review of this piece. I see it as a review of, and considerations about, all types of wood cutting boards and not necessarily a review of my personal craftsmanship. I have provided boards similar to this to friends and family so if I expect them to use it I should know what they’re in for, what expectations to set, and how to avoid disappointing them with a subpar product.

If I have to review my own craftsmanship I would say it’s pristine and unparalleled in quality and beauty.

I was making a batch from some walnut, white oak and ash scraps. I made one bigger than usual as an experiment and overall didn’t love the look so figured this is perfect to hide in my kitchen and beat the hell out of.

First let’s take a quick look back at my thoughts on using these cutting boards from my post on building them:

• Unlike building furniture, this is a working surface. It could possibly take some use and abuse, be exposed to liquids and get washed and dried repeatedly. 
• We can do our best to combat this in the construction – letting it move, raising the grain – but this is different from a piece of furniture that is mostly static. 
• This type of board will probably eventually be worn out, depending on use. Care and maintenance will go a long way to extending the life of this type of cutting board – proper finishing, drying, and regular refinishing. 
• It has to look good, but also has to be clean and food safe with no chances of any contamination of food. 
• Also if someone is paying good money, it should last some decent amount of time. I don’t have the answers or clear cut solutions to these issues but they can at least be taken into consideration during the making process.

If you want to know how to build a wood cutting board with hand tools – or at least my process – check out the previous post. I’ll touch on all of these points in this post, and give a general impression of it in use.

On it being a working surface: Lets talk about the use this has gone through. My wife and I are heavy on cooking so this has faced some abuse in its short life. It has been used daily, most often twice or more, to chop a meal’s worth of vegetables and washed and dried at least once a day. I’d consider this heavy use – being wet and dried on the top side at least daily.

My feedback on it is mostly positive. In use it is excellent. It measures 16″x10″ but at 7/8″ thick it’s on the thin side for the proportions. I love the size, it’s heavy enough to not slide around and to feel solid on the countertop. It’s convenient and nicer to look at than a plain bamboo or plastic board. Maintenance (as in cleaning) is quick and simple. You’ll see from the pictures below, the surface shows some knife marks but isn’t completely chewed up, the long grain is fairly hard wearing.

After using it heavily for seven months, how has it held up to the use and abuse of the Branagan kitchen? In short: 

• It cupped – but not beyond usability. 
• It is showing real signs of wear. 

Before using it, I did wet it to raise the grain, let it sit for a few days to move, then reflattened, sanded, and gave it two coats of Walrus brand cutting board oil. The finish wore off quickly and I refinished it once but I didn’t keep it up because while it may protect the surface slightly, it wasn’t a huge factor in the durability of this board.

There are a few reasons that it cupped like it did. First of all we started using it in August, in the next few weeks we had a heat wave and our apartment got incredibly humid. It cupped almost overnight once the humidity hit. The good thing is that once the humidity subsided it did shrink back a little bit, but not completely flat. The next thing is washing and drying – sometimes twice a day the top surface would get soaked then left to stand and dry. The repeated wet and dry cycle made it cup more. At a point I did plane the bottom to flatten it out so it wouldn’t rock around on the countertop which helped. The other issue that came from the wet/dry cycle is checking on the ends, and it is showing signs of delamination on the joint lines.

I am somewhat disappointed with the Walrus cutting board oil. Even after two coats – wiping on thick, wipe off the excess, allowing 24 hours between coats – the finish seemed to disappear after just a few rinses. Now, I will admit I didn’t follow their instructions to the tee. In fact there are two different sets of instructions for applying the oil – one on the product page and one on their instructions page (linked above). But upon review the website is a little vague on what to expect with the cutting board oil finish – Protection? What level? Should it help with stability? How long does it last – is refinishing required? How frequently? Not much detail is given on the website.

Lets take a look at the change in the board over time:

1. Taken August 27th before being put into action:

2. Taken March 29 after seven months of affection:

Pristine and unparalleled in quality and beauty, don’t you think?

I took these photos after almost finishing this writeup and have to admit, I’m conflicted. If you’ll notice from the recent photos, the board is in fact dead flat. Unfortunately and fortunately this means my previous comment on it having cupped and getting a bit rocky on the countertop are no longer relevant. Well, they are relevant in that it did happen but clearly it wasn’t a permanent change. It could be for a couple of reasons: the changing weather, although it is going from winter to spring so I wouldn’t expect a sudden change in humidity, or more likely, we just went on a four day trip so for nearly 5 days it was unused and untouched, in a cold kitchen that didn’t have constant temperature / humidity changes. It completely flattened out. Go figure. Wood is unpredictable.

My original conclusion was as follows:

So overall, its just fine. I love using it but can see that the life is limited; these simple panel cutting boards aren’t built to stand up to the abuse of daily life in a busy kitchen. That being said, if it was used for only dry items – bread for example – or as an occasional serving board, other than the humidity causing movement, this would be an excellent user for specific tasks.

With the update and new found flatness, I would add:

Overall I think it’s great. It’s not going to last forever but now it’s clear that giving it a break every now and then, or just putting it through lighter use in general is clearly a good thing for the cutting board and will extend its life. The only downside is the potential for movement (cupping or twisting) – though I’ve used plenty of warped plastic cutting boards – and possibly wearing out from checking and/or delamination. 

What can we do about these pitfalls with laminated wooden cutting boards? 

First of all, build a heavier duty cutting board. A breadboard-end board would be perfect. The breadboard ends would keep it flat and keep the panel contained to avoid checking or delamination. Those of you with keen observation skills will see one I made as a gift in my portfolio. Other options would be to add batons across the board – for example sliding dovetail batons as feet – to keep it flat too though this doesn’t protect the ends.

Wood selection as always plays a huge role. Choosing a stable wood, and a more stable cut of that wood, would reduce the overall movement especially from environmental factors. Bonus points for making it heftier than I made mine. This one is fairly thin considering the length and width.

Perhaps a more durable (food-safe) finish would keep it protected too, and regular refinishing may stave off the effects of regular washing. This is something I will explore in the future, I’m happy to experiment with other food safe finishes on the next batch.

That about covers the review of this board after 7 months of punishment. 

Will I make more? Definitely. With updated care instructions and expectation setting for anyone who receives one.

Has it been an insightful experiment? Of course, with pleasant surprises along the way.

What’s the plan now? Beat it to death until it falls apart. Then probably plane the leftovers down and make a box from that lovely beaten up walnut, white oak and ash.