Labyrinth Woodworks

Marc Mehrotra

I have always enjoyed spending time in the kitchen. Whether I'm casually preparing dinner with my wife, or grazing on appetizers while catching up with close friends, time and time again, the kitchen becomes a center point for social interaction and fond memories. This became even more evident after I became a stay at home father and my time in the kitchen increased dramatically. I can remember preparing baby food for our two children and wondering if I was ever going to get out of there. Washing, scrubbing, peeling, slicing, chopping, dicing, mincing, blending, toasting, boiling, baking and repeat... There were little portion sized frozen blocks of pureed food constantly packed in our freezer. However, seeing the complete admiration and appreciation on our children's face after hours of work made it all worth it... And as my 6 year old daughter would say, “That's sarcasm, right Dad?” and I would say, “Yes honey, it is.” Most of this activity centered around one key piece of equipment - my cutting board. At first, I had a few plastic ones, and some smaller bamboo boards. Then my wife bought me a beautiful hardwood board, about 12 by 16 inches. I liked it so much, I stopped putting it away. Besides, I used it so often, it seemed silly to put it back and bring it out several times a day. It was there for everything, from slicing bread to preparing whole meals. One December, as I was searching for gifts to hand out for Christmas, I came across a link from “The Wood Whisperer,” Marc Spagnuolo, on how to make an end grain cutting board. His tutorial was well put together, and the board he built was beautiful, made of hard maple and purple heart. Sounded like a fantastic gift idea to me! After much sketching, planning, cutting and a whole lot of sanding, I came up with two, 12” square boards almost 2” thick which didn't look half bad! One went to my sister in law, and the other to my mother in law. As it turns out, my mother in law felt it was too nice to cut on. So to this day, it acts as an accent to the back splash in her kitchen. And it took a month or two for my sister in law's board to migrate from the dinner table as a display item, into the kitchen for real use. I took their hesitation as a compliment and decided to make more. As time went by, I tried different designs, different hardwoods and different methods of assembly and finishing. Each time I completed a project, I became more and more excited. How the grain waved and arched, how the different species of wood complimented each other and how the heartwood contrasted with the sapwood was magical. The possibilities seemed endless. But this was more than just a nice looking piece of wood. It had purpose. It had function. It was time to try one for myself. This is where my true appreciation for the end grain cutting board began. I started with one, then came two... then three. After a while, my wife said to me, “you can't keep them all out on the island, you know.” I truly enjoyed using them. This brought food preparation to a whole new level. But, OK, I”ll put them away... all but the big one. After months of use, the claims I had read about end grain boards proved to be true. Yes, there were knife marks, but not nearly as noticeable compared to my face grain wooden boards, and especially the plastic ones. Sometimes I would slice through a cucumber or tomato, look, and wonder if I had made a mark at all. Made sense – I was cutting into and with the grain, not across it. And even after it started to show some wear, if I applied some oil and wax, it looked new again. Impressive. The other quality took a bit longer to realize. One day I remember thinking, “You know, I haven't really had to sharpen my knives in a while.” Easier on the wood, easier on the knives. Nice. And just like the knife marks, I do still sharpen my knives, but not nearly as often. My goal is to provide a product people will appreciate as much as I do. Something they are proud to keep out on the counter and that will last for generations. I create and finish every board as if I am going to keep it, use it and display it in my own kitchen. If it's not good enough for me (and I'm really picky...), it's not good enough.