Wedding Charcuterie Board

Mar 3, 2024
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This is my second charcuterie board! It follows closely the work performed in my Whale Charcuterie Board project.

Table of Contents

Overview

  • Start: Feb 24, 2024
  • End: Mar 3, 2024
  • Wood Species: Jack Pine

BOM

  • Board1
  • Screws2
  • Handles3
  • Wood Burning Tool4
  • Sanding Block5
  • Dremel6

Sanding

Sanding was performed on both the front and back (back is necessary for the wood burning discussed later) with the sanding block and 180 sanding paper. The edge of the board were sanded by hand to soften them.

Drawing

The lettering was free-handed by my trusty assistant.

Trusty Assistant
Pressing too hard with the pencil can leave an indentation in the wood.

Routing

The routing was performed by hand using a wired dremel and multipurpose cutting bit7

During: Routing Lettering

As feared, the Dremel was very difficult to hold steady, resulting in a wavy pattern to the letter routing. Future versions of this project explore the use of laser engraving, CNC machines, or a combination of a heavier router/smoother-cutting bits.

After: Routing Lettering

Wood Burning

We desired the routed lettering to be darkened but did not want to fill in the routed lettering with a dark epoxy. So, we decided to trace the routed lettering, as best as possible, with a wood burning tool. We found a flat head tip to work best, though it was impossible to darken all facets (i.e. canal bottom) of the routed canal due its width being narrower than the tip.

Wood Burning Routed Lettering
Burning across the grain can be tricky as the density changes of the wood cause different burning rates.

The signage was burned into the back of the board using a custom made branding iron.

Wood Burned Signage

The iron was heated over a stove for ~2 minutes. The preferred spot was wetted just before applying the iron to conduct heat better and more uniformly. The iron was left in contact with the wood for ~30 seconds.

Learning from our mistakes made during Whale Charcuterie Board project, we were able to get a successful burn on the first attempt.

Multiple Ironing Attempts
The iron will produce smoke (not steam) on a successful burn.
The wood surface needs to be sanded smoothly enough that the iron can come in contact with it evenly.

Finish Coats

Next, we had to finish to stain and protect the board as well as to enhance the chatoyancy of the board. For this I used Oak colored Rubio Monocoat8 following the instructions on the back of the can. This finish is highly respected in the woodworking community as it is in-grain, requires just one application that takes about 15 minutes to apply and once dried (after ~5 days), is food-safe.

Front View: Drying Applied Finish

Handles

Lastly, we installed handles3. We pre-drilled the handle’s screw holes with a bit smaller than the screws so as to avoid splitting the wood. Bronze screws were the only color available to us at the time for screws that fit our needs.

Handles Installation

Result

Since this was intended as a wedding gift, we bundled a letter and cheese knife set.

Final Package

Cheers!

  1. https://www.amazon.com/Nylon-Abrasive-Wheel-Brush-Shank/dp/B07QDRCBBTs://www.homedepot.com/p/Edge-Glued-Round-Common-Softwood-Boards-1-in-x-17-3-4-in-Actual-1-0-in-x-17-75-in-ZPRLR0118/204510767 ↩︎

  2. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079SMYBMC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ↩︎

  3. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S1B12VR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ↩︎

  4. https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-445-grit-sanding-band/dp/B000WMIROM/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=dremel+drum+sander+220&qid=1619025626&s=hi&sr=1-4s://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EMBEY0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ↩︎

  5. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L8TII9C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ↩︎

  6. https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-4000-4-34-Variable-Rotary/dp/B00LUU2XFO/ref=sr_1_9?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.t1i9NW1WU5-Fgi2c47FXMmGQuKcViPB6xYGxNqB9bZx7CswXh8RoGq7K-Yf2_hIdMqn8wcYP8qCnb27PJHREr1H2t4hjXOnSXvTcEvkJGNrMQpQ9o2FqnO3gg0vPMghHdEjvP6YvrSzuvrxIYaYLjlz-dyupe-fF3l2aYmaLaAm-S9y2_yZ2S9mbk9p7n7LOaKrEVppkAaKHKGr6wUD70nALTh2_6AYIR2Zb9ehsk8PG1KT_37Ey7uwxcu0QcyFRSC_SByz_adOtq6_J7MU_2-GTfyVxLLDUl5KkzAVck7o.wcNuQjUaI42sY0I2uxfmOGjWeBANIHbSYerOITgjYlU&dib_tag=se&hvbmt=%7BBidMatchType%7D&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=dremel&qid=1712444686&sr=8-9 ↩︎

  7. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/dremel/561/9697166?utm_adgroup=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Pmax_Shopping_Boston%20Metro%20Category%20Awarness&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_id=go_cmp-20837509568_adg-_ad-__dev-c_ext-_prd-9697166_sig-Cj0KCQjw5cOwBhCiARIsAJ5njuaOscUKYQbzb1bNJmMZdOGpJh1miDUpP1dF5R4BX1FEZXfjfyBCWngaAvTVEALw_wcB&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5cOwBhCiARIsAJ5njuaOscUKYQbzb1bNJmMZdOGpJh1miDUpP1dF5R4BX1FEZXfjfyBCWngaAvTVEALw_wcB ↩︎

  8. https://www.rubiomonocoatusa.com/en?reset&country=us ↩︎

woodworking jack-pine charcuterie-board routing wood-burning
Research Engineer

My interests lie at the intersection of perception and robotics.