by Texas Homesteader ~ 

You need a new cutting board so you just buy one, Right? But did you know it’s pretty simple (and very inexpensive) to make an all-natural oak cutting board yourself. We wanted to make small cheese boards to go with our homemade gifts. Come see how we did it.

Homemade Gift Ideas

One Christmas our Homemade Gift to our children & other loved ones was homemade Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese.

But how to present the cheese to our gift recipients? RancherMan & I were brainstorming about presentation ideas.

We decided we wanted a cheeseboard to go with our gift. So we started looking online.

We were pretty surprised at how expensive even a very small cheeseboard was. Even at the discount shops.

Plus – as is our norm – we really wanted to personalize the boards anyway. So we wondered ‘Why not just make the cutting boards ourselves??”.

Obtaining The Oak Wood

We decided we wanted our cutting boards to be made of oak wood. So RancherMan bought a 6-ft long 8″ x 1/2″ oak board.

We were able to use our credit card reward points too. So there was no money out of pocket for the actual wood.

We decided to divide that long board into 6 cheeseboards. Each board would be approximately 8″x12″. So RancherMan measured, marked and cut the long board into 6 pieces.

When the cheeseboards were cut to size we used a sander to sand all the rough edges of each board. Then a hand rasp was used to round the corners.

Let me tell ya, that will give you a workout! We don’t really work with wood very often so our woodworking hand tools are pretty rustic.

After the corners were rounded we sanded the edges once again to make a smoother finish.

Sentimental Personalization

But now how to personalize it? That question didn’t remain very long.

We used a hot branding iron to brand the corner of each board. This brand is sentimental to us and recognized by all in our family. It symbolizes our way of life: Sunrises Forever.

It reminds us that each new sunrise is a fresh start, a blank slate. A brand new chance to do something GREAT!

We knew our family would love it.

When the wood had been cut, sanded and branded, RancherMan used a 5/8″ paddle bit to drill a hole in one corner for easy hanging if desired. Now that will be convenient.

So let’s stand back & look… Yeah, we like it!

How To Coat Raw Wood To Protect It

The final step was to coat the surfaces of the cutting board with food-grade mineral oil. Not only does this help protect the wood, but it did a fantastic job of bringing out that beautiful oak grain.

When it was time to package our gifts to our kids, we included different flavors of our homemade Farmhouse Cheddar cheese.

We’d made regular Cheddar, Garlic & Chive flavor & Italian flavor that used dried herbs from my garden.

After each cheese was made it was pressed, cut, dried, waxed and carefully aged.

We coupled the cheese with our homemade cheese boards. The kids loved it and they still use those cutting boards daily (as do I!)

Once again we were able to present a gift that was handmade from our hearts.

And we were able to show our love while staying true to our values. 

Share Your Favorite Homemade Gift Ideas!

We’ve given some great homemade gifts over the years!

• • • Repurposed Denim Hand Warmers

    • Dehydrated Salsa in a Jar

    • Various Homemade Soaps

    • Venison Jerky

    • Wax-Dipped Pinecone Fire Starters

And MANY Other Homemade Gifts!

What about you? Do you love homemade gifts as much as we do? What are your favorite gifts to make or receive?

~TxH~

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