How Many Cutting Boards Should A Girl Have?

As many as she wants!  My problem is that I have not seen a wood cutting board I didn't like.  I have quite a collection.

Each cutting board has a story.  My Dad made these cutting boards.  For a long time, I had them hanging in my kitchen.  But I figure the best way to honor my Dad was to use them.

This board is a vintage Munising cutting board, probably from the 1950's.  Despite its age, it is not worth much, but I like the idea that the board has been around for a while.  I added the woodburning designs on the bottom to dress it up.

I have two BIG boards.  I bought the lighter board at a recent rummage sale.  It was a little dirty...but I could see beyond the surface problems.

I found instructions to clean and restore old cutting boards on The Wood Grain Cottage blog.  I soaked the board surface in vinegar for about 30 minutes.  Then scrubbed and scraped the board.  I repeated this a couple more times with fresh vinegar until the vinegar was clean after soaking the board.  After rinsing the board, I sanitized it with Hydrogen Peroxide and let it dry overnight.  To condition the boards, I used mineral oil.  I hesitated slightly when I saw the fine print on the bottle..."For Relief of Occasional Constipation"...OH MY!

When I got the bark-trimmed cutting boards, they were rough-sawed slices of wood.  The boards were bigger than the surface planner at the Plantation Woodshop can process.  So I cut the boards in half, planed each and glued it back together.  A little sanding and a few coats of mineral oil and the boards were ready.

Even though some of these cutting boards have a history, I use them.  Here are the boards I use in the kitchen.

The two bark-trimmed boards serve as table tops.

That leaves the two BIG boards.  I haven't found a use for them...YET.  Actually when I bought the recent board, I thought I could cut it up to make iPad holders.  Currently I am making them using  2x4s following instructions on instructables.com.

Now that I have cleaned up the butcher block board, I can't image cutting it up.