Cutting Board in Walnut (Face Grain)

Regular price $380.00 + shipping

Materials
Non-toxic, food-safe, and solvent-free
Sustainably sourced hardwoods bonded with fully cured Titebond III

Species
Oregon Walnut in Wave Grain
North American Hard Maple

Finish
Food-grade mineral oil and beeswax blend

Dimensions
17 ¾″ × 12 ½″ × 1.06″

Weight
5.2 lb / 83 oz

Care

Hand wash only. Wipe dry immediately.
Never place in dishwasher or submerge in water.

To prevent warping, re-oil monthly or when dry, and apply conditioner regularly.


Howard Cutting Board Oil
Howard Butcher Block Conditioner

Story

2025. Winter in Oregon. If you want walnut, you start at Goby’s new lumberyard in Aurora. But even though I spotted the dream boards, first dibs rules the day, so I walked out empty-handed.

I decide to skip the big shops, hunt for the small guys. Facebook Marketplace, a lucky scroll, and suddenly I’m driving out to Jim’s ranch. Lawn chair, cigarette smoke curling, his son by his side, walnut everywhere you look - rough, old, wide, just picked up from a woodworker’s estate sale that morning. Forty years aging, and you’d never know what was hidden inside.

The faces were so rough you couldn’t see the grain. I studied the edges, the ends, trusting gut over guesswork. Long, heavy boards - ten, eleven feet - twenty inches wide. I kept coming back to one, and finally took it home.

This piece caught me for a different reason. The grain burned across the surface - flame patterns twisting from a wide base to a narrow crown. I sat with it, studying every line, wondering if it even needed an inlay. Sometimes too much feels like a gimmick.

But I kept seeing light move through fire. So, instead of tracing the obvious, I drew two almost converging lines - subtle, not showy. They cut through the flame.

Look close and you’ll see the whole tree in the grain - roots, trunk, crown.

Sometimes, what’s burning inside just needs a little more light.