Any longtime woodworker would have a hard time thinking of something they’ve never made, including me. Well, I just thought of something.

When it comes to Christmas gift exchanges a lot of people are content with giving gift cards as an easy way out. I don’t do that, and instead I typically make something specifically geared to whoever the recipient is. With another family gift exchange coming up, Sally suggested I make a cutting board.

That hadn’t occurred to me, and it would be a pretty good choice for the recipient whose name I drew in the exchange. When I started thinking about a design, I figured I’d just draw on past experience – trouble is, I have no past experience in making a cutting board.

How is that possible? The very idea stunned me, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that I’d hit on something I’d never made before. I did make a sink board once, but that wasn’t a traditional cutting board. Likewise, I’ve also made some cheese boards with the levered cutting wire to slice cheese, but that’s not what I’m talking about either.

So, I am about to make, for the first time ever, a traditional cutting board. The prospect of making something that I’ve never made before is a wonderful feeling, and as a result I’m more excited about a project than I’ve been in a long while.