Cheese boards are good projects for both the beginner and the skilled WW, and they make nice gifts.
- No complicated joinery.
- Only need table saw, router, plane or planer. Grrripper or equivalent highly recommended for cutting small pieces.
- Plenty of glue-up experience. I use TB III. For oily woods, roughen the to-be-glued surfaces with sandpaper, wipe with acetone, glue up.
- A *great* way to use your scrap.
- Little disappointment if you screw up.
- Rockler sells soft rubber-like bumpers for the bottom so the board doesn't scratch the table or vice-versa:
- Finishing is easy.
I finish them with a quick rub with mineral oil, then wipe the excess off as thorougly as possible, then top them off with 2-3 coats of Johnson's wax. (If you don't start with oil the wax will fill the pores with a very noticible yellowish deposit.)
I have since brewed up my own finish with 2 parts carnauba wax flakes, one part purified beeswax and 4-5 parts mineral oil. Makes a nice paste.
Check out the cheese boards I made for family members for Christmas: