Notes from the bench — how to choose a board, how to look after one, and the small things that make a piece of wood last for decades. Written by the maker, from the workshop outside Selby.
32 min listenEvery end-grain board looks like a pattern. It's actually a structure — and the structure is the whole point. Here's what "end grain" really means, where the construction comes from, how these boards are made, what the evidence says about knives and hygiene, and how to judge a good one — whoever made it.
18 min listenWood, plastic or glass? A maker's honest comparison — what each does to a knife edge, how they behave after years of use, and why no board is hygienic just because of what it's made from.
11 min listenMost boards don't wear out — they dry out. Here's the five-minute habit that keeps a wooden board working for decades, the short list of things that genuinely ruin one, what's actually happening inside the wood — and how to tell when a tired board needs help rather than replacement.