Michael Parkhurst
When I was a boy, customers would walk right through our kitchen to enter the tiny shop where my grandfather repaired shoes. As I watched wide-eyed, he could magically turn scraps of leather into fine boots! He never turned me into a shoe maker, but he taught me how to work. I try to channel his reverence for honest craft into each of my end grain cutting boards.
It's a spontaneous process- no plans, no templates and no design formulas. First, I gather together a group of harmonious toned hardwoods. Then, after studying the grain patterns, I strive to make each cutting boards its own entity. A great reward comes when the wood's natural colors glow with the first oiling.