If you're moderately comfortable with plugging in a tool, a DIY charcuterie board makes a handy emergency hostess gift or a pretty fantastic serving board for your own hunk of cheese. A 2 hour DIY.
SKIP right to the tutorial.
Do you remember the olden days when no one used the word charcuterie board? We called them serving boards, cheese boards, or had platters (shudder).
We were such peasants in the olden days, 8 years ago.
Today I'm going to show you how to make a genuine, imitation antique meat & cheese board with a hunk of wood from the lumberyard, a jigsaw and a palm sander.
It will only take 2 hours once you have a piece of wood to make it from in your hand. You can make it from scrap wood around the house or buy some.
I'll also give you a few hints on how to make the board look like it's old - from a Parisian market, as opposed to Home Depot.
EVEN if you don't think you're handy, you can do this. EVEN if you're afraid of power tools, you can do this. EVEN if you have no artistic instincts whatsoever, you can do this.
The full printable tutorial is at the bottom of the post.
Table of Contents
How Do You Make a Charcuterie Board
All there is to making a rustic looking charcuterie board is cutting a piece of wood into a shape you like with a jigsaw (or a band saw) and then finishing it.
Because you aren't looking for a perfect shape or fine woodworking, even a beginner can make an authentic looking board.
- Grab your piece of 12" wide barn board and draw your cheese board outline on it. You can find scads of examples of antique serving boards on Pinterest that you can use as inspiration for your shape. Cheese boards tend to be round and bread boards tend to be square or rectangular. Just do what you think looks good.
What kind of wood can you use?
Pine, spruce or fir: If you're new to things like using saws and cutting wood, pick a wood that's a softwood and easy to cut. Keep in mind with these kinds of softwoods you won't want to use the boards for any actual cutting, just as a serving tray.
Oak, beech or walnut: If you're experienced and comfortable with saws you can pick harder woods like these. Oak, beech and walnut are a lot denser with a closed grain and because of that, they're harder to cut. Those same properties mean you can use them as cutting boards because they won't dull your knives or scar easily.
2. Clamp the wood to a sturdy surface like a table or workbench then cut the shape out with a jigsaw.
3. Drill a hole into the centre of the handle if you want a hole to hang it from.
The size of the hole is up to you. You can do something just large enough to run a piece of twine through with a regular drill bit for hanging it, or something a little bigger using a hole saw. Or, you can have no hole at all.
4. Using a palm sander, (a Festool 125 if you're smart enough to ask for one for Christmas) sand the face and edges of the wood. You don't want to have nice clean cut marks. That's a dead giveaway that you're faking something old.
If you're using old barn board or even barn board that's already a bit discoloured from the lumberyard, once you cut it, the edges will look bright and new. So sand and round out the edges.
Decrease the grit of sandpaper you're using. Start with 80 grit, move to 120 brit and sand again, and finally sand with a 180 grit.
5. Blow off the sawdust from the wood and then use a piece of tack cloth to remove the rest of it.
6. Now the fun part of ageing your new wood, or ageing the newly cut edges of your old wood begins. If you're using old wood, brush the newly cut edges with your mixture of vinegar and steel wool.
If you're using new wood, brush the whole board including the edges. Let dry. The reason I want you to use this technique to stain the wood and not a regular stain is because a) it perfectly replicates aged wood and b) it's completely food safe.
Alternately, you can skip the vinegar and steel wool and just condition the wood with your food safe wood finish, which will darken the wood and give it a glow. Don't forget the newly cut edges!
TIP - By the way if you use cordless tools and have one that has a battery that won't recharge, you should read this post on how to fix a battery that won't charge. If the battery is relatively new and not dead because it's decades old you can fix it so the charger will charge it.
Intimidated? Don't be. This is how easy it's going to be.
I made cutting boards out of 3 different materials. Genuinely old barn board, new pine and barn board with lots of scarring and knots from the lumberyard that already looked a tiny bit aged.
There are plusses and minuses to working with both but my favourite was the lumberyard barn board that looked a bit aged. It's the rectangular one you see above.
It had the most character, best colour after conditioning and you can actually use it for food, unlike genuine barn board which I would advise against. Because ick. If you want to use an old genuine barn board for serving cut a layer of parchment or waxed paper to lay on top of the board.
I specifically chose a piece of barn board at the lumberyard that had a big crack and lots of character.
So.
Charcuterie board ideas.
This is always the big question. If you have one or more of each of the following things, you're good.
- Fresh fruit
- A variety of cheeses
- Dried fruit
- Nuts
- Olives
- Cured meats
- Soft cheese
- Crackers
- Flowers
- Small pot(s) of jams or chutneys
Those are your staples for a charcuterie and anything beyond that is going to get you into the serving board superstar realm.
DIY Charcuterie Board
Make this antique looking cheese/charcuterie board out of a piece of wide pine barn board that you can get from your local lumberyard. This is a GREAT hostess gift for Christmas. Just add cheese! :)
Materials
- A piece of 12″ x 1″ soft wood, at least 12 inches long
Tools
- Jigsaw
- Clamps
- Palm sander
- Various grits of sandpaper for sander
- Cotton rags
- Tack cloth
- Piece of chalk
- Board butter (food grade wood conditioner)
- Vinegar and Steel Wool stain
Instructions
- Grab your piece of 12″ wide barn board and draw your cheese board outline on it. Cheese boards tend to be round and bread boards tend to be square or rectangular. Just do what you think looks good.
- Clamp the wood to a sturdy surface like a table or workbench then cut the shape out with a jigsaw.
- Drill a hole into the centre of the handle if you want a hole to hang it from. The size of the hole is up to you. You can do something just large enough to run a piece of twine through with a regular drill bit for hanging it, or something a little bigger using a hole saw. Or, you can have no hole at all.
- Using a palm sander, sand the face and edges of the wood. Start with 80 grit, move to 120 grit, and finally sand with 180 grit. You don’t want to have nice clean cut marks. That’s a dead giveaway that you’re faking something old. If you’re using old barn board or even barn board that’s already a bit discoloured from the lumberyard, once you cut it, the edges will look bright and new. So sand and round out the edges.
- Blow off the sawdust from the wood and then use a piece of tack cloth to remove the rest of it.
- Now the fun part of ageing your new wood, or ageing the newly cut edges of your old wood begins. If you’re using old wood, brush the newly cut edges with your mixture of vinegar and steel wool. If you’re using new wood, brush the whole board including the edges. Let dry. The reason I want you to use this technique to stain the wood and not a regular stain is because a) it perfectly replicates aged wood and b) it’s completely food safe. Alternately, you can skip the vinegar and steel wool stain and just condition the wood with your food safe wood finish, which will darken the wood and give it a glow. Don’t forget the newly cut edges.
Notes
- Here's my tutorial on making your own beeswax wood conditioner.
- Here's my tutorial on making food safe stain out of steel wool and vinegar.
- Knots are harder to cut through than regular wood, so when you get to them just be prepared.
- Soft woods like pine, fir and spruce are much easier to work cut with a jigsaw and sand. Hard woods like oak, maple or walnut are much harder to cut BUT they can also be used as cutting boards then.
- Take a good look at the wood. It’ll tell you what to do with it.
- Your chalk line will be thicker than your cut line. Remember which side of your chalk to cut on to make your board the right size.
- If you’re new and unsure of yourself with woodworking tools like a jigsaw, make a cutting board with only straight lines. Curves are harder, so the straight lines will build up your confidence.
- Don’t forget to round off any newly cut edges.
- Don’t try to cut anything without clamping it down first. Ever.
- To make newer wood look like an older cutting/cheese board scar it using a knife or pizza cutter.
Recommended Products
I'm an Amazon affiliate some I get a few cents when you buy something I've linked to.
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Festool are high end tools and it shows. This palm sander is worth it just based on the fact that it doesn't vibrate in your hand and therefore your hand doesn't get numb using it. Festool Orbital Palm Sander -
This is the exact jigsaw I have and I love it. If you think jigsaws are hard to handle or crappy, try this one. Bosch-JS365
Incidentally I went to a family reunion this summer where there was a fantastic charcuterie board. I discovered a new favourite cheese, Espresso BellaVitano® from Sartori in Wisconsin. If you see it in your grocery store buy it!
I now always have it in my fridge. Not a sponsored post. Just a glowing review.
Cheese glowing seems like the perfect way to conclude this particular post.
A comment that has nothing to do with the serving board...I love your painted white brick wall. However I love that space even more now with your new to you shallow cupboard and how you've styled it. It gives me inspration.
Thanks Jody! Every once in a while I look at that wall and think - I miss my rolling pins up there. But then I get over it. ~ karen!
I've got all my gifts bought for this year. This is such a good idea. The trick now is to remember it for next year! Thanks for all your great ideas with a funny world view. You always make me laugh.
You're welcome Tamara!! ~ karen
Hey Tamara! Here’s your reminder.... it’s next year already!! And what a year too 🙄
Finally completed some boards!
omgomgomg. Good job!! ~ karen!
This years boards, I used last years vinegar. I think I'll do a coat of new vinegar mixture.
Nice! That's a lot of boards! They look great. Are they gifts? ~ karen!
They are gifts!
Yessirree. $10 worth of wood. $275 worth of sander.
Because that's how I roll. (Actually, I normally am this stupid, as you may recall, but it has to be unprompted, from the heart of my stupidity to get that to happen.)
I'm going back to my knitting now.
Because I'm most of the way done with all this year's presents.
And then next year, I can make cutting boards for everyone.
Yup. That's the way I roll. Actually they loaned me the $275 sander (which I think I've managed to keep) and an $800 palm sander! I didn't even try it because I knew I'd absolutely have to return that one. Why taste prime rib when it'll just make everything else in your life seem like rotten blood sausage?? ~ k!
I will definitely check out the Festool line of sanders...I can only do about 30 minutes at a time as I have arthritis in both hands. Is there an equally good sander that doesn't suck up the dust? I don't want to scare all you woodworkers but wet felters also use older sanders for vibrating the fibres in wet wool so that they felt faster. As I currently wet felt with my arthritic hands only and can only work for short periods of time ...anything that will hasten the process with less stress to my hands would be very welcome. Any thoughts? Thanks!
hmmmm.....
hand numb after using it for a long time. check!
only uses the edge of the sander. check!
duster bag doesn't really do anything. check!
Darn it, looks like i need a new sander....
thanks Karen for once again enriching my life and telling me things i didn't know i needed to know.
Karin
It really is a great sander Karin! I think I'm actually supposed to send it back to Lee Valley but ... I don't wanna, lol. ~ karen!
Ha, fluff em and keep it :0B
Awesome project! I cut and sanded 4 different shapes this morning before work. I can't wait for my vinegar/steel wool magic to get properly marinated.
Oh good! Upload a picture when they're done! And try one without the vinegar and steel wool mixture. The natural wood with just board butter looks great too. That's what the board with the big crack in it is. :) ~ karen!
I love this!! I am going to make some for Christmas presents for sure. Thanks Karen!!
Love the simplicity of the boards!
Not every American is distraught over the election. We are Ready to take our small business to next level, leaving behind regulations that constrict. More money for us more jobs for Americans and more money to spend on diy?
Thank you Sonya! I am a proud American and our newly elected President will see to it that we are once again a great nation. I also agree that small businesses are ready for growth, not strangled with regulations and high taxes.
How’d that work out for you? It certainly f-d up the country.
We just ended the Best Presidency since JFK! Soooo...
....It’s about to get REALLY F up now. ENJOY your short lived freedom.
On a more POSITIVE NOTE... these are absolutely Amazing! I LOVE your site .. thank you for sharing a wealth of information xx
Um, how do you keep your nails looking so perfect while cutting, sanding, and staining? All I do these days is grade papers (and nervously chew my cuticles), but my nails look all sorts of rapid and weirdly shaped. (I have the saddest nails.)
I should have led with the fact that I love the new(?) cheese board. Your nails were just so distracting!
LOL. I knew I was making a video and taking pictures so I did them RIGHT before I shot the video and took photos and they're still a bit messed up. Although I can say I do sometimes use Sally Hanson's Miracle Gel (you can read my post on it here) and even though it doesn't last even close to the length of time it claims to it does last longer than regular nail polish. ~ karen!
Just what ya'll need up there Karen...a bunch of depressed Americans...lol...forgive me but if I don't laugh I might come running very fast past the border patrol screaming loudly...I like the cracked one best...it's full of character!!!...now somebody up there...please save us!!
I heard something on the radio about "Emotional Support Canadians" being available. Where do I get one?
Another great post - thanks Karen. Love the idea and easiness of it. I LOVE cheese (born in Wisc.) and think a cheese, fruit, and cracker tray would be an excellent gift or party take-along. The tray could be the hostess gift for a weekend stay with friends. Many useful ideas with this. I also think that you could make a LOT of money by renting out your spare bedroom. The first thing I thought after the results were called - I'm moving to Canada - and moving in with you would be like getting your blog in 3-D. (LO) I would put LOL but don' t have the energy or heart for the full LOL. Thanks again for your DIY, Mary in Florida!
Thanks Mary W! ~ karen
My Sympathy for our American Friends. Making Canadian Bread Boards may help with the shock you must all be feeling. I think it will help me. Great Post Karen! Thank You Very Much!
Thank YOU Jo. ~ karen!
The older I get, the more I realize that you really do get what you pay for. These boards are such a great idea! I think I see Christmas gifts in the future!
Love these, Karen. Beautiful.
I love the leather lace just wrapped around the handle of the board, on one.
Thanks Cred! That one is wrapped because I didn't drill a hole into the handle (to mix things up a bit). ~ karen!
You've done it again: Amazed me! Love your blog. It's the only one I'm genuinely happy to find in my inbox. Might even try making that beautiful board. Thanks. :)
Hey Heather. Thank you so much for saying that. :) ~ karen!
The pro5 orbital sander has sold out - I wonder if that's due to your post. It's the least expensive one and within reason to spend, so I wouldn't be surprised. $545.00 is a bit too rich for me (the one you used), but you've definitely sold the benefits of it to me. All the reasons you state for not liking your usual sander is all the reasons I don't like mine.
Hi Shawna! That's a mistake on my part. The sander that I used is $275. It's the 125. If you click on the very first photo in my blog post it should take you to the correct sander. Still not cheap but not $600, LOL.
Absolutely love this idea but I must say, in all my years of going to Estate Sale, Garage Sales, and Antique store, I have never seen old cheese boards.
I must get going on this idea straight away.
What timing! I was making cutting boards for Christmas gifts, but I think I will go this route instead. I love, LOVE the look of the board with the crack in it! I would have normally passed on a piece of wood like that...from now on I will see the beauty in the wood instead! Going to go make a bunch of these to keep myself busy; as an American I am feeling absolutely sick . Thanks for reminding me there is still beauty in something "ugly". (At least the wood isn't "orange tinted". :o) Have a great day!
Oh yes, you have to look for the bad boards that no one else wants. :) Those are the ones that make the most beautiful things. ~ karen!
My husband and I made a collection of these out of bamboo for my sister a few years ago. They turned out beautiful. http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2012/11/diy-bamboo-bread-boards.html
Really nice!
Those are beautiful Mindy! Where does one find bamboo scrap though?
Nice! And good work on the edges. ~ karen!