Cutting Board Completes Twelve-Step Journey From Tree to Gift Nobody Asked For

A black walnut tree that stood for 140 years in rural Missouri has completed its transformation into a decorative cutting board that will sit on Karen Whitfield's kitchen counter until the sun burns out. The journey began when woodworker Tom Bergstrom, Karen's brother-in-law, felled the tree, milled the lumber, dried it for eighteen months, ripped it into strips, cross-cut the strips, glued them into an end-grain pattern, flattened the panel with a drum sander, rounded the edges with a router he was visibly nervous operating, applied four coats of mineral oil, and presented it to Karen at Christmas with the words 'I made this.' 'It's beautiful,' Karen said, placing it on the counter next to a $12 bamboo cutting board from Target that she actually uses. 'I would never cut anything on this. It's too nice.' Bergstrom spent approximately 47 hours and $280 in materials on the cutting board. The board's primary function has been to serve as a surface upon which Karen places her car keys. 'I specifically designed it to be used,' Bergstrom said, a note of quiet desperation in his voice. 'End grain is self-healing. It's meant to be cut on. That's its entire purpose.' Karen nodded politely and placed a decorative bowl on top of it. The National Cutting Board Registry estimates that 11 million handmade cutting boards are produced annually in the United States, of which approximately 340 are used for cutting. The remainder serve as display pieces, cheese boards for parties where no one cuts the cheese on them, and passive-aggressive gifts between family members. Bergstrom has already begun work on Karen's next Christmas present: a hand-carved wooden spoon she will hang on the wall.