Adam's Side Quests

I am a sucker for learning new things, and this means that I am often dabbling in hobbies that are seemingly random. From learning computer programming to make a steel analysis tool to help me with my classes, to learning computer networking to create a network wide ad-blocker, to setting up my own private home movie streaming service, to modeling 3D parts for use on my friends 3D-printer, to making my family cutting boards for Christmas, I am always getting into something new! Please feel free to dig through the many projects that I find myself getting into, and I am excited that I get to share them with you. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions for me! 

Project 1: Cutting board! 

August 2023

I first got the idea to make a cutting board when I sat down to eat dinner one night, and an interesting video popped up in my YouTube recommended.  It was a simple video about how to make an end grain cutting board. I watched the whole thing, without skipping (except for the ads) a beat, and I proceeded to spend the whole night watching videos about making cutting boards. This continued for nearly a week before I finally decided to do it myself. I called my grandpa, who has a small woodshop of his own, to see if I could come down and 1) use his shop and 2) use his expertise to make a cutting board. He was glad to help, so I went to the local wood shop and bought 22 pen blanks. Pen blanks are small 1x1x12-in. pieces of wood that are meant to be turned on a lathe, not turned into a cutting board; they are not actually 1x1x12-in. and in reality, come in many shapes and sizes. It took us some serious work to square up all 22 of the blanks and make sure that they were the same size. Luckily, we managed to pull it off and make the first set of boards which are pictured below. 

We then squared everything up, cut them into strips, then put together the final board, ensuring that we alternated the colors to give it the checker pattern effect. I want to take a second to comment on the two strips of purple heart that got thrown into the mix. I know that they don't really match the aesthetic of the board, but I paid for them, so they were going to go into the board regardless. After some sanding, routing, and more sanding, we made what turned out to be a pretty good looking cutting board. I was definitely proud of it, and it was a fun opportunity to get to work with and spend time with my grandpa. 

Project 2: Cutting boards! 

November 2023

After seeing my cutting board, my entire family wanted ones of their own! In particular, my fiancé's mom and two aunts wanted me to make them ones for Christmas. So... I called up my grandpa and asked if I could borrow his shop and expertise once again, but this time, for three cutting boards instead of one. We both agreed that the pen blanks were a terrible idea for cutting boards going forward, and we decided to use walnut and maple lumber instead. The process was mostly the same as with the first cutting board, except for the hours spent sanding and squaring individual pen blanks. After gluing the strips together, sanding them, cutting the new boards into strips, then gluing those together, we had ourselves three good looking cutting boards. We decided to add routered hand holds to these boards, which I believe added a really nice touch. Just as with the last board, I am really proud of how these ones turned out! 

In case you were wondering, my Fiancé's family loved the boards and were really happy with their gifts!