Cherry Serving Board with Juice Groove

Standing in the lumber aisle, sight down the board's length and across its width. Reject anything cupped or twisted — you have no glue-up to hide behind here, and a cupped serving board rocks on the table forever.

A clear, flat, 10"-wide cherry board is worth walking to a second yard for.

Crosscut to 16". Check both ends with a square — if the board rocks or the ends aren't 90°, fix it now.

Sand the faces flat with 100 grit if the mill marks are heavy.

Mark a rectangle 1-1/4" in from every edge. That's the centerline of the groove.

The groove's job is to catch juice off a roast, so it needs to be a closed loop — an unclosed groove just delivers juice onto the counter.

Chuck a 1/2" core box bit. Set the depth to 1/4", no deeper — go deeper and you're structurally weakening a 13/16" board.

Clamp a straight-edge as a fence, rout one side, reposition, repeat. Four passes and four repositionings.

Go slowly at the corners. Take a light pass first and sneak up on the full depth — cherry burns if you dwell.

Trace something round (a paint can lid) at each corner and cut with a jigsaw, or just sand them round. Square corners on a serving board chip and jab.

Break every edge with sandpaper until nothing feels sharp.

100 → 150 → 220. Get inside the groove too — fold sandpaper over a dowel.

Wipe with a damp rag, let dry, and sand once more at 220. That raised grain would otherwise come up on the first wash.

Flood with mineral oil, wait 20 minutes, wipe back. Repeat 3 times. Cherry goes from pale pink to a rich glowing red the moment the oil hits — this is the best part of the build.

Finish with wax paste. Hand wash only. Set it near a window for a few weeks and watch it darken.