I made cutting boards like this one for Christmas presents.

I particularly like this one. Note how the grain of the wood mimics the shape of the fish. The stains and scratches are from use.

Construction

The primary wood is hard maple. The dark, thin strip is walnut harvested from my backyard.

The dark strip that makes up the fish is cut all the way through the board. I cut the arc on my bandsaw and then glued the board back together with the dark strip replacing the kerf.

I really like the way these cutting boards look, but they don’t hold up very well as cutting boards. The constant stress of expanding and contracting wood causes the tail to separate.