Business ideas manufacturing from short boards. What kind of space is needed for a carpentry shop. Cutting board with drawer

We continue to talk about people who, despite economic difficulties, take risks and create, albeit small, but their own own business. Earlier we wrote about the lawyer Svetlana Korabel, who bought a farm in the region and. Also our hero was a DOSAAF teacher from Verkhnyaya Pyshma, who. The history of businessmen-blacksmiths who are also curious.

We learned about the hero of our today's publication thanks to Facebook. Just before the New Year, photos of joyful people with end cutting boards began to appear more and more often. Then it was completely incomprehensible what it was, but the price - from 2 to 6 thousand rubles - surprised and intrigued.

They are made by Mikhail Zernin. Looking at his photo, you might think that he is a middle manager, if not an executive. But no, he's a carpenter.

But until the summer of last year, Mikhail, like his wife, worked in the field of HR and was engaged in corporate training. For about four years they lived in Moscow, because the wife was offered a good position, and Mikhail got a good job. However, they immediately decided that they were in Moscow temporarily in order to earn money for an apartment.

When I returned to Yekaterinburg in 2014, I found a job similar to the one in Moscow. But somehow it quickly came to the realization that I was no longer interested. Moreover, I got into a company that worked according to the old principles. As a result, I quit, - Mikhail recalls.

For a while, Michael simply did not know what to do. This is the process of finding yourself. But it was necessary to earn something, and therefore he took up freelancing - once or twice a month he conducted training, and the rest of the time he was free.

My brother makes stairs out of wood in his workshop in Sukhoi Log. And I saw a bunch of improvers on the Internet - various business card holders, phone holders - made of wood and decided to try to make them, - says Mikhail.

We communicate with him in the workshop, which is located in the basement of the Yekaterinburg Art Fund on Onufriev Street. In fact, there is a carpentry co-working here (we have one, it turns out), where people can come to work with their hands.

February 2016 was a turning point for Mikhail. One of his friends sent him a link to a video on how to make end cutting boards. And he asked me to make one for him.

Still, we will tell you what an end cutting board is. Its main difference from the standard one is that the wood fibers are located perpendicular to the cut surface, and the knife blade, as it were, pushes the fibers apart. When using a regular board, the knife simply cuts the fibers and because of this quickly becomes dull.

When I made some boards, I posted the photos on Facebook. As a business coach, I'm used to receiving feedback. As a result, I received a lot of “Wow!” comments, and some asked me to do the same for them. This inspired me to continue,” Mikhail explains.

Mikhail made the first board for sale in March 2016. Its cost was determined quite simply - the cost of materials and the road to the brother's carpentry workshop, as well as an extra charge of 20–30% (although in carpentry it usually amounts to hundreds of percent). As a result, 6,900 rubles came out for a large American walnut and ash board.

For comparison, an ordinary cutting board costs from 500 rubles, and quite a high-quality one - from 1000 rubles. However, end boards are, in principle, much more expensive - on bulletin boards in Yekaterinburg, you can find options for 4-6 thousand rubles. One of the market leaders is the manufacturer from Izhevsk MTM Wood - they have the cost of some options reaches 22 thousand rubles. Such a high price is associated not only with a large amount of manual labor and the duration of the manufacturing process, but also with the cost of materials - rare wood species cost up to 400 thousand rubles per cubic meter.

At the same time, Mikhail continued to engage in training, since the hobby could not feed his family yet.

I spent the last trainings without much pleasure. Although before I was lit by the work. At some point, I realized that it was time to finish - in the summer of 2016 I conducted the last training, - Mikhail recalls.

By that time, the hobby was gradually gaining momentum - he made five to seven boards a month. But with an average check of 4-5 thousand rubles, the amount was not very large.

Despite this, Mikhail decides to take a radical step - he sells his Renault for 500 thousand. I immediately invested part of the money in the purchase of machine tools: drum grinding (about 50 thousand), band saw (also for 50 thousand), CNC milling machine (150 thousand). Plus, he uses the equipment that is in the carpentry coworking.

In order to sell boards, Mikhail created a shop on the Masters Fair resource, where similar craftsmen exhibit their products. But there were no sales. Mikhail attracts most of his Russian clients through Facebook.

Much better sales went on the American site Etsy.com. The first board was sold there only seven months later, but now customers come from there regularly.

Approximately 70% of sales are accounted for by Russian buyers, and 30% - by foreign (more often - the United States). Prices are somewhat different: for example, for Russians, a board costs 6,500 rubles, and for foreigners - $ 150. The difference is explained by the commissions of the Internet site where the goods are displayed, as well as the cost of delivery.

Mikhail does not regret radical changes in his life.

Every day I have the feeling that it was not for nothing that I changed the scope of my activity so drastically. Especially when I look at the world map, where I mark the cities where my boards were bought from. So far, there are 58 such points, - says Mikhail. - Now the boards feed me and my family. December turned out to be very good - more than 20 pieces were made and sold. Managed to earn and grow the base.

In such a production, word of mouth is important for promotion - people like Mikhail's boards, they write about it on social networks, tell their friends, and, as a result, new customers appear. By the way, Mikhail also came up with the name thanks to Facebook.

Initially, it was Handcraftedgift, which means gifts in translation. self made. But at one of the exhibitions, the presenter simply could not pronounce it. Then I decided to announce a contest on my page, - said Mikhail.

This is how the Zernin handcrafted brand appeared. In principle, a completely logical step - with his last name, Mikhail guarantees quality.

If we talk about income from such unusual business, then a decent profit appeared only in November. The best was December, when we managed to sell more than 20 boards. Mikhail says that this is just the level to normally provide for his family. But even in this case, the income will be less than, for example, it was in Moscow.

Michael takes it easy. Now he is 34 years old. He admits that he makes plans for a maximum of a year. For example, he plans to try to make a table using end technology, to launch the production of chess boards (a couple of pieces already existed). However, he expects that in five years he will be engaged in carpentry production. It's great when a hobby becomes a source of income.

If you are also doing interesting business, production, then write about it to Sergey Panin by mail [email protected] website or in any of the messengers by phone +79193707070.

The kitchen has a tool necessary for cutting various products - a cutting board. Initially, it was stone, then iron, bronze, and only then became wooden). Although plastic counterparts have recently appeared, a wooden board is still popular as well. I recently managed to get into a workshop where cutting boards are made, but what I saw did not go well with my ideas about such a simple utilitarian kitchen item on which vegetables, meat and other food are cut.

Today, we will find out how the most expensive cutting boards are made in Russia.

As the theater begins with a hanger, so the workshop where wooden products are made begins with a warehouse where wood lies. To our master, whose work will be discussed today, it comes ready-made, dried at a certain temperature for several years. Fresh wood cannot be used for the production of boards, as ready product will deform over time from shrinkage.

Here, the warehouse supports a certain temperature regime and air humidity, which prevent the wood from drying out too much and becoming too wet. On this table, which hangs on the wall of the workshop, you can see the optimal percentage of humidity at different temperatures.

There is also a hygrometer showing the degree of humidity in the room. True, the master said that he had incorrect readings).

For the manufacture of some boards with a particularly complex pattern, a CNC machine (computer numerical control) is used. The machine is small, it is enough to connect a laptop with a predefined program to it.
The drawing of the board on which the cutter is currently working is inspired by Maurits Escher's famous work "Reptiles".

If desired, the cutter will work wonders).

This is how the board looks like after the machine has worked. If you look closely, you will see that this future board is glued together from pieces. Why this is done, we will find out later.

If the base of the board is made of walnut, then the inserts are cut from other types of wood that differ in texture and color - oak and rosewood.

As the master told me, the machine cut out the figures on the board in such a way that when inserting other reptile figures, no gaps are found. The figurines are very close to each other.

In this photo you can see examples of gluing. The multi-colored section is glued from different types of wood. One of the most difficult boards to manufacture will be glued from such material. You can see it at the end of the post.

The master takes a simple board, processes it, aligns the edges. Then the board is cut into pieces, which are turned with the end part and glued together. Moreover, gluing is not done in an arbitrary order, but in a special way so that the growth rings are directed in opposite directions, this will prevent the boards from deforming when the humidity changes.

Why is this being done? Due to the vertical arrangement of the wood fibers, the knives do not dull longer, since the knife blade does not cut the fibers, as in ordinary boards, but penetrates between them - it slides. The fibers return to their original state after the culinary hassle on it. Accordingly, the board does not deteriorate, and chefs do not have to sharpen their knives several times per shift, as is the case with conventional boards.

As a material, in addition to walnut, hornbeam, ash, maple, oak and beech, valuable types of wood are also used, such as American cherry, moving, mahogany. As you can see from the markings on the wood, it is from the USA, there is from South America and Africa.

other types of wood.

After the wood is cut into pieces and turned upside down, it is glued and clamped in clamps - a special press. As you can see, there are shields of different thicknesses. The thicker one will become a board, and the thinner boards will be used to cut patterns and shapes on the surface of future boards, similar to the figures from Reptile. After gluing, the shield will be ready in an hour, however, it is recommended to subject it to stress after 24 hours.

For gluing, a special adhesive is used that does not contain formaldehyde, is approved for contact with food and has great water resistance.

It looks like a room where all the tools needed for carpentry are located.

Perfect cleanliness and order! As you may have noticed, the workshop has all the machines and tools for making any wooden product. A true carpenter's paradise.

Special clamps for large boards.

We will not touch that board with reptiles yet, work on it will be carried out for more than one hour, therefore we will process another. After it is glued, it is driven through this grinding machine - thicknesser. In fact, this is a modern planer.

Then the sidewalls of the board are cut with a circular saw.

The sides are ground on another machine with a vertical belt movement. Here the corners are rounded.

The board is then run through the drum sander again.

This time the surfaces are polished more delicately. However, that's not all.

Pumps are attached to each machine, collecting sawdust from wood processing. After processing by machine tools, the product is polished with a manual grinder. First use a coarser sandpaper, 120 grit, then 240 grit, in order to finally polish the board

Finishing touches to round off the edges and we can say that the carpentry work on the board is over.

After all the above operations, the board takes a bath of mineral oil, which has no taste, no color, no smell. The oil is made from petroleum, but it is completely safe, and it is even used in the cosmetic field.

The same board with reptiles that is shown at the beginning of the post will turn into the same one. After some time, when the board is saturated with oil, it will be allowed to dry, then treated again, with a hot mixture of mineral oil and wax in a ratio of 4/1.

Other boards are sent to the same oil bath.

And now let's go to the "Showroom" of elite cutting boards). In this room, boards are packed and waiting to meet their future owner.

Hygrometers monitor the level of humidity.

This board just broke my mold of simple utilitarian kitchen utensils! I can’t even imagine how you can dare to shred products on a work of art).

Many hours were spent to make a board with a 3D effect. By the way, these boards are the most expensive, and it is clear why.

And this board can be safely hung instead of a picture!

The master also makes special boards for beating meat. There are even grooves for blood flow.

I will also add that the end boards, due to the material and production features, turn out to be thick and heavy, but they do not roll around the table / work surface of the cook. No need to put a rag or a damp cloth / towel, hold at risk. Boards are additionally equipped with rubber (sometimes silicone or plastic) legs, which are insurance against absorbing water that accidentally gets under the board.

After the board has passed all the stages production process, it is packed in a film.

A little hot air and you're done.

This map shows where the ordered boards went - mainly Russia, Europe, the USA, there are even Japan and Australia.

Well, for those who want to make an end cutting board with their own hands - a master class. If you have all the tools and machines shown above, then go for it!

And as a bonus, watch the video on how to make boards with drawings, just class!

If you have a production or service that you want to tell our readers about, write to me - Aslan ( [email protected] ) and we will make the best report, which will be seen not only by readers of the community, but also by the site How it's made

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Hello again! Of course, you have seen cutting boards in stores, collected from various colored plots at a "biting" price. In this article, I propose to familiarize yourself with the technology for the production of cutting boards for the kitchen, all the same with minimal cost funds. All women know that there are never enough planks in the kitchen, and if they are beautiful and durable, then in general they become a matter of pride for the hostess. So, guys, let's dare and make our hostesses happy!

It is also possible that, having bungled a board for the house, you will make them to order, maybe not on an industrial scale, but it will be enough for a modest stash. Even if you fail to sell and the boards remain at home, and you can always use them as a gift (for example, to your beloved mother-in-law :)).

So, let's proceed directly to the manufacturing technology of the product itself. We will need wood glue with a water resistance class of at least D3, trimming bars of various textures (it is good to use oak, ash, pear), a couple of clamps and, of course, sandpaper. The cost of glue with a water resistance class D3 is somewhere around 5-8 USD. (it’s enough for many products), in the carpentry shop you can get all kinds of scraps with different wood patterns at a reasonable price, and, of course, clamps, if you don’t have your own, you can borrow it, but it’s better to still have your own. You can buy the most common - Chinese. They are not expensive and are great for homework.

That's actually the whole minimum of material that we need. Now let's get down to manufacturing. We choose sticks of the same thickness and approximately the same length so that there is less production waste. We lay the plots in a checkerboard pattern (i.e., the dark area and the light area alternate) and look very carefully at the joints. The denser our plots are in contact, the stronger the product will be and the consumption of glue will decrease. By the way, it’s not bad to alternate wide sections with narrow ones of different colors - it turns out in an original way. In general - fantasize!

After all the plots are determined, we proceed directly to the preparation of wood before gluing. We process the sides that will be smeared with glue with sandpaper with a grain size of 100-120 units and be sure to degrease with anything, even with nail polish remover, and let it dry. After these simple manipulations, we lay a newspaper on a flat surface so that the glue does not smear, we sign the sequence of laying our plots. Please note that gluing is more convenient to do on a flat surface, thus reducing the amount of finishing work (because hardwood is quite difficult to process) and saving your nerves.

Well, now the newspaper is stacked, the "fresh" anecdotes are read in it, the glue is open - let's start! Coating the plots in the following way: we smear one with a rather thick layer, the other, adjacent to it, with a thin one. This is done to strengthen the adhesive seam. When everything is smeared, we clamp it with clamps at a distance of 5-7 cm from the edges (considering the size of the finished product). Be careful, because in 99 cases out of 100 all this goodness begins to hunch and twist. To avoid this, you need to put some kind of press on top. For this I use two 10-liter canisters filled with water. Only after you are convinced that the product has a flat surface, we clamp the clamps to the end.

When the glue dries (this is about 15 to 30 minutes), we begin the final processing and finishing of the board. We remove the glue that has come out and, having previously fixed sandpaper on a piece of wood, we grind it. Paper with a grain of 80 has proven itself well. Of course, you can use coarser paper, but it will leave deep scratches on the surface, and it’s quite difficult to work with it without a grinder.

This was the “correct” way of working, i.e. the plots did not twist. If the “wrong” option turned out and the board looks like a ladder, then we act according to this technology: with a blade from a construction knife, we begin to remove layer by layer along the working surface, achieving the desired result. Guys - be careful! It's dangerous for your hands!

Well, if things are really bad and the plank looks like the Potemkin Stairs or a helicopter propeller, you will have to look for someone familiar with a planer or thickness gauge to level it. Do not despair if for the first time it was the helicopter blades that turned out.

Well, let's get started! We got the plane and pick up a ruler and a pencil to mark the "clean" size. Having drawn a line with a pencil, we do the same operation with a knife, cutting off the top layer of fibers to avoid chipping. We cut off the “tails” with a hacksaw and be sure to grind the ends, which will give a more presentable look to the finished product. We smooth out sharp corners with emery - such a board looks much better. After grinding with a “zero” finish, we apply a protective coating - this is wax or oil (but not sunflower or creamy :)). You can buy all this ready-made in the store, or you can save money - melt the beeswax and begin to rub it into the surface with a soft cloth. Naturally, the wax will quickly harden without being particularly absorbed. To achieve the desired result, we kindle the stove and hold the board over the fire. The distance is selected empirically - the wax should melt, not burn. At the same time, with a soft cloth, continue rubbing the wax into the surface. If everything is done correctly, the board will become matte in appearance and velvety to the touch.

Well, that's all. The product is ready - everyone is happy. Do not be upset if they do not buy from you or order a whole pile of boards at once. Believe me, the "women's radio" works excellently and does not give fights. Make a set for your wife, present it to your mother-in-law, aunt ... yes, to anyone - advertising is provided for you and orders will be. I received mine 20 days after the experiments with the first board, but immediately for a set (5 pieces for 45 USD). I made them at home in two days and received not only pleasure, but also profit! Are you weak?

Especially for KHOBIZ.RU

Andrei Muntean has always loved to work with wood, and worked in banks. When his banking career came to an end, he turned his hobby into a business - he promotes his MTM wood cutting boards on YouTube and sells them all over the world.

Andrei Muntyan (Photo: personal archive)

“Sometimes I wake up at night and realize that an idea for a new board model has come to my mind,” says Andrei Muntyan. — In the morning I sit down at the computer, draw the construction and design, do all the calculations, then I go to the workshop and do it. It gives me special pleasure.”

Muntyan, 56, an economist by training, is a well-known banker in Izhevsk. Since the 1990s, he created banks and managed credit institutions: he was a member of the board of Bystrobank, Mobilbank, etc. However, it was not possible to create a large federal banking holding, and in the early 2010s it became clear that the days of local credit institutions were numbered: assets were causing losses . Muntean began to sell shares to larger financial institutions and withdraw from the boards of controlled banks. He was the last to leave the post of president of Mobilbank in January 2012 (assets amounted to 1.25 billion rubles as of July 2012, according to SPARK), shortly after that, bankruptcy proceedings began at the bank.

“At some point, I firmly understood that enough was enough, it was necessary to change the field of activity,” recalls the ex-banker. - I already earned money for a living and wanted to do what I really like. Plus, I wanted to spend more time with my family, with children.

Andrej Muntean was engaged in carpentry together with his father as a child, then he built himself a country house and next to it a carpentry workshop of 140 square meters. m. “My dream was to work with wood. I tried to make end cutting boards from different types and I liked it,” says Muntean.

Correct board

An end cutting board is a board whose fibers, unlike a conventional cutting board, are perpendicular to the cutting surface. To make such a board, a wooden block is sawn into small pieces, and then glued with the side faces to each other. The board is stronger than usual. In addition, beautiful patterns can be laid out from the bars. They make end boards from valuable types of wood - oak, ash, maple, walnut and others. They are much more expensive than regular ones. For example, MTM wood products in an online store are sold at prices ranging from 4,000 to 28,000 rubles, while in supermarkets, the cost of ordinary wooden cutting boards starts from several hundred rubles.

YouTube, 3D and boards

At first, Andrey Muntyan made boards for friends and acquaintances and studied the market - he looked on the Internet to see if such a product was offered in Russia and abroad, if there was a demand for it. It turned out that end boards are very popular in the US, Canada and other English-speaking countries. Assuming that this trend would soon come to Russia, in 2010 Muntyan, with the help of his son Vasily, created the site mtmwood.com, purchased wood (oak, beech, ash, walnut, etc.) and special equipment (planer, cutting, thicknessing and grinding machines). Independently learned to work in SketchUp, CorelDRAW and Adobe Photoshop. The total investment in launching your business amounted to about 5.1 million rubles: 3 million rubles. cost the construction of the workshop, another 2.1 million rubles. was spent on equipment and the first batch of wood.

It quickly became clear that the former banker bought himself an expensive toy - sales of end cutting boards through the site at first amounted to three or four pieces per month. “I was faced with the fact that there was simply no demand for this product in Russia. In the West, the product was distributed, but in our country, people still did not understand what end boards were, ”admits Andrei Muntyan. There was no question of profit, so the entrepreneur continued to spend savings, and in his spare time from fulfilling orders, he experimented with promoting his products.

It soon became clear that conventional advertising did not bring results. “The promotion of such a product works very poorly,” explains Muntyan. — We had experience of online and offline advertising, it aroused some interest, but did not lead to sales growth. I decided to take the radical step of showing how I make cutting boards on YouTube so that people understand how it works and can repeat if they want.”

In the summer of 2012, the entrepreneur created the mtmwood YouTube channel. I did my own video shooting and editing. At first, the number of views was minimal. Then Muntean came up with an original and visually more attractive solution. In 2013, he developed several options for end cutting boards with 3D effect- the bars are laid out in such a way that there is an illusion of three-dimensional space on the front surface. It was these board models that aroused the greatest interest of the foreign audience, and the number of subscribers began to grow rapidly.

“On YouTube, you can only break through if you show something new - something that you developed yourself and that others do not show. On my channel, this new thing is 3D boards. At first, the Americans paid attention to them, and then the Russians began to look at them,” says Muntyan. He commented on his work in Russian, and then wrote English subtitles for the video. Such content was to the taste - now the channel has 288 thousand subscribers, 73% of whom live outside of Russia, the best videos collect more than 3 million views.

There are many channels on YouTube dedicated to needlework, but its female forms predominate - knitting, embroidery, sewing, etc., as well as channels dedicated to solving everyday problems or decorating rooms, clothes. The Izhevsk banker became one of the first cabinetmakers in the Russian-language segment of YouTube, he gained several followers. “Andrei Muntyan is the founder of the “butt movement” in our country. I consider him my sensei, who inspired me and taught me a lot remotely thanks to the YouTube channel,” says Mikhail Zernin, founder of Zernin Handcrafted, a Yekaterinburg-based cutting board company.

The growth of popularity on the Internet was reflected in sales. In 2014, the annual revenue of MTM wood reached 4 million rubles. (profit - about 15%) - most of the customers were from the USA, but orders were also received from Europe, Brazil, Australia and South Africa. Goods are sent to customers using Russian Post and international delivery services.

MTM wood in numbers

337 boards was made in January 2017

200% is the average markup on the product

3-4 days goes to the manufacture of one board

10 thousand rubles— average check at the end of 2017

28 thousand rubles is the most expensive board with a 3D effect

Source: company data

Own board

Often, when ordering, customers asked about the possibility of changing the design or making a board with an individual pattern from the type of wood they had chosen. It became clear that we need to use another growing trend - customization. Andrey's son Vasily Muntyan is developing the Custom Shirt project, an online studio that sews shirts according to individual measurements and customer requirements; last year, his company's revenue reached 50 million rubles. with a profitability of about 8%. Why not try the same trick with cutting boards?

“There were often requests to make a cutting board with an inscription like “Mom, happy birthday” or with the logo of a football team,” says Andrei Muntyan. “We felt that this could be a new, more marginal line of business.” But to make individual drawings and inscriptions, a special engraving and milling machine was needed - the purchase of a CNC-STEP machine cost Muntyan 500 thousand rubles.

Andrei Muntyan (Photo: personal archive)

The entrepreneur did not regret the acquisition: in 2015, the flow of MTM wood orders became stable. The entrepreneur registered MTM WOOD LLC (before that he worked through the legal entity of the son of Business Start LLC). Videos of making end cutting boards with custom designs such as the Manchester United logo for a football fan have attracted new subscribers to the YouTube channel.

In 2017, Internet popularity brought unexpected results. Representatives of Systec approached Andrei Muntyan and offered to supply the entrepreneur with a powerful engraving and milling machine if the company logo is sometimes visible in the frame, and a link to its website appears in the description of the YouTube channel. The entrepreneur agreed - he received modern equipment for free, which allows you to apply complex drawings.

To diversify the offer, Muntean added chessboards and wooden decor items to the MTM wood assortment - plates, dishes, caskets, vases, knife holders, etc. But if chessboards began to be in demand, decorative items were practically not ordered. “Now, looking back, I admit some of my mistakes,” says the entrepreneur. “It was not worth spending time developing new products that are not in demand, you should have focused on what you can do better than others - on the boards.”

In 2017, the annual turnover of MTM wood doubled and reached 10.8 million rubles, profit - 1.3 million rubles. The company's revenue for January 2018 amounted to about 1.2 million rubles, profit - about 15%. Most of the revenue comes from the sale of custom-designed cutting boards, but standard cutting boards lead the way in terms of orders: they are three to four times cheaper than custom cut boards.

The main expenses of MTM wood are the purchase of sawn timber from the companies Woodstock, Durapan HV, etc. More than 50% of the proceeds go to them. Now two people work in MTM wood: Muntyan himself and his assistant. The entrepreneur does not want to hire more people and put the production of running models on stream in principle. The volume of orders sometimes exceeds the production capacity, then the entrepreneur simply raises prices: “When I see that everything is sold out and we cannot cope with orders, I raise prices, and when I see that demand is falling, I lower it.” Most customers come to mtmwood from YouTube, but foreigners now bring in only about a third of the revenue. The problem is that sales abroad are strongly constrained due to transportation costs, taxes, customs fees. The boards are heavy, and order inexpensive models up to 10 thousand rubles. there is no point, complains Muntean. Therefore, as a rule, foreigners order either cutting boards with personalized inscriptions or logos, or with complex 3D drawings, the price tag for which in the online store exceeds 20 thousand rubles.

“I understand perfectly well that 99% of people on the planet will use plastic boards, wash them in dishwasher and they will be happy. Quality end boards are a small market, but they can grow because I have 7.6 billion potential buyers in front of me. If 1% of them are interested, and 0.01% buys, this is already a lot of money,” says Andrei Muntyan.

View from the outside

“The market is small but growing”

Mikhail Zernin, founder of the Yekaterinburg-based cutting board company Zernin Handcrafted

“From my point of view, the market for end cutting boards is still gaining momentum. There is demand, but only from customers who already know what it is. There are few manufacturers, especially if you take the segment of boards customized for the client (with drawings, inscriptions, etc.). It is difficult to make this product mass-produced due to the impossibility of automating many production processes, so retail chains are unlikely to be interested in it. Andrei Muntyan was one of the first in the country to start producing and promoting this product. And now he has no competitors - both in terms of craftsmanship, and in terms of doing business, and in terms of income. MTM wood is a strong brand, the quality of which I strive for myself.”

"Cutting boards are the #1 home product in the US"

Yana Osmanova, founder of the brand of dishes and home decor FUGA

“The kitchen utensils market in Russia is actively developing. By comparison, in the US, cutting boards are the number one selling home goods. In Russia, in the mass market, functionality, durability, and reliability are more important than uniqueness. But I think that gradually, as the market becomes saturated, the situation will change, the popularity of products with individual design will grow, which will allow manufacturers to expand their range and strengthen their positions. Now the demand for cutting boards in our company is quite high: it accounts for approximately 40-50% of sales of the entire range.”

“The company has very non-budget solutions”

Ivan Kukkoev, co-founder of the A-Fabrik kitchen utensils company

“Wooden end cutting boards are definitely in demand right now, but this is a very niche custom product that is created for an interested paying consumer. MTM wood feels very good in this niche. But I think when opening a business in this area, one must take into account the risks associated with the complex structure of raw material supplies. MTM wood is constantly looking for new types of wood in limited quantities. For this reason, the company may be perceived by suppliers as a small consumer, which affects the price. At the same time, this is offset by the final cost of the product: the company has very low-budget solutions. We do not and will not compete with MTM wood. If we made end cutting boards, they would cost a lot less. But it would be one serial model, there would be no talk of any individualization.

In the apartment of each reader of this report in the kitchen there is a tool necessary for cutting various products - a cutting board. Initially, it was stone, then iron, bronze, and only then became wooden). Although plastic counterparts have recently appeared, a wooden board is still popular as well. I recently managed to get into a workshop where cutting boards are made, but what I saw did not go well with my ideas about such a simple utilitarian kitchen item on which vegetables, meat and other food are cut.

Today, we will find out how the most expensive cutting boards are made in Russia.

As the theater begins with a hanger, so the workshop where wooden products are made begins with a warehouse where wood lies. To our master, whose work will be discussed today, it comes ready-made, dried at a certain temperature for several years. Fresh wood cannot be used for the production of boards, as the finished product will deform over time from shrinkage.

Here in the warehouse a certain temperature regime and air humidity are maintained, which prevent the wood from drying out too much and becoming too wet. On this table, which hangs on the wall of the workshop, you can see the optimal percentage of humidity at different temperatures.

There is also a hygrometer showing the degree of humidity in the room. True, the master said that he had incorrect readings).

For the manufacture of some boards with a particularly complex pattern, a CNC machine (computer numerical control) is used. The machine is small, it is enough to connect a laptop with a predefined program to it.
The drawing of the board, on which the cutter is currently working, is inspired by the famous work of Maurits Escher "Reptiles".

If desired, the cutter will work wonders).

This is how the board looks like after the machine has worked. If you look closely, you will see that this future board is glued together from pieces. Why this is done, we will find out later.

If the base of the board is made of walnut, then the inserts are cut from other types of wood that differ in texture and color - oak and rosewood.

As the master told me, the machine cut out the figures on the board in such a way that when inserting other reptile figures, no gaps are found. The figurines are very close to each other.

In this photo you can see examples of gluing. The multi-colored section is glued from different types of wood. One of the most difficult boards to manufacture will be glued from such material. You can see it at the end of the post.

The master takes a simple board, processes it, aligns the edges. Then the board is cut into pieces, which are turned with the end part and glued together. Moreover, gluing is not done in an arbitrary order, but in a special way so that the growth rings are directed in opposite directions, this will prevent the boards from deforming when the humidity changes.

Why is this being done? Due to the vertical arrangement of the wood fibers, the knives do not dull longer, since the knife blade does not cut the fibers, as in ordinary boards, but penetrates between them - it slides. The fibers return to their original state after the culinary hassle on it. Accordingly, the board does not deteriorate, and chefs do not have to sharpen their knives several times per shift, as is the case with conventional boards.

As a material, in addition to walnut, hornbeam, ash, maple, oak and beech, valuable types of wood are also used, such as American cherry, moving, mahogany. As you can see from the markings on the wood, it is from the USA, there is from South America and Africa.

other types of wood.

After the wood is cut into pieces and turned upside down, it is glued and clamped in clamps - a special press. As you can see, there are shields of different thicknesses. The thicker one will become a board, and the thinner boards will be used to cut patterns and shapes on the surface of future boards, similar to the figures from Reptile. After gluing, the shield will be ready in an hour, however, it is recommended to subject it to stress after 24 hours.

For gluing, a special adhesive is used that does not contain formaldehyde, is approved for contact with food and has great water resistance.

It looks like a room where all the tools needed for carpentry are located.

Perfect cleanliness and order! As you may have noticed, the workshop has all the machines and tools for making any wooden product. A true carpenter's paradise.

Special clamps for large boards.

We will not touch that board with reptiles yet, work on it will be carried out for more than one hour, therefore we will process another. After it is glued, it is driven through this grinding machine - thicknesser. In fact, this is a modern planer.

Then the sidewalls of the board are cut with a circular saw.

The sides are ground on another machine with a vertical belt movement. Here the corners are rounded.

The board is then run through the drum sander again.

This time the surfaces are polished more delicately. However, that's not all.

Pumps are attached to each machine, collecting sawdust from wood processing. After processing by machine tools, the product is polished with a manual grinder. First use a coarser sandpaper, 120 grit, then 240 grit, in order to finally polish the board

Finishing touches to round off the edges and we can say that the carpentry work on the board is over.

After all the above operations, the board takes a bath of mineral oil, which has no taste, no color, no smell. The oil is made from petroleum, but it is completely safe, and it is even used in the cosmetic field.

The same board with reptiles that is shown at the beginning of the post will turn into the same one. After some time, when the board is saturated with oil, it will be allowed to dry, then treated again, with a hot mixture of mineral oil and wax in a ratio of 4/1.

Other boards are sent to the same oil bath.

And now let's go to the "Showroom" of elite cutting boards). In this room, boards are packed and waiting to meet their future owner.

Hygrometers monitor the level of humidity.

This board just broke my mold of simple utilitarian kitchen utensils! I can’t even imagine how you can dare to shred products on a work of art).

Many hours were spent to make a board with a 3D effect. By the way, these boards are the most expensive, and it is clear why.

And this board can be safely hung instead of a picture!

The master also makes special boards for beating meat. There are even grooves for blood flow.

I will also add that the end boards, due to the material and production features, turn out to be thick and heavy, but they do not roll around the table / work surface of the cook. No need to put a rag or a damp cloth / towel, hold at risk. Boards are additionally equipped with rubber (sometimes silicone or plastic) legs, which are insurance against absorbing water that accidentally gets under the board.

After the board has passed all stages of the production process, it is packed in a film.

A little hot air and you're done.

This map shows where the ordered boards went - mainly Russia, Europe, the USA, there are even Japan and Australia.

Well, for those who want to make an end cutting board with their own hands - a master class. If you have all the tools and machines shown above, then go for it!

And as a bonus, watch the video on how to make boards with drawings, just class!