A Visit With Don Beamish at Larchwood Enterprises

The summer weather in Eastern Canada has been sensational this year. So I was fortunate to spend some time with artist Don Beamish in Margaree Valley, Cape Breton in August. One of Don's cutting boards was recently endorsed by Aeroplan with a listing on the Aeroplan merchandise website, and what better way to talk business than a visit to Cape Breton.

It is from this small picturesque community in Nova Scotia that Don produces some of the most beautiful and functional cutting boards in the world.

How does Don and his crew do such good work? Because every step of the process is personal. There are over thirty steps to making a Beamish cutting board or chopping block, and each one is hand made using only quality larch wood.

A side note on wood. While wood is the best material for a cutting board, not every wood is appropriate for cutting boards. In fact, very few woods are suited to the demands of the average kitchen. Because cutting boards are constantly wet and heavily scarred with knives, there is a tendency for the board to deteriorate quickly over time particularly if the wood is soft. Most wood will wear quickly and splinter when used as a cutting board, and this makes it difficult to clean.

Most of us have experienced a piece of wood in our food from an inferior cutting board. While beautiful to admire, bamboo is particularly bad for splintering and shedding wood into your food.

Don is careful to use only larch wood in his boards. Why? First, larch contains natural oils and is a bacteria resistant wood that resists water and rot. Second, larch is very hard wearing unlike other inferior woods but communicates tenderly with your prized knives. And third, the larch end grain is gorgeous and Don's boards are a sight to behold.

What's end grain? Think of taking an axe to a tree stump. Cutting into the tree from above has little effect on the stump. But cutting sideways into the stump causes damage. Most cutting boards use pieces from a plank of wood (think the length of the tree trunk). Don uses the end grain because the boards heal naturally when cutting with the grain rather than against the grain. Also, the end grain highlights the pattern of the tree's growth rings which, in the case of larch, are magnificent.

The end result is a beautiful, hard wearing, bacteria resistant cutting board which takes centre stage in many of the best kitchens in the world.

See for yourself at Aura Collective.