Each Christmas, we prepare The Carpio Christmas Paté.
It's our own homemade recipe that started off many yuletide seasons ago as a simple gift for relatives and kumpares/kumares. It has since gained much popularity and I now receive emails as early as July from friends asking I not forget them in my Christmas list.
This season, we decided to prepare something more: a paté board.
It would be a wooden board where one can place the pate in a bowl and the thin breads upon which to spread the pate on. Sort of a serving system for the paté.
I need to make a dozen.
So I started dimensioning and planing some mahogany. And decided to bore a hole where the bowl containing the paté would be.
Since the board would have food on it, I hesitated coating it with polyurethane nor varnish; I had to make the boards really smooth. So, sanding was a four-step process: Grits 120, 220, 320, then 0000 steel wool.
To make it look exquisite, I wanted to make the grain pop subtly; with somewhat a quiet intensity. My favorite ageing process to do this involves the use of potassium dichromate. But this chemical is toxic so it wouldn't do. I need something food grade.
So, I went to the old woodworkers' trick of ebonizing. I "painted" the boards with some tea concentrate. This tea solution was made by boiling some tea bags several minutes until the liquid is reduced. This is how they look like after the tea "paint" has dried.
When dry, the boards look bare. But tea has a lot of tannin, which is what I need.
Meantime, I put some fine steel wool in a jar of vinegar for a few days.
When boards were dry, I then "painted" them with the vinegar infused with iron. This solution reacts with the tannin by making it black. This is the scary part, because I I didn't really know how dark or light the ebonization would be.
Fortunately, the wood got very dark but still not losing the interesting grain.
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Re: Paté Board
Wife, BTW, went to Lanelle Abueva's pottery studio to get the bowls.
Meantime, I thought may as well make some wooden knives/spatulas to be used to spread the paté on hard breads.
Got some scrap Dao, planed it, and cut the profile of a pair of knives on the band saw.
Then, ran the stock on the table saw for 1/4" thick butt-to-butt paté spatulas.
That photo shows the profile of two knives butt-ended against each other. I then cut that stock crosswise in half.
Hard part was honing the blade part using the drum sander.
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Back to the board, had to finish them.
Since I need to keep to food-grade materials, I first wiped olive oil. Then, when dry, wiped on some beeswax then buffed.
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Sanding and buffing is a real chore. I realized I can only do 6 at a time. Even at that pace. I realized that, when I sat down to rest, the world was still vibrating! And I now have a Popeye forearm.
Chore done, wife and I decided to try one out and enjoy our Christmas gift.
This will be one merry Christmas!
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Re: Paté Board
Nice....
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Re: Paté Board
a creative one indeed.. very nice...
Re: Paté Board
Wow, very nice and informative
Re: Paté Board
Hey bro ding, that's a great serving board project, very nice indeed, all one need is just a wide imagination and with a simple set up and design, you get a perfect Pate board. :clap1:
Well you and swmbo enjoy it plus have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas !! :xmas1: :santas:
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Re: Paté Board
Thanks, everyone.
A blessed Christmas to you and your family, too, Rosy.
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Sharing some further technical details:
The side-underside is bevel-cut not only for ornamental purposes but also, it makes the board a lot easier to carry.
We presently have a cheeseboard and, when it's loaded with cheese and I have to lift it from kitchen counter to bring to the table, it's always tough trying to insert my fingers underneath. Then setting it down on the table is also tricky.
The bevel-cut is a quick lift, carry, set-down affair.
The hole for the bowl was routed in. Made a template first: Got some scrap 1/4" plywood, cut a circular hole using the jigsaw and sanded smooth the rim with a drum sander. This template was then clamped onto the board and I used a router with a template guide and the longest straight bit I could find.
Sides of this hole was smoothened with a drum sander. Could not sand the bottom of this hole as I did not have a small enough sander. Had to do it manually. Not thoroughly, though as it's hidden under the bowl anyway.
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