Most boards are made the fast way. Ours are made the right way — and the difference shows every time you pick up a knife.
End-grain boards present the wood fibres vertically, like a brush. The blade slips between the fibres and they close behind it — so the board self-heals, hides knife marks, and keeps your edges sharper for far longer than a side-grain board ever can.
Kinder to knivesHard maple and American walnut sit in the hardness sweet spot — dense enough to resist scarring, forgiving enough to protect your blade, and closed-grained so they don't harbour moisture or bacteria like open-pored or softer woods do.
The right hardnessEvery board starts in a responsibly managed forest. Our maple and walnut are FSC-certified and fully traceable — so an heirloom for your kitchen never comes at the expense of the woodland it grew in.
Sustainably sourced
FSC-certified maple and walnut boards are hand-graded, then kiln-dried to a stable 8–10% moisture content.
Timber is ripped into strips and glued with food-safe adhesive into the first long-grain panel.
The panel is crosscut and every piece rotated 90° — standing the fibres on end to form the checkerboard.
The end-grain panel is glued again, then flattened to within fractions of a millimetre across its face.
Edges are chamfered, juice grooves and handholds routed, and any bespoke engraving cut by hand and laser.
Sanded through six grits, then saturated in food-safe mineral oil and sealed with a beeswax board butter.
“I started Cloumann because I was tired of beautiful things that don't last, and lasting things that aren't beautiful. A board should be both.”
Every board that leaves the workshop has passed through my hands — graded, glued, flattened, sanded and oiled until it feels right, not just looks right. End-grain work is slow, and I wouldn't have it any other way. When you commission a Cloumann board, you're not buying kitchenware; you're starting something your family will still be using long after the fashion has moved on. That's the whole point.
Founder & Maker, Cloumann
Construction and materials. We only build end-grain — the most knife-friendly, hygienic construction there is — and only in hard maple and American walnut, two closed-pored hardwoods proven over a century of butcher-block use. Most boards on the market are flat-grain, or cut from woods that don't belong near food.
Yes. Every board leaves the workshop sealed with food-safe oil and wax. Give it a quick rinse and it's ready. Delivery is typically within a week of ordering, with secure payment handled by Shopify.
Very little is needed. Rinse and dry after use, and when the surface starts to feel dry — usually after a few months — refresh it with a coat of Cloumann board oil.
Oak's open pores hold moisture and can harbour bacteria. Bamboo (technically a grass) and olive are so hard they blunt your knives. Maple and walnut hit the balance: closed-pored, food-safe, and gentle on an edge. The full reasoning is in our materials guide.
