Decided to make my Dad another Bass Fish related gift. He is a big fan of Tequila shots and always brings them out on a wood cutting board. I thought this would be perfect to hold with the rope handles and would look pretty stylish too!

Step 1: Supplies Needed

Needed:

Cutting board - preferably not something with too much of a coating already on it.

Mineral Oil (optional) - if you are going to use this cutting board for daily food prep I would suggest a monthly wash with some oil to keep it looking nice.

Extra cutting board - I used this for scrap to test how hot my iron was, what it would look like burning the cutting board, line strength, and cleaned off the iron every now and again.

Wood burning Kit - these can be found almost anywhere for pretty cheap. Be careful when using.

Ceramic Mug - I used this to hold all my hot tips and rest the hot tool on.

Needle nose pliers (or just regular pliers if that's what you have) - these are great for removing the hot tips to change to another one.

Rope - Depending on how big your cutting board is will determine the length and width of rope you will need. I found mine at hobby lobby.

Strong glue - Elmer's Max all works pretty well, so does original Gorilla glue.

hole saw drill bits and a drill - again sorry I guessed based on the size of my cutting board.

Shot glasses

Pencil

Carbon paper and image (optional)

Steel Wool - Well basically an S.O.S. Pad or Brillo Pad

Step 2: Drill Holes and Tie Rope

I used two hole saw drill bits to make the holes for the rope to feed through. I did the second one wider than the first so that the rope could lay flat inside the cutting board. This will avoid spills when the cutting board is set down on the table.

I then cut rope and fed it through the new holes. (I made two holes per side of the cutting board.) Then I tied a knot at each end of the rope making sure the knot was just big enough to stay inside that hole I had cut.

I put a dab of glue on each knot to ensure it stayed in place.

Then I let sit over night so the glue could completely dry.

Step 3: Burn Baby Burn

I laid out my shot glasses and traced around the bottoms of the glasses to get the exact size I needed.

I then drew a picture of a bass fish. If you want you could use carbon paper and transfer an image onto the board.

I don't have a picture of it, but I tested out my wood burning kit on the cheap cutting board. I found that it had a thick layer of some kind of seal on it. I couldn't burn the wood until I melted through it. My second and good board didn't have much of a seal on it. Still did a little, but made burning it a lot easier. The more you spend on a cutting board the less of a seal it will have. They need a mineral oil wash every so often to keep them looking nice.

I'm not perfect at it and with the grain of the wood it was hard to get perfect lines. As always with wood burning, be careful because it's hot and the longer you leave the tool on the wood, the deeper and darker mark you will get.

Originally I was going to cut groves for the shot glasses to sit in, then I decided against it and traced the bottom of the glasses on the board instead. I was thinking that if you were to have one too many shots you could easily spill your drink trying to put it back on the board. This way too if Dad decides to cut cheese on it instead, he can also do that. :)

I used a Brillo pad and warm water to clean the board once it was finished. The steel wool and soap got rid of any extra pencil marks I had made.

I left it sit on a towel overnight to dry and air out the burned wood smell.

I used clear shot glasses with blue bottoms. That way it gives a little bit of color to the whole project.

Now to wrap it and give it to Dad! Merry Christmas everybody!

*** Side note, now that some time has passed and this has gotten used a bunch of times I would recommend some kind of mineral oil to wipe down the board and keep it nice and pretty. My Dad used some on it the other day. Looks great! ***