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Noel's Blackwood Chopping Boards

Noel's Blackwood Chopping Boards

Regular price $54.00
Regular price $54.00 Sale price $89.00
SAVE $35 Sold out

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Noel's blackwood chopping boards on a Tasmanian verandah

Noel's Blackwood Chopping Boards

Regular price $54.00
Regular price $54.00 Sale price $89.00
SAVE $35 Sold out
his & hers, traced in 2019
Tasmanian blackwood · Noel Kerrison · Smithton, Tasmania

One board for what’s raw. One for everything else.

Two blackwood boards, shaped from the shadows of a husband and wife standing at their kitchen window. The tall one takes raw meat, poultry and fish. The short one takes bread, fruit, veggies and cheese, and goes to the table. Stood together, the short one leans into the tall one. Carved in pairs by Noel Kerrison, 68, and never sold apart.

2Boards, two jobs
0Plastic under your knife
1 cmThin enough for the sink
90Days to send them back
Raelene’s canteen rule

His for what’s raw. Hers for the rest.

No labels, no colours to remember. The shape tells you which board is which.

Hers The Short Board Ready to eat

Bread, tomatoes, fruit, herbs, cheese. Everything you eat as it is. This is the one that goes to the table.

30 × 20 cm
His The Tall Board Raw only

Raw chicken, chops, snags, fish fillets. Everything that still has to be cooked. It never touches the bread.

38 × 20 cm

Tasmania’s Department of Health gives home cooks the same advice: separate chopping boards for raw and cooked foods.

Why two boards

What one board is doing to your kitchen

I
The problemChicken juice in the saladRaw meat juice runs into every knife mark. You wipe the board, and most of it comes out. Most is not all, and the tomatoes go on next.
The pairRaw goes on the tall one, onlyMeat, poultry and fish stay on his board. Bread, fruit and salad never touch it. One look at the shape and you know.
II
The problemPlastic in your foodA 2023 North Dakota State study estimated a single plastic board can shed up to 79 million microplastic particles a year into what you cut.
The pairSolid Tasmanian blackwoodNothing plastic under your knife. Every board gives up a little of itself under a blade. Blackwood gives up blackwood.
III
The problemThe board that never really gets cleanThick boards don’t fit in the sink, so they get a quick wipe on the bench and go back in the drawer.
The pairThin enough to scrub both sidesAt just 1 cm thick they lie flat in the sink, get scrubbed front and back, dry standing up and hang on the wall instead of in a damp drawer.
Two shadows on brown paper

A marriage, traced at the kitchen window

For their fortieth wedding anniversary in 2019, Noel stood his wife Raelene next to him at the kitchen window. She leaned her head on his shoulder, the way she had for forty years, and he traced their two shadows on brown paper. The blackwood came from a tree that came down by the creek on the family farm, sawn up and left to dry in the rafters of his shed.

Raelene ran the school canteen in town for thirty-one years, and she set the rules the same night. Raw meat on his. Everything else on hers. She hung them by the stove, and every pair Noel has carved since follows the same two shadows and the same rule.

“She was five foot one and I’m six foot two. Her head fitted right here. I didn’t invent that shape. I just traced it.”Noel Kerrison · Smithton, Tasmania
Kitchen rule · R. Kerrison

The tall one is Noel’s. Chicken, chops, snags, flathead.

Mine is for bread, fruit & cheese, and mine goes to the table.

Raw meat NEVER on my board. That means you, Noel.

— Raelene
What arrives

One pair, never one alone

IThe Tall Board38 × 20 cm, Tasmanian blackwood. For everything raw.
IIThe Short Board30 × 20 cm. For everything else, and the table.
IIIReady to HangBoth handle rings fit a plain nail or hook.
IVNinety DaysNot right? Send the pair back for a full refund.
Things you can check yourself

Small details, made the slow way

1
Tasmanian blackwood, north-west grownDeep brown heartwood with lighter golden streaks running through it. Hard enough for everyday use and softer than the hard eucalypts, so it is easy on a knife edge.
2
Light in the handAt just 1 cm thin, either board goes to the table in one hand and lies flat in the sink for a proper scrub.
3
Folk art on the wallBetween meals they hang side by side by their handle rings, the short one leaning in. People see a couple before they see a chopping board.
4
No two pairs alikeThe shapes stay the same, the blackwood decides the rest. Grain, streaks and the shade of brown change from pair to pair.

“I’ll be straight with you. These aren’t a butcher’s block for carving the Christmas ham. They’re for every day: the chicken on mine, the bread on hers, and both back on the wall when the dishes are done.”

Noel Kerrison · at the bench in Smithton
Who it’s for

Made for kitchens that still sit down together

Anniversaries Weddings & newlyweds Parents who have everything The one who cooks every night Done with plastic boards A present for two people
90Days
Ninety days, no questions

Cut on them, serve on them, hang them up. If the pair isn’t right, for any reason or no reason at all, send it back for a full refund.

In the box 2 boards, sold only as a pair
Tall board 38 × 20 cm, 18 cm wide at the base. For raw meat, poultry and fish.
Short board 30 × 20 cm, 15 cm wide at the base. For bread, fruit, veggies and cheese, and for serving.
Thickness 1 cm, both boards
Material Solid Tasmanian blackwood. No plastic, no laminate, no veneer.
Finish Food-safe oil, satin. No lacquer, no varnish.
Grain and colour Deep chocolate brown with lighter streaks. Varies from pair to pair, not selectable.
Hanging Both handle rings fit a standard nail or hook
Care Hand wash and scrub both sides, dry standing up. Never in the dishwasher, never soaked. A little food-safe oil once a month.
Carved by Noel Kerrison, Smithton, Circular Head, Tasmania
Shipping Dispatched within 1–2 business days, free shipping Australia-wide
Blackwood N.K. Smithton · TAS
Noel Kerrison Carved in pairs · Circular Head, Tasmania
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