Personalised Laser Engraved Chopping Board for Custom Gift

Blank Chopping Board for Engraving

Firstly you need a blank chopping board. This Acacia chopping board cost £10 from a supermarket. But you can find similar ones in different shapes and sizes online.

The blond parts of the wood in this Acacia will naturally look different to the darker areas after engraving. To reduce this difference, either choose different wood types or an Acacia wood with more even colouring throughout the engravable area.

This can be used as a real chopping board or as decor. If you want to use the chopping board, it’s a good idea to do the cutting on the opposite side of the engraving. This keeps the engraved area crisp without knife marks on it.

It also makes it easier to clean as food items don’t get caught in the engraving.

Choose Engraving Design for Chopping Board

When choosing a design for the perfect gift, something personal is the most meaningful. I use a site called Creative Fabrica which has digital files of a huge variety of designs.

If you can think of a design, they will likely have something similar to download. For something like laser engraving, you’re looking for the SVG files.

Creative Fabrica is a yearly fee for access to everything. Which is a huge plus over buying individual files on something like Etsy.

The song lyrics added to this personalised chopping board are altered from the song Last Resort, by Papa Roach. The original lyrics were “Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort”. The new version is “Cut my food into pieces, this is my chopping board”. The song was released in 2000 and is familiar to many millennials.

This process would work for any laser engraver. But I’m using it on this xTool M1 laser machine. If you’re new to engravers, here is a beginner’s guide.

Mask Off Wood Before Engraving

For centring the design, it helps to mark off the engraving area. You can do this with masking tape and a tape measure.

I created a square within the working area to check that the image was lined up accurately. It’s an extra step to check that you are getting the design level.

Which is even more important when you only have one of the items that you’re engraving on.

Settings for Engraving Acacia Wood

As there is no default setting for Acacia within the xTool software, you can research the best way to engrave it. Facebook has several xTool user groups that share their project settings to give you a helpful starting point. 

For this engraved cutting board, I used the settings Power 80, and Speed 100 with 1 Pass.

It took about 30 minutes to engrave. You always want to stay nearby while it’s working for safety. But otherwise, it just does its thing.

Clean Up Wood Engraving

Without the masking tape, you can see how the edges can get charred. This is an easy fix. But having the tape removes the need for this extra step. 

To remove charred edges, gently use sandpaper in the direction of the wood grain. This returns it to the colour of the wood underneath.

But this may remove any oil or protective coating that was added at the manufacturing step. If so, you’ll need to seal the chopping board if it will be used. 

​Clean-up after engraving is nice and simple. You can use a damp cloth or a wet wipe to remove any residue. 

Seal Engraved Chopping Board

Then the final step is to seal the chopping board. This will give it a nice even colour, even if you don’t intend to use it. But this is necessary if you will use the chopping board in the kitchen.

Or if you are giving it as a gift or selling the custom cutting boards.

You can seal it by rubbing hemp seed oil or mineral oil over the surface. It hardens to give a solid protective coating. To keep the condition as nice as possible, it’s still best to use the back side for the actual chopping board. 

Then to clean it, you can use warm soapy water.

Engraved Chopping Board Gift

The final result is a lovely, high quality gift. The dark wood feels luxurious and the special message is thoughtful.

While this is a great Father’s Day gift for my family, it equally works for housewarming gifts or the perfect wedding gift.

I love the contrast between the classic, sophisticated wood with song lyrics from an alternative rock group. It makes me want to think of other ideas to create functional decor with a nostalgic twist.