It's Not As Simple As It Seems

At Fifth & Cherry, our priority is to provide you with the highest quality, most durable (and beautiful) cutting surface - and then stand behind that product with a lifetime warranty and refinishing services. So when asked if we could do personalization, we had to give it a lot of thought before saying yes.

There are two main methods to personalize wood products: Branding (wood burning) and Laser Engraving. Two locations you can personalize a cutting board: on top of the board or on the side. And two times when it can be done: after the board is completely finished or midway through the construction process.

There are pros and cons to all of these options, but in order for us to continue to provide the highest quality, most durable, most beautiful cutting boards and be able to refinish them and honor the lifetime warranty, there was only one answer. We would use laser engraving, we would only engrave on the side of the board, and we would do the engraving midway through the construction process. Here’s why:

Laser Engraving

• From an aesthetic standpoint, laser engraving leaves beautiful clean lines - branding leaves a “ghosting” effect around the image which makes it look fuzzy
• Branding only burns the surface of the wood - it’s very shallow and with handling, it will eventually rub off - laser engraving is deeper and will stand the test of time

Engraving the Side of the Board Instead of the Top

Engraving the top of a board creates several issues:

• It violates the integrity of the surface of the wood making it easier for cracks and fissures to begin
• It creates an uneven (and therefore unsafe) cutting surface - your knife can catch and slip putting you at risk to cut yourself
• Harder to clean, making the board less sanitary - food will get caught in the engraving and if not cleaned properly, that food will sit and rot
• If we refinish a board with an engraving on its surface, that engraving will be sanded away with each refinishing - over time, the personalization would be gone completely

Engraving Midway Through Construction

• Once a board is constructed, it’s too big to fit into an engraving machine on its side - the only way to engrave the side is to engrave one of the panels prior to the board being assembled
• Since engraving also uses heat to burn away the wood, it also leaves a “ghosting” that must be sanded away in order to leave the nice clean finish 
• If a board is engraved after it’s finished, the ghosting will remain
• By engraving the panel prior to finishing, the ghosting is sanded away during the finishing process, leaving a crisp image
• Most cutting boards are finished with some sort of sealer to protect the wood - if a board is engraved after it is finished, the raw wood is exposed that is not sealed or protected

The process we chose in order to offer you personalization takes longer, is more painstaking, and honestly, is more expensive. But we feel it's worth it to bring you a one-of-a-kind product that will last forever. 

As a reminder, each board is individually serialized to guarantee that it is an authentic Fifth & Cherry cutting board. Register your board on our website, and when you are ready to have your board refinished, email us at customercare@fifthandcherry.com.

If you’ve been considering our boards please let us create a handmade work of art for you. Use code “2021” to get 21% off your entire order and we’ll get started right away.