My wife was teaching a class at the Red Barn Boutique on finishing noodle boards, so she needed a few unfinished ones for the students. There are quite a few different styles with various assembly techniques. For these simple and quick ones, I simply ripped all the edges of the boards so they were smooth (enough), and then used a biscuit joiner to add a single biscuit in the center of each seam to keep the boards aligned. The side boards were screwed in place from the back.

Since these were made during the pandemic, decent pine lumber was sometimes tough to come by, but I managed to find enough straight and (mostly) clear pieces. They did require quite a bit of sanding, though, which actually took longer than assembling them. Once sanding was done, they did look and feel nice, so it was worth the time.

Using a scratch awl, I marked the holes where handles would get attached, so the students wouldn’t have to be measuring and center-finding and all that good stuff. The class was a success. I don’t have any pictures of the finished boards because they all took them home (and I didn’t attend the class). Some got stained. Some got painted.

These aren’t generally the kinds of pieces I like building, but other than the amount of sanding, they’re not bad to build. They’re relatively simple pieces that go together quickly and create a lot of opportunity for different finishing designs. If you’re in a region where there’s a market for them, they’re a good product to make and sell if you’re so inclined.

I would have had more build pictures, but I did these pretty quickly (class deadline) and wasn’t planning on creating a blog at that point, so I didn’t even think about it. If you’d like details, feel free to comment below or, for faster results, do a quick internet search for diy noodle boards and you’ll find dozens and dozens of plans with detailed instructions!