the d-bar designs Story
for generations our family has survived off of wild game and the cattle industry.
My earliest memories are 4 generations — Ewald(Opa), Big David(Pappy), Scott(Dad) and myself(Little David) — gathered in the butcher house. Cutting up meat. Mixing. Grinding. Stuffing sausage.
This is where it all began.
We didn’t have much. But we had a lot of whitetail deer tags — and an overpopulated Texas Hill Country whitetail herd. Some years we would put up 500 pounds of sausage and hamburger meat. That’s how Opa and his wife survived the Great Depression. As a big family, that also meant barbecuing family weddings, family reunions & stock shows for the community. Through all of it — the one constant was Pappy’s Hard Maple cutting board. Most of the time it rode in the floorboard behind the driver’s seat, headed for the next cook.
Growing up on a family ranch — the place behind the D-Bar name — meant learning hard work early. I wasn’t always the hardest worker. But I was always trying to be the smartest. Even if it took me three times longer to figure it out. That mindset led me into oil & gas as an Automation Engineer. But I never stopped working with my hands. Cabinets. Bars. Built-ins. Fireplaces. If there were a saw and wood involved, I’d try anything. Twice. That path led to cutting boards in late 2024.
The only constant in life has been hard work. Whether it was fixing fence, repairing water lines or butchering meat, it was all the same: hard work.
At the molecular level, my grandfather’s cutting board is nothing more than some glued blocks of maple. But there’s a story in every grain of that board.
Heritage
You can buy a cutting board just about anywhere these days. Same woods. Similar quality. Familiar look. But you won’t find another one built for one purpose — creating memories with the people you love. One day, your grandchildren will latch onto something that reminds them of you.
Maybe it’s a lever-action 30-30.
Maybe an old pocket knife.
Maybe the ring Pappy gave Granny when he promised her forever.
Mine was the trailer pit my dad and Pappy built when he was in high school — and the cutting board that followed us everywhere we went.
That’s what goes into every board I build.