Noodle Board

[Rick Moyer]

Anyone ever make one of these? Sister wants me to make her one. Seems straightforward enough but looking for any tips someone might have.
Here's an example:
https://www.google.com/search?q=nood..._qrtxb_fgBtsM:

[Keith Weber]

I can't help you with your question, but I just have to ask... what in the world is a noodle board. In your link, it just looks like a wooden cover for a stovetop. Which brings up two more questions: 1) Why would you want to cover your stovetop with a weird-looking tray, and 2) Why is it called a noodle board?

[Nick Decker]

Looks like it's a space for working dough, for those with not much counter space?

[Ted Derryberry]

Google turned this up: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/36...on-on-this-one

Who'd of thought. I'm going to give it a year for these to become prevalent and then I'm going to start producing stove cover covers to hide your unsightly stove cover.

[Philipp Jaindl]

Where Im from a noodle board is essentially a great big board with Breadboard ends and an apron on one edge to hook to a countertop or tabletop to work dough on.

The Name comes from back when noodles were made by hand and cut with a knife, which needs a massive board to fit the dough on it.
These days it generally used for any kinda baking and every household has one.

[Mike Cutler]

Rick

Those look pretty slick, but I question whether there is supposed to be a finish on a "working board".
For the record, the burners on our stove have always been covered, when not in use, with a cutting board big enough to cover them all. It's seems odd until you try it.

If it's going to be an actual working board, I would make it out of a nice straight grain maple, with no finish. If she's going to use it the way we do, a nice food safe finish.
A combo of the two,I'd make a board to fit inside it.
The reason for no finish is that pastry boards, and the boards I've seen in use to make Italian pasta dishes, use a layer of flour on the board to move the dough around on. Kinda like ball bearings to stop the dough from sticking. If the board is finished, the flour swirls around with the dough and doesn't work correctly. The dough sticks in places.
I've made a number of pastry boards through the years.

[Marshall Harrison]

So, its like a bench hook for stoves?

[Ryan Mooney]

New one on me.

I found two explanations, both kind of make sense for some value of making sense.

The origin of noodle board appears to be that, at least some people, used them to dry noodles on (noodles on the board, board placed over the stove). I could see this plausibly working on a wood stove when it was cooling off after the fire was out. I've never seen one and have some questions about the fire safety and efficiency of this setup (we dried our noodles either draped over rails or on screens hung above and a bit to the side of the stove). But no real reason to doubt that at least some folks did things this way and it worked for them.

The other usage appears to be as a kneading board with the sides keeping the flour from going all over the kitchen. I suppose that could also be considered a noodle board if you kneaded noodle dough on it, but would probably be better to call it a "pastry board" in that case.

Now there's the quaint stove cover usage, which ... who knows might have been historical usage as well...

Interesting idea though. I have no specific build ideas... I might rabbet the bottom into the sides a smidge but I'm not sure if that would be accurate recreation or not. I suspect a lot of them were wide boards with the sides just nailed on.

If it was going to be subject to heat, you'd want to think about the glue (if any) a bit. A lot of glues let go pretty quickly when they get hot (which is why I'm guessing historically they'd have been nailed), but again I'm guessing that won't likely be the case for your customer.

[Lee Schierer]

If you're going to make it from solid wood, you will need to allow for seasonal moisture changes and the expansion/contraction of that wide panel. Maybe use a sliding dove tail slot in the side pieces

[Gene Takae]

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...y=noodle+board

[Lee Schierer]

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...y=noodle+board

Attaching the side pieces with pocket hole screws isn't going to help with seasonal wood movement issues. That wide panel is going to change dimensions about 3/16" in width each year, assuming the lumber he started with was kiln dried. It could be worse if he used construction grade material.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Where do you put the darn thing when you are actually using the stove?

I kept seeing someone forgetting to turn an electric burner off and putting the board on top of it.

[Rick Moyer]

Rick

Those look pretty slick, but I question whether there is supposed to be a finish on a "working board".
For the record, the burners on our stove have always been covered, when not in use, with a cutting board big enough to cover them all. It's seems odd until you try it.

If it's going to be an actual working board, I would make it out of a nice straight grain maple, with no finish. If she's going to use it the way we do, a nice food safe finish.
A combo of the two,I'd make a board to fit inside it.
The reason for no finish is that pastry boards, and the boards I've seen in use to make Italian pasta dishes, use a layer of flour on the board to move the dough around on. Kinda like ball bearings to stop the dough from sticking. If the board is finished, the flour swirls around with the dough and doesn't work correctly. The dough sticks in places.
I've made a number of pastry boards through the years.

Mike, that's the kind of response I was looking for. I agree about the finish as I believe she intends to "use" the board. She and her husband do make homemade pasta at times. I'll make sure on that before I start. I was also thinking maple for the same reason. As to the other comments, I was not aware of noodle boards before either. I suppose the ones I've now seen with finishes are merely decoration pieces. Fortunately my sister is quite intelligent so I'm confident she isn't planning on placing wood on hot burners.
I mainly need to decide how I'm going to allow for wood movement in securing the sides to the floor piece. The sliding dovetail as mentioned could work. I had hoped maybe someone in this big group had actually made one before.

[Nick Lazz]

Google turned this up: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/36...on-on-this-one

Who'd of thought. I'm going to give it a year for these to become prevalent and then I'm going to start producing stove cover covers to hide your unsightly stove cover.

Now that's funny!

[Lee Schierer]

Where do you put the darn thing when you are actually using the stove?

I kept seeing someone forgetting to turn an electric burner off and putting the board on top of it.

Make it out of hickory and at least it will smell good if you cook it a bit.