On Memorial Day, 2018, my little sister Shelly Lorenz Adair, her husband Kenny Adair and their daughter Cassidy Ganey were brutally murdered in Murfreesboro TN by Cassidys husband and then took his own life. My little sister was a phenomenal pianist and had a passion for music. In honor of her I decided to make these end grain cutting boards for my family members, nephew and niece for Christmas this year. I started back in October working on them most every night after my day job and have been progressively getting more and more excited to get them completed. Finding all the right wood, locating exotic wood lumber companies, watching countless hours of YouTube videos, buying the right tools and trying not to make Lisa infuriated with me for installing a thick layer of sawdust in our garage was a daunting task. Every day I would bring them in and show Lisa and the kids my progress. As you can see by several of the pictures I temporarily penciled in exactly how I desired to have the lettering cut. It was my intention to fill the lettering with epoxy and sand to a fine finish. I sought the help of Appleton Trophy and Engraving. After meeting with Jay, the owner, I gave him very specific and detailed instructions and he assured me he would send a "proof" in an email for my approval. When I picked them up it became one of the saddest, most heartbreaking, days of my life. The boards looked like a 3rd grader cut them. The letters were twice the size on the keys, running at an upward angle, y's & g's centered on a horizontal plane and nothing symmetrical. I was in tears and had to leave because I felt my blood beginning to boil. The following day I returned to get a plausible explanation for what had happened from Jay and all I received was a plethora of excuses. He took no responsibility or accountability for deviating from the proof. His only offer was to refund the fee for his work. I, on the other hand, was left with no recourse and a pile of very expensive scrap wood. In a last ditch effort to salvage them I ran them through my planer to cut out the lettering but they went from 1 1/2" thick to 7/8" thick and still not to the bottom depth of the letters. Now there is nothing left but bitter disappointment, a void in my heart and a sadness knowing that my Christmas plans have been ruined. I am beyond sad that someone else completely destroyed what I had hoped to be a tear-filled, yet joyous, unwrapping of Christmas gifts for my family. read more