Lloyd Catlett well remembers the moment when he knew he had an innate love of patterns. He was a fourth-grader and in that year, for his birthday, his parents bought him a working model of an automobile transmission. 

The transmission was the centerpiece of the model, which was only transmission and the frame. The model was the type that had many clear plastic parts, allowing the operation of the transmission to be directly observed.

“I was fascinated by the transmission and how the gears meshed together,” Catlett said. 

That appreciation for how things mesh together became a life-long joy and hobby. It also gave a positive connotation to the word tedious.

Tedious is the word Catlett uses to describe a personality trait which celebrates the investment of time and energy into figuring out how things work together.  When one sees patterns in the environment around them, as Catlett described, it is a tedious nature which wants to understand the patterns and try to replicate them. 

Catlett was sitting at his kitchen table at Holly Lake Ranch explaining how he got involved in custom woodworking. He was asked if this tedious nature of his manifests itself in any other areas of his life. 

He called over his shoulder to his wife, Sylvia, “Are there any other areas of our life where you would call me tedious?”

As if on cue, Sylvia quickly replied from around the corner, “Marriage!”

That brought a huge laugh which was echoed in both rooms. Sylvia came in to join the interview in the kitchen. The two are celebrating their 53rd year as husband and wife. 

They met in Greenville. As Sylvia explained, they waited until Lloyd realized he wanted to be married, and then married and started a life together. They were both young. 

Lloyd related that Sylvia (a history and English major) was overconfident in one of their favorite past-times: Scrabble.

“But I could see the patterns connecting the words, you see, and I was able to take her,” he explained.

The marriage flourished. They spent time teaching in Greenville and Plano – Lloyd taught math and physics – before Lloyd switched careers and entered computer programming. That led to stints with Northern Telecom and Hughes Electronics and residency in Maryland. 

They raised a son and daughter who are successful professionals. Valerie has a degree in physics and works with weather satellites, while Joel studied industrial technology and is a commercial estimator for insulation and fire block.   

Nearing retirement from the electronics field, they decided to return to East Texas, first to Daingerfield then to Hawkins. Lloyd went back to the classroom, teaching at Union Hill.  The two purchased a home at Holly Lake Ranch.

Several years before, a friend had introduced Lloyd to Woodsmith Magazine. Perhaps it was time spent in his father’s wood shop when he was growing up, but woodworking just seemed to fit. Lloyd promptly ordered several years of back copies of the magazine and began to tinker. 

In addition to making some unique furniture for their home, Lloyd began to build small decorative boxes. Then, on a challenge from Sylvia’s sister, Lloyd made his first cutting board.

That first board led to another, then another. As Lloyd relates, “When I get to fit the pattern together, it still gives me a bit of a thrill!”

Not all cutting boards are created equal. Lloyd makes cutting boards which are ‘end-grain’ cutting surfaces. End-grain surfaces are constructed so that the knife blade slices between the grains of the wood. Those grains then restore themselves to near their previous orientation – in short, they are self-correcting. 

Most cutting board sold in big box stores are bamboo, side-grain boards. Logically, as one uses a side-grain board the knife actually cuts small wood fragments away from the grain.

In order to create an end-grain cutting surface one must mate many small sections together. Lloyd does just that, but he does it by designing intricate geometric designs into the surface. 

To create these designs, he uses three types of wood: walnut for dark color, cherry for medium color and maple for light color.  

It is somewhat like using a Rubik’s Cube – with a purpose.

Anyone drawn to woodworking would be at home in Lloyd’s workshop. There-in one would find drum sanders, belt sanders and a circular sander, a table saw, a finishing saw and a laser engraver. A bevy of clamps are within easy reach. 

“You can never have enough clamps,” he said. 

A tub filled half way with mineral oil is used to soak each board before the final touches. “Doing so helps with the board’s waterproofing, and also acts as a preventative to bacteria,” Lloyd explained. 

The end result of Lloyd’s handiwork is a thing of beauty. It is made more impressive to consider that the design is created from the angular meeting of small wooden sections of walnut, cherry and maple. The construction is so exact as to make one think that the design is inscribed onto a single solid surface.

Lloyd easily described the whole creative process, which is surprisingly complex. He smiled, “I enjoy doing something that no one else does.”

Having said that, he also added that he welcomes more people to undertake the hobby. He has sold over 700 sets of plans for his geometric boards.

“Anyone interested in pursuing a skill should seek out someone who is already experienced in the craft, who can share their knowledge,” he advised.

Lloyd’s creations are all sold over the net at ‘woodwithwow.etsy.com.’  His unique quality cutting boards are another example of what is possible in the workshops around Wood County.