Butcher paper is an amazing thing to keep around the house.  It makes a temporary place-matt for messy projects on the nice dining room table, a large drawing surface, a good backdrop for small photography, a big clean surface for meat prep, holds cookies after baking, it wraps briskets for the Franklin Texas crutch, keeps wood finish and glue off your nice workbench, and about 1000 other uses.

Butcher paper is pretty reasonable if bought in a large roll.  The problem is that large rolls are heavy, tough to cut straight and just a pain to deal with.  In comes a butcher paper holder with fun features.

First, I took a few pieces of clean wide pine and cut some decorative sides.  I used to only make curves by tracing round objects like paint cans, but wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone.  French curves let me get a little fancy and free form.  They could have been blended better, but at least I am learning.

I didn’t get fancy with the construction, just basic wood screws to hold it together and BLO to seal it.  Simple, but it looks right.

This holds the roll and allows for easy removal of paper.  Next comes cutting.  I picked up a small strip of steel and started free-handing an edge on my grinder.  It is hard to get a consistent edge on something over 2 feet long.  I eventually went to an angled table on my little belt sander.  It performed well enough to produce an edge capable of cutting/tearing in a line.

Lastly I added felt pads to the bottom and left side of the holder so it can sit on its side for storage and not scratch the table when in use.  A handle at the center of gravity on the right side makes it easily portable.  Now I need a brisket to smoke and try out that butcher paper wrapped Texas crutch.