Tasked with photographing a new range of serving boards and slates, I quickly realised this was an opportunity to show them off in context surrounded by some of my favourite food.

Before I started, I knew I’d get nowhere without an artisanal tabletop made from reclaimed palette wood.

I wanted to keep the old nail heads visible in the finished surface, so I used an angle grinder to remove the pointy bits.

That old palette never dreamed it would be graced with some loose tenon joinery, courtesy of the mighty the Festool Domino XL.

The resulting panel works as a photogenic tabletop or backdrop. On the other side, I painted it white and sanded it down to give me another option.

Et voilà: