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Salisbury, North Carolina - At this time of the year, a high school teacher in North Carolina is usually busy making unique gifts for the holidays.

Brad Taylor has served as a middle school science teacher for 19 years and now teaches woodworking at South Rowan High School.

"It's great to be there with those kids, to be able to teach something and teach them how to do something," Taylor said.

After Tyler comes home from school, he will go to his garage and continue to work with wood for a few hours.

He manufactures and sells cutting boards and other items through his company Compass Woodworking Co.

Taylor said it started when he was rebuilding his deck at home about five years ago.

"I have a lot of walnut, cherry and other exotic woods, and I thought,'I want to make one of the cutting boards,'" Taylor said. "I made one for my wife, she liked it, and then my mother said I wanted one, and snowballed from there."

Since then, Taylor said he has made more than 2,000 cutting boards. Every holiday, he opens a shop at Charlotte's Southern Christmas Show.

 "I got a lot of contacts from there," Taylor said. "I make people remember,'Hey, you are the one who makes the recipe.'"

One of his favorite projects is the creation of what he calls a "souvenir board". People will give Taylor cherished items, such as family recipes to be scanned on wooden boards in the engraving machine. 

"I have seen them have tape marks, I have seen smudges and things on them," Taylor said. "Sometimes I clean up those things, but sometimes it adds to the characteristics of the board content."

Taylor said he likes to watch the laser burn recipes onto the board and make permanent souvenirs.

Taylor said: “It’s great to be able to pass it on to grandchildren, daughters, or people who like family recipes but don’t have the original copy.”

Taylor said that each board allows him to share the joy of preserving memories. 

Taylor said: "It's great to be able to do something that is meaningful to someone." "I like to do it with everything I do....something that helps me do this. " 

Taylor said most of the wood he uses comes from North Carolina. He hopes to open a store after he retires from the teaching position. 

To learn more about Taylor's project, please visit his Compass Woodworks Co. website.