Helix - Wooden Lightweight Drawing Board - 16 x 21 Inch - Metal Edge - Drafting, Art, Sketching and Tracing

Super good. Light weight.

lightweight, smooth surface

Nice board…first one came with a crushed corner do to very poor packaging. Replaced it quickly

Nice, big, flat, light weight. Perfect for mobility.

The only reason I rated this product one star is becuase that was the only way this review would submit. This product/drawing board deserves ZERO stars!! We have owned it for only 2 months. My husband lays his laptop on it while sitting in his recliner. Absolutely no misuse at all. After just two months of use the layers of the board are separating and coming apart in multiple areas. For the price paid and a product manufactured in the USA we would have expected and appreciated a much better product!! We will never recommend or buy a product from this company again!!

he board is really lightweight, which is great for something that I have resting on top of my legs when I am working on my mixed media art. It’s easy to use this drawing board for a long stretch of time because it is so light. The biggest issue is my concern for durability. I can feel the thin top and bottom board give way easily when applying medium-firm pressure with a fingertip. I can hear it crack a bit as well. It is nearly like they used thin wood veneer - cardboard seems more hearty than the wood used for the top and bottom surfaces. However, I have dropped this board a few times and it has fallen and collided into some larger items with sharp edges, and the board hasn’t taken on any dramatic damage that would transfer through to any future paper/artwork.The design of the drawing board doesn’t negatively affect my drawing ability. I can easily (but lightly) rest my wrists on the side of the board when I need to rest, and there is enough space on the other side to balance my watercolor palette while painting.It’s okay, I guess…I decided to buy the board with the metal edge. The metal edge is only on the two shortest of the four edges, and the metal strip doesn’t even begin to cover the entire side from edge to edge. I would estimate that the metal only barely covers about 3/4 of the total surface of the edge. The “metal edge” doesn’t protect the edges properly, and the metal is absurdly thin. The strange placement of the metal doesn’t seem to serve any real purpose - it’s just decorative! It’s a design element that merely gives the internet buyer an illusion of protection. Centered on the shortest edges, it doesn’t seem worth spending the extra money for the metal edge…*BUT* I noticed that the boards with the metal edges were, to me, clearly reviewed and rated higher compared to the ratings/reviews of the condition of the boards sold without the metal edge.Condition: There were a few slight surface scratches, but none were deep enough to show any surface disruption that would transfer through my thick watercolor paper. The large top and bottom surfaces of the board weren’t sanded perfectly smooth. There were patches of rougher wood, but the surfaces were just smooth enough not to get slivers or affect the art. I did, however, get a large sliver from an edge. After I removed the sliver, I closely scrutinized the board and saw tiny chunks of wood missing from the corners and edges. Then I noticed slivers of the wood all around me. Slivers were even stuck in my couch (where I also sleep). As you can see in the photos I included, I had to cover the edges with two layers of artists’ tape. Now the tape is coming off, so I will have to buy a more permanent solution for edge protection. This means there is an additional cost incurred from poor craftsmanship, and I also lose total workable drawing surface- the edges of the necessary thick tape will most likely transfer through to the artwork.The size of the board is ample. The size of this board would work well for most artists working in normal spaces on small to medium-sized works of art. I’m currently working on 10-12” square paper size, and with the thick tape needed to stretch watercolor paper, it is a good background size for my work.Honest Overview: Will Fill the Void, But Not the BestOverall, roughness of the edges aside, the drawing board is functional. There is such a lack of selection for these boards. The second board I bought from the same brand, smaller size, was damaged with a seam running on one entire side. I own two similar boards bought a decade ago, but they got lost somewhere in the garage between all of our moves. The quality of this board is not as solid and dependable as those boards. But I guess it is true what “they” say, these days they just don’t make things the way they used to. Sadly, it appears the quality of manufacturing diminished over time, as I believe this is the same brand I owned originally.***I don’t know how long this board will continue to hold up. The wood is about a third as thin as I would like it to be. It makes it lightweight which contributes to ease of use, but I would have preferred, instead, the ease of mind that I didn’t waste money. When it comes to my opinion of the perceived value, this drawing board was more expensive than it should have been- particularly when considering the construction quality and the cheap choice of materials used in that construction. It serves its purpose, for now.***Highest recommendation: A Different and Hard-to-Find AlternativeCradled Support PanelsInstead of this drawing board, I highly recommend cradled wood panels. Most people paint on stretched canvas, but some techniques like encaustic wax+oil painting require a sturdier support. You can search B07GH7KV8J in Amazon’s search bar- that’s the Amazon identification number. You don’t have to go with that particular size, it’s just a physical starting point to give you a visual and the search terms of what I found to be a superior drawing/watercolor painting support board. It’s far more sturdy, but still very lightweight. It comes in a larger variety of sizes, with different choices of side thickness. I use the 3/4” so it doesn’t dig into my legs. I actually have a tv tray that I put it on and that makes it just as comfortable as this support, but the cradled panel comes with peace of mind that it will not be so easily damaged and it won’t give me slivers. Plus, most of these panels are sold BOGO - 2 for the price of 1!BOGO - that reminds me of another *strong* recommendation:Multiple cradled support boards.Having an extended period without the creation of art, I experienced a flood of creative energy bursting with a desire to be expressed. I hit several speed bumps - impatiently waiting for a sopping wet stretched piece of watercolor paper to dry, or later, a case of artists’ block hitting the creative brick wall on one piece, but wanting desperately to try something different on another piece. I didn’t have another board, let alone a piece of stretched and dried watercolor paper ready to start that fresh lovely flash of inspired beauty.Sketchbooks Aren’t EnoughOf course, there’s always an option to work out creativity in a sketchbook, but I wanted to work in watercolor. I bought 4 different “watercolor” sketchbooks- NONE strong enough not to warp and ALL created craters of paper pulp voids when I tried to remove highly pigmented watercolor mistakes. Plus, special ideas deserve special space. I wanted to work on potential precious gem-like works of art, and watercolor done right requires thick heavy paper that needs to be stretched and then needs many hours to dry. The inspiration, drive, and desire fades quickly - my body is fading. I needed to be working on multiple artworks at the same time.Being Ready For Invaluable Irreplaceable Creation Inspiration!I highly recommend investing in multiple drawing/painting support boards. An artist never knows when an explosion of creativity comes without warning. Especially since these cradled boards come as BOGO, why not buy 2 and have 4? It’s always best to be prepared for the times when some works are stuck drying or if you’re stuck suffering from a dried up desire to move forward through a block on one particularly trying piece. Having the option to draw from a repertoire of 4 different works of art means that you’ll never be caught losing something precious and irreplaceable: a moment of incredible inspiration that has no opportunity to be captured and expressed. Don’t let the unpredictable, elusive spark fade slowly away into the darkness because there is no place for the fire to ignite! Always be ready for cosmic moments where drive meets desire and potential breakthrough lies within your grasp!May inspiration spark in you and create a fire that burns into a breakthrough where you are a Phoenix, rising from the ashes! From your creativity, become a part of a New Creation! Beauty from the ashes!

When I lifted the package after it was delivered, I thought they forgot to put the board in the box, that's how light it is. I have had no issues with it yet, it is flat with no give in the center (I thought it might be hollow), the sides are square with metal. I have nothing but good things to say about this drawing board.

This drawing board is very lightweight. I'm not sure what it is made of. But, it seems to have the characteristics of a thick foam core board with a thin wood veneer. It is undersized from the specs given by 1/4" on both demensions. If you plan to use the full demensions this will be an issue. It is reasonably square. My biggest complaint besides being undersized is, one corner seems to be delaminating after only a couple of days just sitting on the table. It has not been dropped or otherwise abused. I am contemplating returning it. It is functioning OK, but the delamination is concerning.