Stripes

I know your first thought was probably

But that’s not where I’m going with this. Actually, I’m surprised this picture actually made it onto my blog; both Jo and I have fairly traumatic childhood memories from watching this movie.

Anywho, my friend Nicole has been gracious enough to photograph some of my recent work. Thanks, Nicole. The stripes are the unifying theme to this post. This first board has been in the family for at least 4 years; it was getting pretty beat up and moldy before I took it to the shop for refinishing.

I cleaned it up and added some stripes in bloodwood. I believe rest is maple, but I’m not certain. Well on it’s way to a roasted squash dinner:

The next is another kitchen rehab in maple with purpleheart, mahogany, and cherry. Fancy!

Next is a smaller maple cheeseboard (or garlic board, if you so desire) with a bloodwood stripe.

Finally, the sister of the tigerwood/bloodwood board from earlier. The lighting in this picture really does justice to the figure and color of the woods. I have 3 of these left in various sizes.

IOTM #3

It’s that time again! For December’s inspiration, I present Andrea Brugi. I’m pretty sure I’d like to be reincarnated as a Tuscan farmer/woodworker. In the meantime, I can only blog in envy:

Ok, maybe his hometown is a little more inspirational than Detroit in the winter. Living in Tuscany, he works a lot with olive wood. I’ve been making a lot of cheese boards recently, but I don’t soak them in pure virgin olive oil for conditioning. My customers only get the finest food-grade mineral oil from CVS!

Warp!

Rats. I just put about 4 hours into a beefy maple butcher block top destined to become a kitchen island (most of it spend sanding and flattening) when this happened:

I have a rudimentary understanding of moisture and wood movement, but this craziness caught me by surprise. I’ve been dampening the convex side with a spray bottle for a few days with some success, so hopefully it isn’t completely ruined. Thankfully the split is along a glue line and didn’t crack the wood itself. Let this be a reminder to all y’all to never let your wood cutting boards get wet- clean with a damp cloth and stay far away from the dishwasher! As for prevention, I’m praying the gods of woodworking will grant me a heated shop with humidity control in 2011.

New boards

Let’s introduce some of them. First, some walnut/maple cheeseboards. I think they work better as cheeseboards because they’re smaller and lighter, but also are more prone to showing knife marks. That said, use them as you please. I’ve got a few of these around 10″x14″. The dog hairs seen on the finish can be wiped off before delivery, or included at no extra cost.

These guys are tigerwood/bloodwood. I mentioned I’ll write about the ethics of buying exotic lumber in an earlier post…stay tuned. In the meantime, I’m content knowing that I saved this wood from a retired woodworker who had them for close to 30 years and was basically throwing them out. Plus, they’re really pretty. I have 2 or 3 of these left in various sizes.

Finally, some more end grain butcher blocks. The first is a cousin of the walnut/maple/cherry board posted earlier. I believe this was purchased at the Little House on the Urban Prairie’s holiday open house. Thanks to Stacey and Patrick for hosting, and to whoever bought this- I hope it serves you well!

Number 2 is one of two white oak boards I have right now. Their original incarnation was edge grain countertops, but had been sitting in our neighbors’ basement for at least 20 years. They miraculous appeared on our driveway one day, but were quite beat up and a bit moldy. In retrospect, I wish I had documented the process of cutting, planing, sanding, and refinishing that it took to give them another life. I’ll make sure to do that next time. Sizes are approximately 14″x16″ and 16″x20″.

See something you like? Got ideas for a custom piece? Hit me up- sussmanster(at)gmail(dot)com.

IOTM #2

Whew. I promised to post an inspiration of the month every month and I’ve only got 1 hour and 12 minutes left for November.

Allow me to present Brooklyn-based Palo Samko. He inspires me because his ‘About’ page is just a picture of him carrying who I assume are his kids around in grocery bags, and someday I hope to have kids who I can also carry in grocery bags.

Anyways, his work is incredible- reclaimed materials, attention to detail, whimsical inlays, at that. Dig it:

End grain board #1

Get ready for a bunch of cutting board posts. Let’s start with this one:

End grain, opposed to face or edge grain, is found at the top of a piece of wood. Basically, looking down onto those squares is like looking directly down a tree’s trunk. Because the cells are oriented vertically, end grain (or true butcher block) boards are much more durable and kinder to kitchen knives (hence their use by professional meatcutters). When cutting, the knife slides in between the fibers (imagine cutting into the bristles of a paint brush) rather than coming down in a crushing action which dulls the blade. You might be saying “if these are so good then why is your knife broken in the picture?” to which I’d respond “well, I broke the tip using it stupidly as a pry bar and that’s rude for asking.” So there.

I used hard maple, cherry, and walnut for this board. Here’s another attempt at an artsy pic (it helps if you yell ‘EXTREME CLOSE-UP!’ like that scene in Wayne’s World).

Where can you find such a fine kitchen essential? At the Little House on the Urban Prairie‘s semi-annual Holiday Open House this Saturday from 2-6pm, of course. Follow the link or contact me for details.

Candleholders #2

Bring some light to your life- just in time for the end of daylight savings! Pictured are lacewood and jatoba.