Archive for July 2015
The Milky Way appears over the summit of Mount Rainier in Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park. The streaks of light on the Mount Rainier: those are climbers getting an alpine start and heading towards the summit. Photo by Stephen Byrne. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 6/27/15.
On a clear, moonless night, visitors to Great Basin National Park in Nevada can see thousands of stars, five of our solar system’s eight planets, star clusters, meteors, man-made satellites, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Milky Way – all with the naked eye. The area boasts some of the darkest night skies left in the United States. The black sky, the purple landscape … beauty. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 5/17/15.
Balanced Rock at Arches National Park in Utah beneath the amazing Milky Way and night sky. The park has over 2,000 natural stone arches, in addition to hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins and giant balanced rocks. This red rock wonderland will amaze you with its formations, refresh you with its trails, and inspire you with its mesmerizing night skies. Photo courtesy of Mike Mezeul II. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 5/24/15.
For some people, small is the way to go in the kitchen. These boards hope to satisfy that desire, though I’ve already been told I don’t make things small enough.
Everybody’s a critic.
These boards could be small cutting boards. They could be serving pieces.
I’ll let you decide the best place to use these.
I do know that my next round of production will include some small boards: I keep getting people that really want to buy my $35 boards (which, as you may guess, are not the largest ones on display).
So, you see, I’ll keep working on getting smaller.
Small Board # 15 – 037. Cherry, Black Walnut & Hard Maple end grain. 11″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board # 15 – 040. Cherry & Jatoba end grain. 8″ x 14″ x 1-1/2″.
Small Board # 15 – 043. Cherry, Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Jatoba. 8″ x 10″ x 1-1/2″.
Small Board # 15 – 042. Yellowheart, Padauk & Hard Maple end grain. 14″ x 8″ x 1-1/2″.
Small Board # 15 – 038. Cherry, Black Walnut & Hard Maple end grain. 10″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board # 15 – 041. Black Walnut, Cherry, Purpleheart & Hard Maple end grain. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board # 15 – 039. Hard Maple, Cherry & Yellowheart. 10″ x 14″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board # 15 – 036. Hard Maple & Jatoba end grain. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 022. Black Walnut, Cherry & Hard Maple edge grain. 10″ x 12″ x 1″.
I love this design of cheese boards.
Some people want these to be cutting boards, but they’re really not; they are serving pieces. The elegant curves that are underneath these boards are made on the table saw & help them to sit very lightly on the table. For a photo essay on how this design is made, see the link below.
These are the first surfboards I have made since January, and they proved to be crowd favorites last weekend at the Ventura 4th of July Street Fair. Only two of these sold, but they were a focus. I even had a competitive woodworker tell me he wouldn’t steal my design!
Which made me laugh.
After all, I saw this idea on a TV show, PBS’s “Rough Cut – Woodworking with Tommy Mac,” and then “improved” the deisgn with better proportions and prettier wood selections, in my humble opinion!
Surfboard 15 – 14. Cherry, Hard Maple, Red Oak & Purpleheart.
Surfboard # 15 – 10. Black Walnut & Cherry.
Surfboard 15 – 13. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Surfboard 15 – 11. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry.
Surfboard 15 – 09. Black Walnut, Purpleheart, Red Oak & Cherry.
Surfboard 15 – 08. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry.
Surfboard 15 – 15. Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Cherry & Purpleheart.
Surfboard 15 – 12. Hard Maple & Jarrah.
Surfboard 15 – 16. Black Walnut, Red Oak, Hard Maple & Cherry.
More
Cutting Sideways = Curves
These handled boards are proving to be quite popular. They’re more versatile than a counter-top cutting board.
Take them from table to stove to counter and back again. Do your work where you’re comfortable, and then carry the board to the stove to add to your concoction on the stove.
That’s my theory, anyway!
The first three are long handled boards with a larger cutting surface, about 10″ x 16″. The smaller boards have the circular handles and a cutting surface that’s about 9″ x 12″.
All boards are about 3/4″ thick.
Sous Chef # 15 – 39. Birds Eye Maple & Jatoba. It’s a beauty.
Sous Chef # 15 – 38. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Teak and Birdseye Maple. 10″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 37. Black Walnut, African Teak and Birdseye Maple. This board has a wider work surface … I got carried away and couldn’t bear to cut anything off.
Sous Chef # 15 – 36. Maple, Jarrah, Cherry & Jatoba.
Sous Chef # 15 – 35. Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Yellowheart and Padauk.
Sous Chef # 15 – 34. African Teak, Black Walnut & Yellowheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 33. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Cherry.
Sous Chef # 15 – 32. Black Walnut & Yellowheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 21. Hard Maple & Jatoba.
Sous Chef # 15 – 20. Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 22. Hard Maple & Purpleheart. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 23. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Jarrah.
Sous Chef # 15 – 26. Honey Locust, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Birdseye Maple.
Sous Chef # 15 – 27. Black Walnut & Honey Locust.
Sous Chef # 15 – 28. Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 29. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Yellowheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 30. Hard Maple, Padauk & Black Walnut.
Sous Chef # 15 – 30. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 31. Goncalo Alves, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
Running marathons is a mental game, I’ve found. There’s a BIG physical element, of course, but you only succeed if your head’s screwed on right during the race.
This event was also a marathon. We loaded the truck after dinner Friday evening (too hot to load earlier). Thank goodness we had the help of Christopher and the younger Mrs M. They had to help: it’s their truck.
Set-up officially began at 4am on Ventura’s Main Street, though we elected to arrive just a bit later. We left home at 5:15am.
We drove right to the booth, luckily, though the street was already clogged with vendors setting up (and not moving their empty cars out of the way so others could find their way). We were able to put everything into our space and then park the truck in a city lot about a block away. Very convenient and easy … because we arrived at 6:30am.
The official beginning was 10am, but we had walkers by the booth at 8:30am.
Then the marathon part really began in earnest. The set up was fine, but we didn’t have much down time. LOTS of people. Lots of decorated strollers with red, white & blue sparkly things. Patriotism, on parade, all day long. All good, but with the volume of people, we were busy. Along the way, we lost our way a bit.
I made an addition error in our sales record. We missed recording some sales. We ended the day disappointed in our total, but really too tired to count the money. It’s frustrating when you work very hard, but don’t feel rewarded, and that’s how we ended the day.
At 5pm, we had to close the booth (according to the rules), and be gone by 6:30pm. This event allowed any vendor to set up for 6 hours, but only allowed you 90 minutes to get out. We did that basically … but we also had 5 transactions, comprising over 10% of our day’s sales, happen after 5pm. The event closed too early.
We didn’t quite make it off the street by 6:30pm – we were gone by 6:45pm and home by 8pm to unload (solo). I had everything back into the house by 8:30pm.
I was able to recover enough the next day to count the money, and that’s when I found the errors in my sales records (and I NEVER make errors).
(Well, normally.)
(According to me.)
When I examined the records, found the missing transactions and counted the money, that’s when I found out how we really did.
Best. Day. Ever.
Too bad it didn’t feel like it when we lost track of things!
New Ideas
- Double booth, one for Mrs M and one for Mr M … and only two of us were there to handle the thronging masses. Two people, double booth. What could go wrong?
- We traveled very heavy to this event (and remember who is writing this. Traveling heavy is normal for us. When I say very heavy, be afraid. Be very afraid.) We loaded the truck with more product and more display pieces than we have ever taken to an event.
Observations
- “Clipboards,” they asked. “Any clipboards?” I’ve never made clipboards … but I had 2 people asking for them within 30 minutes of each other. That was weird. And then it got weirder. A few minutes later, I had a woodworker wander into the booth to check out my work. I asked him what he did. His reply: “I make clipboards.” Timing is everything, and his was just a bit off.
- You can’t choose your neighbors, as I’ve complained before. Our neighbors to the left and back were great, actually. It was the neighbor across the aisle to my right that was a problem. They were a doggie daycare business, and they had employees with their dogs out in the midway, stopping every dog walker (and there were many) to chat about their pet and their business. They did block passage, and did end up having dog owner gatherings in front of our booth on a couple of occasions. That’s annoying. The fake fire hydrant they put on the other side of their booth … that was plain bad. When you invite public urination, it just can’t end well.
- I only sold one cutting board on this day, which is very odd. That I still sold over $1,000 in boards in 11 different styles, though, is a testament to the broad range of boards that I brought to this show. Traveling very heavy has its rewards: lifting & sweating being two that I don’t particularly favor.
- 15 of the 22 boards sold were completed in the last week. I’ve been working on broadening my inventory, and it worked. Thank goodness.
- This is a regional event, but there were a lot of people embracing the beach lifestyle here. Ventura is different from Santa Clarita, even though it’s only an hour away.
- The holiday resulted in a party atmosphere most of the day. We made some happy people very happy when they discovered our lotion products and cutting boards. Givers of joy, that’s us.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Jack in the Box # 24. Velda had the same.
Saturday Lunch: Velda did a good thing. She packed cheese & crackers along with her favorite cheese board. That was laid out on top of the wrapping station for our lunch … just as a rush hit. No customers ate our lunch, but several commented on it. This was a good idea – and a better idea because we never saw real food booths at the event. But then, we didn’t get out much, either.
Saturday Snack: Roasted nuts. We seem to buy them at most events.
Saturday Dinner: Leftovers. Oh, and bourbon.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 99
- Booth cost: $375 … and $10 for the application. That’s so much better than $385 for the booth.
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
- Total sales: $1,526
- # containers of product taken: 20
- # boards available: 126
- Saturday alarm: 4:00am
- # transactions: 48 – 31 for lotion, 17 for boards
- # soap & lotion vendors: at least one other within 200′ of us, but really, no clue
- # woodworking vendors: at least one other that close, but again, no clue
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 22:0 (Can you believe it?)
Boards sold: 22
- Small Surf Boards (all new!): 5
- Cheese Boards: 4
- Sous Chef – Small: 4
- Large Cheese Servers (previously known as surf boards): 2
- Sous Chef – Large: 1
- Custom Order: 1
- Engraved Board: 1
- Bread Board: 1
- Lazy Susan: 1
- Chess Board: 1
- Cutting Board: 1
Chess Board # 02. Black Walnut & Hard Maple squares with a Goncalo Alves border … AKA Tiger Wood. Perfect for spirited games.
Surfboard 15 – 13. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Love this board. Small Surfboard # 15 – 07. Hand selected Birdseye Maple & Walnut.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 01. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 08. Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 09. Hard Maple, Teak & Yellowheart.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 11. Cherry, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Sous Chef # 15 – 22. Hard Maple & Purpleheart. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 36. Maple, Jarrah, Cherry & Jatoba.
Sous Chef # 15 – 33. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Cherry.
Sous Chef # 15 – 35. Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Yellowheart and Padauk.
Sous Chef # 15 – 38. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Teak and Birdseye Maple. 10″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board 15 – 022. Black Walnut, Cherry and Hard Maple edge grain. 11″ x 12″ x 1″.
Cheese Board 15 – 020. Hard Maple, Padauk, Walnut and Yellowheart edge grain. 10″ x 12″ x 1″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 017. Purpleheart & Cherry Edge Grain. 10″ x 11″ x 3/4″ Edge Grain.
Cutting Board # 15 – 055. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Jarrah edge grain. 11″ x 18″ x 1-1/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 03. Hickory. 16″ round.
It’s been my # 1 request for quite some time, and I’ve finally gotten the first batch of chess boards out of the shop. It took a while.
Each of the boards are made with 2″ squares and a 1″ contrasting border surrounding the playing area. The border is 1″ thick, and does have non-marring rubber feet underneath to ensure a steady surface for the games.
Finish is mineral oil with a top coat of locally-harvested beeswax mixed with mineral oil. Yes, that’s the same finish as my cutting boards, and there is no real reason that these chess boards should be food ready … the oil finishes the woods in a natural coating that’s easily refreshed, so I stuck with the same procedure as the 30+ food-grade boards I was finishing in the garage woodshop at the same time.
I am not selling chess pieces currently, though Mrs. M is already in my ear about that. If you happen to know a carver or a turner that wants to make some great chess pieces for me, I’m interested!
Chess Board # 01. Black Walnut & Red Oak squares with a Cherry border. 17″ x 17″ x 1″
Chess Board # 02. Black Walnut & Hard Maple squares with a Goncalo Alves border … AKA Tiger Wood. Perfect for spirited games.
Chess Board # 03. Mahogany & White Oak squares with a Walnut border.
Ches Board # 04. Padauk & Honey Locust Squares with a Cherry Border. Note that the orange Padauk will change over time – particularly with UV exposure – and will end up a nice warm brown.
Dust.
It’s the never-ending problem in my garage woodshop.
When I finish wood, I generate dust. Great, pervasive clouds of dust.
It drives Velda crazy. When I’m sanding, she really has no choice but to give up on housework. I become my own living version of Pigpen, and she knows that dust is going to come into the house, no matter what.
No. Matter. What.
I’ve got the big dust collection system, of course, but that is for the large tools like the Table Saw or the Drum Sander. Those tools are great as I begin to shape of the boards, and then smooth the glued-up blanks … but they have no place in finish sanding.
For that, I need hand tools. For that, I need sanding by hand. For that, I’m going to generate small dust particles, and there’s little to be done to collect that dust in my shop … so I thought I’d create my Do It Yourself Air Cleaning System.
I’ve seen this idea done with a plywood box containing the entire system, with air filters both in front of and behind the box fan. That was needless, I thought. I simply put one air filter behind the box fan so dust would be sucked onto the filter, and called it good. Come on, this is as low tech as you can get. Why complicate it with building a box to contain it?
The box fan was $40, and the filters are $4.50 each when you buy a 12-pack from Amazon. Does it solve the Pigpen problem? No. Does it help? Absolutely.
Dust does float … but then it lands.
The big dust collector sits unused when I go to finish sanding.
I have a lot of sanding to do. 70 boards are being finished this weekend.
I use two Bosch random orbital sanders. The 20 is the small, lighter sander I use for edges and corners. The larger sander is the 65, which is what I use for the tops & bottoms of every board. Use them, and dust flies – in spite of their stock, on-board dust filters.
Here’s the idea: a 20″ box fan on the end of the workbench …
… and a simple, disposable, air filter is in front of the box ban, trapping any air born particles that are sucked into the air going through the fan.
Air filter, in the beginning.
At the end of the first morning session.
At the end of the first day.
At the end of the second morning.
At the end of the second day.
At the end, the filter is covered … and then you throw it away.
Despite the efficacy of the DIYACS, dust still goes everywhere.
Here’s the floor where I’ve removed the anti fatigue floor mat … leaving relatively clean floor beside the dust-covered concrete.
The new batch of boards – about 70 of them! – was finished in time for our July 4th event in Ventura. Here are the cutting boards about to get juice grooves … 10 of them. And an odd small board, too.
17 small sous chef boards were finished.
A new novelty shape, actual surfboards … 11 are finished.
4 bread boards and another odd small board got finished.
9 of the cheese servers, commonly called surfboards are done. Love this design, but it generates a TON of sawdust at every step of the process..
Another new item, chess boards, finally got out of the shop.
With a sudden burst of production (amazing what you can get done when you stop going to events!), the inventory is suddenly growing. I’ve passed 100 pieces in inventory, again.
I thought I was low with full size cutting boards … so here’s a bunch.
Thank goodness. We have a big event this weekend, the July 4th Ventura Street Fair. The event’s in downtown Ventura. Set up can begin at 3am, the directions say. I think we will be just a bit later than that.
If you’re wandering around Ventura on Saturday, come see us in booths 427/429. With a huge amount of luck, I’ll be back under 100 boards after this weekend….
That would be a good thing, right??!!
Cutting Board # 15 – 051. Black Walnut, Jarrah, Purpleheart and Honey Locust end grain with juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Detail of Cutting Board # 15 – 051.
Cutting Board # 15 – 052. Cherry, Black Walnut, Jatoba, Purpleheart and Hard Maple end grain with juice groove. Absolutely unique grain in the hard maple. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Detail of irridescent rays in cutting board # 15 – 052.
Cutting Board # 15 – 053. Hard Maple & Purpleheart edge grain with juice groove. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″. This board sold the first time a customer saw it.
Cutting Board # 15 – 054. Hard Maple & Jatoba edge grain with juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 055. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Jarrah edge grain. 11″ x 18″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 056. Cherry, Jatoba, Purplehear and Hard Maple end grain. 14″ x 12″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 057. Black Walnut, Cherry & Jatoba end grain with juice groove. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
Close up detail of Cutting Board 15 – 057.
Cutting Board # 15 – 061. The meat eater’s board. Hard Maple end grain with juice groove – a deep, wide juice groove. 13″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 058. Black Walnut, Cherry & Hard Maple edge grain. 14″ x 11″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 15 – 060. Cherry and Jatoba, AKA Brazilian Cherry, end grain with juice groove. Commissioned piece. 14″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board 15 – 059. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Padauk end grain with juice groove. Commissioned piece. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″.
Another request … another novelty board.
These 2-sided surf board-shaped small boards are definitely multi-use. They might be serving pieces … they’ll help set a fun table, for sure. They could be cutting boards, as well.
All boards are approximately 7″ wide x 16″ long x 7/8″ thick.
Everybody sees what they want and will use these the way they want. That’s the way it should be.
No worries, brah!
Small Surfboard # 15 – 01. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 02. Teak, Hard Maple & Black Walnut.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 03. Hard Maple & Jatoba.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 04. Black Walnut & Hard Maple.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 05. Hard Maple & Jarrah.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 06. Hard Maple, Teak & Yellowheart.
Love this board. Small Surfboard # 15 – 07. Hand selected Birdseye Maple & Walnut.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 08. Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 10. Hard Maple & Teak.
Small Surfboard # 15 – 11. Cherry, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
