Archive for May 2017
At Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, first came the Calusa, followed by European explorers of the 1500s, then the Miccosukee, Seminole and other settlers to the area. The rugged terrain challenged many early travelers as they established the watery wilderness of the swamp as their home. Photo by National Park Service. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 4/3/17.
Everglades National Park in Florida is a subtle place where earth, water and sky blend in a low green landscape – where mere inches of elevation produce distinct changes in vegetation and a great wealth of birds and other unique wildlife find refuge. One of the most environmentally significant regions in the world, this special park can also impress with its sublime beauty. Sunset photo by Aryeh Nirenberg. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 8/23/16.
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida was once a part of the 140,000 acres of land acquired by NASA for the John F. Kennedy Space Center. In 1963, the wildlife refuge was established on some of the unused land. Today, the refuge is home to over 1,000 species of animals and plants, making it an ideal place for birdwatching, hiking and fishing. If you plan it just right, you can see a rocket launch. Photo by Mike Ballard. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 4/11/17.
American Bittern. Photo by Rick Bohn / USFWS. Uploaded to Flickr by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 5/2/17.
The Marbled Godwit breeds in the northern prairies, amongst grasslands and scattered wetlands. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 5/8/17.
This pair of Wyoming bald eagles has used this location/nest for almost 10 years and has fledged over 20 young over their “career”. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 5/8/17.
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.
We found this event the best way: networking. My good vendor pal Dalinda told me this was one of her favorite events, so we signed up.
If she’s wrong, I will have to extract my revenge. After all, this is our first foray into Riverside County to do an event … who’s actually been to Norco, anyway? I’ve only been there once, to help Christopher buy a truck. Other than that … nope.
Google tells me this is an 87 mile drive, and I’m going to be doing it 4 times. Lovely.
New Ideas
- Mrs M had been off playing at the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetics Guild annual convention in Las Vegas earlier this week, so she has to work Friday. That means I’m driving to the event, setting up solo, and then driving back home on Friday evening through the Friday commuter chaos. Saturday, we’ll get up at O dark :30 to go set up for the event’s 9am start.
Observations
- This is our Spring Fling’s event # 3 of 7. Miles to go before we sleep. 87 miles one way, this weekend … and Memorial Day Weekend will be farther. Miles to go before we sleep.
- It’s always an adventure when you pull into a new event site and know nothin’ ’bout nothin’. All was good; these are good people. Many of the vendors have been doing this twice yearly event (the weekend before Mother’s Day in the spring, and Thanksgiving weekend and the first weekend of December for the holidays) for a long time.
- Set-up was uneventful, once I got the trailer backed in. I didn’t do it well, and the men that live in this horsey community definitely noticed. And commented. One said, “You never owned a boat, huh?”
- Nope.
- Lots of woodworkers here, though none are as single-minded as I am. I’m very comfortable being “the cutting board guy.” Another vendor commented that he had more than just bread boards.
- And he did. As Hamm said in Beckett’s Endgame (say it with me), “Each to their own speciality.”
- Many customers assumed that I was the guy they bought a board from last year at this event (I’m not). One couple came to me, upset that their board had warped. I gave them the “some other guy did it” explanation, and then told them why their board did what it did. I showed them my thinnest cutting board with bread board ends to ensure it didn’t warp. They left frustrated they bought a board from some other guy.
- Things you don’t see every day: a lady walked by the booth, and kissed the chicken she was carrying. Live chicken. Kissed.
- Lots of vendors at this community event – 74, to be exact. That’s too many for this event’s traffic, IMHO. We did OK, but not great on Saturday.
- We had time to go walk about on Sunday, and we always introduce ourselves to vendors that do what we do. I met all of the woodworkers, and they were a nice bunch. We all do something different, and I enjoy encouraging my peers by recognizing their good work. I will note that I try to visit their booths, and only 1 visited my booth.
- Mrs M did the same thing, and had a rather unpleasant conversation with a long-time soaper at this event. This other soaper was, uh, marking her territory when she talked to Mrs M. This other vendor lied about the science involved and was rather imperial in her attitude as an obviously accomplished soaper. In her mind.
- Good thing Mrs M hadn’t visited her website yet to see the medical claims and outright falsehoods that are included there. Best practices of soap making were clearly being ignored in addition to the flouting of the FDA regulations. We’ll always have snake oil salespeople, it seems. It’s a pity they have to act like the snakes that they are.
- I think I was madder about it than Mrs M.
- Sunday, there was a forecast for thunderstorms throughout the day (yikes!). Luckily, that did not happen, but the downpour did arrive shortly after the event closed at 4pm Sunday. We got drenched for about an hour, and then the sky cleared and we were able to quickly load the trailer. We don’t think that we lost any product to the wet … well, except for one monkey that escaped from the zoo and was later found, face down in a puddle, drowned.
- Requests were for a cribbage board, a top for an island, and a surfboard-shaped MBO.
- Chess board sales: $0.
The Food: The Lost Weekend
Saturday Breakfast: Bagel & cream cheese at home. Yum.
Saturday Lunch: A hot dog, which came from a high school group that was doing a fundraiser selling lunch. Somehow, they managed to get the hot dog bun both soggy and crunchy. Not recommended.
Saturday Snack: Some fabulous soft molasses, ginger bread cookies. Warm from the oven. Fabulous.
Saturday Dinner: We went to Con Amore Ristorante in Corona, which had absolutely rave reviews on Yelp and Google. Many, many reviews with an average of 4-1/2 stars. We were seated quickly, and that’s the only good thing that happened. Velda wrote a Yelp review giving it one star (only because they require one star. You can’t give a review zero stars). She had a pesto gnocchi, and it was truly tasteless. She swears that the warm bread (or was it stale?) was served with a canola/olive oil blend, not true EVOO. And when her flavor analyzer says it, I trust it. Interestingly, the owner of Con Amore messaged her within 3 hours of her review posting, citing a personnel problem resulting in him being alone in the kitchen on a Saturday night (!) and offering a free meal for us to go back … not going to happen.
Sunday Breakfast: We stayed at Corona’s Holiday Inn Express, and Sunday’s breakfast was the dreaded plastic cheese omelette. Velda intervened: an English muffin, pork sausage, an omelette and mayo made a much better sandwich. It was like I was on a Cub Scout campout again. It was definitely good for the pork and mayo to hide the taste of plastic. Almost.
Sunday Lunch: We switched to burgers from the Chuck Wagon fundraiser, and they were better … though Velda fetched the meal this day, and didn’t remember that burgers taste better with ketchup and mustard. Oh well…. At least they were better than the hot dogs.
Sunday Snack: More cookies, saved from yesterday. Still fabulous.
Sunday Dinner: We went to Wolf Creek – that is open until 9:30p on Sundays! That’s an important find for us. I had the sun-dried tomato pasta with chicken, whatever they call it. Best meal of the weekend, and it wasn’t close.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 342
- Booth cost: $220
- Food cost: $123
- Travel cost: $179
- Total sales: $1,452
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $930
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
- Saturday alarm: 4:30a
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 28
- # soap & lotion vendors: several – 5 soapers; a couple of people with other skin care products. Please note that if medical treatments for acne or eczema are offered, don’t buy their soap!
- # woodworking vendors: 5 or so. 3 turners, a scroll saw artist; a couple that made toys. Several sign makers, of course. One guy made cheese boards and handled cutting boards with juice grooves (that’s a thing?).
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 6:3
- Returning next year? For the holiday event, it’s our plan. For next spring … we’ll see, but probably. We think it’ll take a while to become part of the in-crowd of vendors here.
Boards sold: 9
Magic Bottle Openers: 3
Large Cutting Boards: 2
Cutting Boards: 1
Letter-sized Clip Board: 1
Large Sous Chef Board: 1
Cheese & Cracker Server: 1
Sous Chef 16 – 015. Birdseye Maple, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. 11″ x 22″ x 3/4″. Please excuse the smudges of beeswax that didn’t get wiped off in time for the photo!
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 13. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 033. Purpleheart, Black Walnut, Bloodwood & Jatoba. 16″ x 21-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. $375.
Cutting Board 17 – 423. Hard Maple & Purpleheart. End Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 21-1/2″ x 1-1/2″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 620. Purpleheart, Bubinga & Caribbean Rosewood. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 910. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Cherry & Canarywood. Single Magic.
Clipboard 16 – 031. Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. Letter size, 1/2″ clip. Commissioned piece.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 900. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. Single Magic.
Cutting Board 17 -412. Chaos Board, End Grain. Cherry, Oak, Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Padauk, Hickory, Canarywood, Yellowheart, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. 13-1/2″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
The Aztecs believed that warriors who died in battle would be reincarnated as…hummingbirds? Say what?!? Yep, you read that right. The Aztecs knew something that most modern people don’t: ounce-for-ounce, a tiny bird that weighs less than a nickel may be the fiercest animal on earth. Here’s a simple way to look at it: hummingbirds need a lot of fuel to survive. And we mean a lot. Every day hummingbirds eat about half of their body weigh in sugar. If you’re a 200-pound man, that roughly amounts to you drinking 1,100 cans of Coca-Cola each and every day!
This means that hummers are constantly on the lookout for food – and they get very defensive about their territories – so much so that they’ve been documented chasing away birds much larger than themselves – jays, crows, hawks, even bald eagles! The Aztecs so highly valued the bravery and prowess of the hummingbird that their high priests regularly cut the hearts out of their captured enemies and slaves as a sacrifice to the hummingbird god. Aztec kings wore ceremonial cloaks made entirely from hummingbird skins. It took up to 8,000 skins to make a single cloak! And just think, all you need to lure these war gods to your backyard is a feeder full of sugar water!
Hat tip to Jason Bittel, whose article “Hummingbirds Are Fierce, Deadly Gods of War” in Slate Magazine inspired this post. Check it out for a more in-depth look into these amazing birds: http://slate.me/1MDhNHr.
Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prarie Region, 2/19/17.
Photo by Andrew E. Russell / Creative Commons
A rufous hummingbird perches at William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, in the Willamette Valley 10 miles south of Corvallis, Oregon. Photo by Jim Leonard. From the US Fish & Wildlife Service website.
Purple finch. Photo taken at Manhattan, KS. The Purple Finch is the bird that Roger Tory Peterson famously described as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.” Photo by Tom Koerner, and tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service 4/24/17.
A male Northern Cardinal on Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 4/26/17.
A female Northern cardinal on Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 4/24/17.
A Carolina wren returning with food for new hatchlings. Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 4/24/16.
The mallard duck is commonly found on many of our National Wildlife Refuges. Photo by Krista Lundgren/USFWS. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 4/24/17.
A tufted titmouse has just about everything you could ask for in a backyard bird. Petite and strikingly elegant, it’s as perky as a chickadee. In fact, it’s a cousin to the chickadee. And as it comes boldly to your seed or suet feeders, the tufted titmouse will even hang upside down like an acrobat. So what’s in that peculiar name, “titmouse”? The name descends from two ancient Anglo-Saxon root words — “tit,” from a word meaning something small. And “mouse,” from a word applied to any small bird, as well as that little rodent. Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS. Tweeted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, 4/24/17.
I work with 21 kinds of wood currently. All are selected to be excellent hard woods for cutting boards, or, in some cases, serving pieces. I can source all but one of these woods locally in Southern California, though they grow around the world. Here are pictures of each of these woods in pieces I’ve made, along with a few key facts about each of these woods.
I’ve shown the rating for each wood on the Janka hardness scale; this is a measure used to compare the hardness of many substances, including woods. Remember, the FDA says a wooden cutting board in a commercial kitchen should be Hard Maple or its equivalent. The Janka rating for Hard Maple is 1,450.
Ash
- Grows: Eastern North America
- Janka Rating: 1,320
- Description: One of the most common hardwoods used in North America. Often used for tool handles. There are a handful of species in the Fraxunus genus that are often sold together as “Ash,” including White Ash, Green Ash, Oregon Ash and European Ash.
Cutting Board 16 – End 042. Spalted Ash, framed by Jatoba. End Grain. 10″ x 12″ x 1″.
Birdseye Maple
- Grows: Northeastern North America
- Janka Rating: 1,450
- Description: Birdseye Maple is not a species, but rather a specific figure found in some Hard Maple lumber. It is thought that the figure is caused by poor growing conditions for the trees, and they try to adapt by growing a large number of buds that eventually form the distinct figure in the wood.
Chess 17 – 304. Bloodwood & Birdseye Maple playing surface surrounded by a Black Walnut frame. 18″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″. Sold in its first showing.
Black Walnut
- Grows: Eastern United States
- Janka Rating: 1,010
- Description: The dark color and wonderful smell of this wood when it is being worked are one of the pure pleasures of woodworking. There’s just nothing like Black Walnut.
Bear 16 – 01. Black Walnut. 12″ x 20″ x 3/4″.
Bloodwood, AKA Satine
- Grows: Tropical South America
- Janka Rating: 2,900
- Description: Brittle and very dense, this wood is a challenge to work. Every piece I get seems to cup, twist and bow. To make the cheese & cracker server, below, I had to cut and re-cut the pieces in order to get a result that ended up being rather spectacular, if I may say so myself.
Large Surfboard # 15 – 26. Bloodwood.
Bubinga
- Grows: Equatorial Africa
- Janka Rating: 2,410
- Description: The beauty of this wood is reward enough, but also getting to say the name of the wood means I like to use it a lot. It has a wide variety of grain patterns and a wonderful red color that is a highlight on any piece.
Cheese Board 16 – 017. Bubinga, African Teak & Black Walnut. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Canarywood
- Grows: South America
- Janka Rating: 1,520
- Description: The colors in this wood are unique: yellows, reds and browns intermingle in breathtaking patterns. Plus, when I cut the wood I smell cinammon in the air. Love this wood!
Clipboard 16 – 009. Black Walnut, Canarywood, Honey Locust & Purpleheart. Letter size. 1/2″ capacity clip.
Caribbean Rosewood, AKA Chechen
- Grows: Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Guatemala, Belize, and southeastern Mexico
- Janka Rating: 2,250
- Description: Not a true Rosewood, this wood is often substituted when an affordable alternative is required. The wood’s color has a wide range: red, orange, and brown are often beside darker stripes of blackish brown. Color tends to shift to a darker reddish brown with age.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 195. Purpleheart, Black Walnut, Cherry & Caribbean Rosewood. Double Magic.
Cherry, AKA Black Cherry or American Cherry
- Grows: Eastern North America
- Janka Rating: 950
- Description: The softest wood that I work with, Cherry has been a favorite of American furniture makers for hundreds of years. The color of the wood darkens when exposed to sunlight.
Cherry server, Black Walnut end grain cutting board insert.
Goncalo Alves, AKA Tigerwood
- Grows: From Mexico to Brazil
- Janka Rating: 2,170
- Description: Pronounced “Gon SAW lo Al Veez,” the high contrast black stripes in the wood make it a favorite of furniture makers and flooring manufacturers. Mrs M loves her cutting board which is primarily made from this wood.
Cutting Board 13 – 03. Mrs M’s primary cutting board is made from Goncalo Alves, Jatoba, Cherry, Honey Locust & Black Walnut.
Hard Maple, AKA Sugar Maple or Rock Maple
- Grows: Northeastern North America
- Janka Rating: 1,450
- Description: The best cutting boards use Hard Maple, according to the FDA. If you’re looking for a generational board that will be a real workhorse in your kitchen, get an end grain cutting board made primarily from Hard Maple. The # 1 wood that I use, by far.
Cutting Board 17 – 401. Purpleheart, Jatoba & Hard Maple. Edge Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″. Commissioned Piece.
Hickory/Pecan
- Grows: Eastern United States
- Janka Rating: 2,140
- Description: Several species in the Carya genus are marketed variously as Hickory or Hickory/Pecan. Hickory is among the hardest of woods native to the United States: Hickory is denser and harder than either Hard Maple or White Oak. In Missouri, Hickory was often found as corner fence posts on the farms in my area. Today, I find the white sapwood combines with the golden heartwood to make fascinating patterns in some of my best cutting boards.
Cutting Board 17 – 402. Black Walnut, Hickory & Bloodwood. End Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″.
Honey Locust
- Grows: South central & eastern United States
- Janka Rating: 1,580
- Description: The one species I use that I can’t buy locally. The unique orange hues and wavy grain pattern means I keep paying a premium to use this wood, in spite of the difficulty in working this very dense wood.
Sous Chef 17 – 906. Bubinga, Honey Locust, Padauk & Purpleheart.
Jarrah
- Grows: Australia
- Janka Rating: 1,860
- Description: Formerly used as flooring in colonial homes in Australia, Jarrah is one of the Eucalyptus species that is just gorgeous. It’s crimson tones are spectacular.
Cutting Board # 15 – 014. Hard Maple and Jarrah, with just a spectacular grain pattern. End grain, of course. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Jatoba, AKA Brazilian Cherry
- Grows: Central America, southern Mexico, northern South America, and the West Indies
- Janka Rating: 2,690
- Description: The color of Jatoba has little to do with Cherry, though that is a common association. It’s medium brown color approaches that of Black Walnut, but its hardness makes it a much better choice for edge grain cutting boards, as well as end grain! The 8/4 thickness is difficult to source currently, but this is a great wood for cutting boards.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 02. Jatoba & Hard Maple. Sold in its first showing.
Mahogany
- Grows: Cuba, for “true” Mahogany, but that’s not available due to over-harvesting decades ago. Today, Mahogany may be from Honduras, Africa or Asia.
- Janka Rating: somewhere around 1,000, depending on the specific species
- Description: This is a very pretty wood, but the sourcing makes the wood very unpredictable. Most mahogany is too soft to be a good wood for cutting boards, but the grain is very pretty for serving pieces.
Magic Bottle Opener 183. Jatoba, Mahogany & Cherry. Single Magic.
Oak – Red
- Grows: Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada
- Janka Rating: 1,220
- Description: The most popular wood in America, red oak is widely used for furniture and appears in most American homes. There is not a “red oak” species, but rather a group of species that characteristically share a reddish patina, and are marketed together as, simply, Red Oak. Extremely porous, this wonderful hardwood is not suitable as a wood for cutting boards.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 049. Purpleheart & Red Oak. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Oak – White
- Grows: Eastern United States
- Janka Rating: 1,350
- Description: Like Red Oak, White Oak is an array of different species having similar characteristics, all being sold as “White Oak.” The lumber is most commonly associated with Mission-style furniture. It’s a good American hardwood, though I seldom use it in cutting boards because there are prettier options. In my opinion.
Clipboard 16 – 017. Purpleheart, White Oak & Birds Eye Maple. Legal Size, 1/2″ clip. Commissioned Piece.
Padauk
- Grows: Central and tropical west Africa
- Janka Rating: 1,970
- Description: When I cut this wood, it’s pumpkin orange. With exposure to UV, the wood changes to a nice warm brown. Padauk is perhaps the most frequently misspelled (and mispronounced) wood species, with Padouk, Paduk, and Paduak being common misspellings. A common pronunciation is puh-DUKE, though the google machine tells me that the proper pronunciation is puh-DOWK.
Lazy Susan 17 – 12. Padauk & Birdseye Maple. 18″ diameter.
Purpleheart, AKA Amaranth
- Grows: Central and South America (from Mexico down to southern Brazil)
- Janka Rating: 2,520
- Description: Without question the most requested wood that I use due to it’s striking purple color, Purpleheart will eventually fade into a grayish dark eggplant color that’s almost silver with prolonged UV exposure. Some pieces have a striking rotten smell when cut, so it’s hardly my favorite wood to use – but it is the most requested.
Pig # 16 – 02. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Purpleheart. 12″ x 19″ x 1″.
Teak
- Grows: Native to southern Asia; now widely grown on plantations throughout tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Janka Rating: 1,070
- Description: This expensive wood is a favorite of traditional outdoor furniture makers, but the plantation grown teak that’s currently available is too soft for cutting boards. I do use Teak in serving pieces, and it is a very pretty wood.
One of my favorite pieces, made from Yellowheart, Teak and Walnut. I was able to piece this together out of scrap, and the results were very unique.
Yellowheart
- Grows: Brazil
- Janka Rating: 1,790
- Description: The most striking and consistently colored of hardwoods, Yellowheart often flouresces when cut properly and shown in proper lighting. If you like yellow, you will LOVE Yellowheart!
Small Sous Chef 16 – 024. Quilted Yellowheart & Canarywood. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
I recently got a large custom order for golf course hole signs (who knew that was a thing?). I’m sizing the pieces, finishing and installing them. My engraver, Teri, is going to paint and engrave the pieces – 81 total signs.
The signs are to be 3/4″ thick, and in 3 sizes: 8″ x 24″, 6″ x 24″ and 18″ x 24″.
Wood comes in varying widths and lengths, and is sold by the board foot. That’s an industry standard; a board foot is a piece of wood that’s 12″ x 12″ x 1″. That’s great, but you never bring home a piece that size from the lumber yard.
Rather, with hardwood, you buy wood that is rough cut at the sawmill to 1″ in thickness, and then kiln dried and surfaced smooth on the top and bottom sides (or “S2S”) to 25/32″ thick. The wood is in seemingly random lengths. Boards are at least 8′ long but may be longer, in 1′ increments. Commonly, you’ll find hardwood in 9′ or 10′ lengths, but boards may be as long as 16′. If the yard does consumer business, they may be willing to cut boards shorter for customers, leaving a 4′ minimum … but today, I’m not buying shorts; I’ll just be making them.
Here’s the lumber in the driveway. The 6″ minimums are the larger stacks. Time to make some sawdust.
The wood that is actually cut off as scrap when I rough cut for length is very small – usually no more than 1″ per board.
I need 27x pieces that are 8″ x 24″. Hardwood lumber is normally not sold in standard widths (what you can buy at Home Depot, AKA Big Orange, is an obvious exception, and their pricing reflects that customization). Rather, lumber is normally sold “SL1E” or Straight Line 1 Edge. That means the board is ready to go on a table saw to be ripped to final width, with the other edge of the board left rough. However, the width of the board is measured at the yard and rounded up to calculate the board feet. So, a board that’s charged at 8″ wide will actually only yield a 7″ finished width.
Here I am after 20% of my final boards are cut to length. The short stack of boards are those with defects that are unusable.
And I only need 8″ wide. A board that’s 7″ wide will not work for these 27x signs.
I need to buy a large quantity of hardwood – by my standards. But how much?
I called my pal Richard at Peterman Lumber, and explained my situation. He was happy to work with me, and place the order for lumber that would be usable to me. To get my 8″ width, I need to buy “premium wide” lumber that’s generally 7″ – 9″ wide minimum … but a 7″ finished width won’t work for me. Richard had a solution: he would tell his guys to select boards for 8″ yield, and only sell me those wider boards.
There’s trust involved here. One reason I like working with Peterman Lumber is that they deliver good lumber to my driveway. I’m currently working with 21 species of wood, and they deliver 20 of them. So, I don’t pick the lumber I buy – they pick it and deliver it. I get the privilege of unloading their truck and paying for the wood they selected. Richard assured me that his guys would select the right boards so I could get my minimum yields.
Except, that’s a minimum yield. If they select a board that’s 10″ wide (and gives a 9″ yield), I still have to pay for that extra 2″ of width, 1″ of which is actually usable lumber, but I can’t use that 1″ on this project. That means I’m going to have some randomly sized cutoffs to store (which I so need in my garage woodshop – I haven’t had a big wood cascade in a few months now).
So, that’s my situation. How many board feet of lumber should I order? OK, go.
The client for this custom order expects me to know the answer, bid the project, and deliver in a timely fashion. Buying the right amount of lumber means you have to know the lingo and have the math.
If I have zero waste, I only need 167 board feet of lumber. We already know that’s not the right answer.
I ordered 2 widths of lumber, and here’s the order as placed:
- 190 board feet of 25/32″ FAS Eastern Hard Maple S2S SL1E. Special instruction: Please pull 6″ and wider clean flat stock.
- 60 board feet of 25/32″ FAS Easter Hard Maple 8-1/2″ & WDR SL1E. Special instruction: Please pull 9″ and wider clean flat stock.
They actually shipped 193 board feet of the 6″ stock in 10′ and 11′ lengths, and 66 board feet of the 9″ stock, all in 8′ lengths.
In the case of the wide stock, those 66 board feet translated into 9x boards. Since I’m cutting them into 2′ lengths, I have a maximum yield of 36x pieces, and I need 27. OK, so I have 9 extra, right? Nope.
The National Hardwood Lumber Association has set the standard for lumber grading, and here is the rule for the best grade of lumber, “First And Seconds”, or “FAS”:
| Grade |
Minimum board length |
Minimum board width |
Minimum cutting size |
Min. area of clear cuttings required |
| FAS |
8′ |
6″ |
4″ x 5′
3″ x 7′ |
83-1/3% |
The best grade of lumber is sold with the knowledge that over 16% of the lumber will have defects in it rendering it unusable – and only leaving a minimum cutting size of 4″ x 5′ or 3″ x 7′, neither of which is big enough to help me. At all.
These boards are not usable for this project, but will be cut into smaller pieces for other projects … someday.
In this specific case, I cut the 9x boards into 36x pieces, and found 29x of them to be usable. Good thing, as I needed the extra 2x to get the 108x pieces of 6″ widths that I also needed.
In the end, my 259 board feet of lumber got me:
- 15 board feet of lumber that was only 5″ wide, and so unusable for this project. Good thing Hard Maple is the # 1 species that I use. I will use this wood, just not now.
- 29x pieces, 8″ minimum x 24″
- 105x pieces, 6″ minimum x 24″
- 27x pieces of all widths that have major defects in them and are unusable for this project
The 27x unusable pieces are not totally scrap. I’ll have to cut out the knots, or the splits, or the voids, and then I’ll be able to use what’s left. It’s a good thing I make MBOs and Sous Chef boards that need smaller pieces. After doing this project, I’ve got’em.
So, if you’re keeping track, you’ll see that I ended up being 1 piece short: I still needed one more 6″ minimum width piece to get my 108x pieces. Luckily, I had one in the lumber rack (I am never out of Hard Maple!), so that filled the order.
So, how’d I do ordering lumber?
I got lucky.
The front stack is the 8″ minimum. The next 4 stacks are 6″ minimums. The back stack … defects.
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.
This is the 8th annual Home & Garden Show in Santa Clarita, sponsored by KHTS 1220 AM. For the first 6 years, the event was at the Hyatt, but it outgrew that facility. Now, the event has a partnership with the city’s Arbor Day celebration, and takes place in Central Park with big tents for the corporate clients and and a large empty soccer field for the rest of the vendors & attractions to fill.
I did a lot of AYSO soccer games on this field. Ah, memories.
The event has grown into Santa Clarita’s largest vendor-driven event, with attendance of 15,000+. It fills the available parking to overflowing – something Santa Claritans are not that used to. It’s my 3rd time doing this event: I did the last iteration at the Hyatt as a solo act (2015), and then Little Girl & I ran the first Central Park event last year (2016).
I love radio. I love local. How can I not love this event?
New Ideas
- 2 new rolling carts premiere at this event. One is the large centerpiece of our booth with 4 drawers, 3 doors, and storage for large cutting boards, Lazy Susans & MBOs. This is a big idea.
- The 2nd cart is an upright cart with 4 shelves that store most of the crates that make up our display, and then holds products in my booth during the event. Now, the crates are not chased all over the trailer; they are all in this one cart. This is a big idea.
- Velda found a young man to work with me to do booth set up. Now, he does the heavy lifting, so I need a new joke to tell people.
- Cut a deal with the owner of KHTS, and got a last-minute 3rd booth adjacent to our regular 10×20. We’re in an “L”shape; this is our first ever triple booth.
- Little Girl is back! Mrs M is taking the weekend off to make product (she says) and go to Vegas for a soaper’s convention. She says.
- Our booth is an official stop on the KHTS Passport Game, so everyone filling out a game card needs a stamp from our booth … and about 15 others.
Observations
- This is event # 2 of 7 in our Spring Fling. It’s the only event scheduled in Santa Clarita … until November.
- Whoa. That’s different.
- Set up the canopies … and one was broken coming out of the bag. I guess the wind in Lancaster was just too much for it last week. This is our oldest canopy, now 3 years old. And, it’s done.
- I needed the canopy this weekend, of course. I splinted the broken struts with hardwood from the shop, and duct taped everything in place.
- Lots of duct tape.
- Of course.
When your canopy is held together with duct tape, it’s time to get a new display.
- Another windy weekend, with gusts above 25 MPH during set up. I had 150 pounds of concrete on the canopies … and then I drove in stakes & roped the canopies down.
- Wind. Blows.
- I love, love, love the wonderful display space when I own a double booth. I had 5x 6′ tables, plus my 2 new cabinets. I did not display 100% of my inventory, but I had great space to display every kind of piece that I have in inventory. I could have used more cutting board holders. Another item on the work list, unfortunately.
- Wind gusts persisted until about 2:30p on Saturday. We survived another windy one, though I fear one of our portable awnings is also wind damaged. We may need an upgraded solution, but that’s a problem for another day.
- Loved the Mom who took my business card, and told me she was giving it to her kids with specific instructions for a Mother’s Day present. Always happy to be a part of a family’s celebration!
- Overheard & busted:
- She said: “These are nice.”
- He said: “$125? Not that nice.”
- She said: “But they’re handmade!” (Turning towards me.) “Do you make them?”
- I said: “Yes I do.”
- He said: “Well, your time is worth something, right?”
- I think: ‘Not according to you!’
- A lady asked for a quote for an in-counter custom board, and I quoted $125. She walked away, thinking about it. She came back saying a neighboring woodworker would do it for $50, and would I negotiate? I said no, the price was $125. She walked away.
- Eventually, she came back, and bought the custom board (at $125) as well as a Lazy Susan. Sometimes, it’s just not about price.
- Oh, and my promised delivery was July 4 at the earliest. Sometimes, it’s about the product, not the wait.
- I saw 2 shade canopies carried away in pieces at this event, and both were the cheap, aluminum, consumer versions. Those are not meant for constant use in high-wind environments. You know our motto: Go Big or Go Home.
- Requests were for a table-size Lazy Susan (like they have in India), a cribbage board (2x) and a backgammon board.
- Chess board sales = $0.
- My sales were down this year, but Mrs M’s sales were up from prior year. In total, we were down at an event with attendance that was up. (sigh)
- If just one or two of those promised follow-up sales happen, then this event will have been well worth it. If I don’t have follow-up sales, I’ll definitely be frustrated.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Bagels & cream cheese. At home.
Saturday Lunch: Mrs M made a surprise appearance and went to the food truck to deliver some sort of mac & cheese & shrimp & tri tip concoction. No complaints! The food trucks at this event are very good.
Saturday Snack: Nope.
Saturday Dinner: Papa John’s. Mrs M forgot how to order pizza, though, so our order was a bit, uh, off. I felt like I was at a 6 year old’s birthday party (because isn’t that when you eat plain cheese pizza?).
Sunday Breakfast: See Saturday.
Sunday Lunch: A dry Panini. Not a good thing.
Sunday Snack: Kona Ice. A good thing.
Sunday Dinner: Stonefire. Their carryout is always a good thing.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 16. I love local.
- Booth cost: $525
- Food cost: $152
- Travel cost: $0
- Total sales: $1,581
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $904
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
- Saturday alarm: 6:15a
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 48
- # soap & lotion vendors: at least 3, but none of them were handmade.
- # woodworking vendors: 4, one of which makes cutting boards, cheese boards, bottle openers & bears (sound familiar?). One is a local scroll saw artist, one is a local turner/woodworker, and the 4th is also local, and works with wine barrels.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 12:2
- Returning next year? Yes. Gotta wave the flag at this local event – that is the biggest vendor event in Santa Clarita!
Boards sold: 14
Cutting Boards: 4
MBOs: 2
Medium Surfboard: 2
Cheese Boards: 1
Small Boards: 1
Cheese & Cracker Server (AKA Large Surfboard): 1
Bear: 1
Lazy Susan: 1
Custom Order: 1
Small Surfboard 16 – 09. Purpleheart, Canarywood & Hard Maple. 6-1/2″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 901. Hard Maple, Cherry, Canarywood, Yellowheart & Purpleheart. Single Magic.
Cheese Board 17 – 320. Padauk, Cherry, Black Walnut & Jatoba. Chaos Board. 8-1/2″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 17. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. 8-1/2″ x 20″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 031. Hard Maple, Cherry, Jatoba & Padauk. Edge Grain.
Cutting Board 17 – 405. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk & Jatoba. End Grain. 12″ x 15″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 16. Padauk, Yellowheart, Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Bloodwood, Purpleheart & Bubinga. Chaos Board. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board 17 – 211. Hard Maple, Bloodwood, Cherry, Purpleheart & Bubinga. 11-1/2″ x 12″ x 3/4″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 643. Honey Locust, Hard Maple, Caribbean Rosewood, Cherry, Canarywood & Yellowheart. Double Magic.
Lazy Susan 17 – 12. Padauk & Birdseye Maple. 18″ diameter.
Small Board 17 – 202. Chaos Board. Cherry, Jatoba, Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Bubinga. 7″ x 12″ x 3/4″.
