I’m often asked if a Cheese Board can be used as a Trivet. Or a Cribbage Top. Or a Cutting Board. The answer, sadly, is no.
Not without risk of the heat from the dish melting the glue in the laminated piece, and, uh, deconstructing it. That would be a bad thing. A very bad thing.
So, I make Trivets.
Trivets are designed with air gaps so the heat can escape without tearing the laminated wood piece apart. That also makes them very light, unusual … and interesting to look at.
Or so I’ve been told. Some people like to hang these trivets on the wall. That works for me!
I didn’t sell out of Cheese Slicers at my last event … but I only had one left at the end.
Honestly, at that point, it’s almost as if they were sold out. Only one means no selection was available: it was strictly take it or leave it. Variety is a primary driver of the Woodshop, from every perspective.
Variety it is. Not only do I have a wide array of new wood designs, I once again have 2 colors of slicers: chrome & black. It only seems right!
It’s a common morning greeting among vendors … “we’re going to sell out today!”
I never think that. I know that if I sell out … I’ll have nothing for my next event. I don’t want to sell out, I think to myself.
Which is not right, of course.
However, at my last event, I certainly did sell out of Cracker Things … and that was bad. I could have sold several more: I actually had customers coming to the booth and asking for them by name.
I did bad. Very bad. I sold out of Cracker Things.
So, nothing to do but get to it. Dr H visited a couple of weeks ago, and he helped me make a bunch of bases for a new batch of Cracker Things … I actually had 95 bases in process! Only a fraction of that number made it to the finish line, though.
That’s OK. I’m no longer out of the item that customers ask for by name!
For those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s OK … here is a Cracker Thing, properly appointed with a wide array of crackers:
Each Cracker Thing is about 10-1/2″ long, and will hold quite a number of crackers, as you see. The sides are 2″ wide, so your typical Milton’s cracker (one of my favorites) fits very well, indeed. Most of the Cracker Things have a chaos base. The pieces that hold the crackers are often mismatched woods.
I’ve got 6 sanding machines I regularly use. I know the woodworkers wanna know … so if you are a civilian, just hang on for a bit.
The six machines are:
A Jet 16-32 drum sander, which allows me to smooth wide pieces like the Lazy Susans
A Jet 6″ belt sander, perfect for smoothing rounded edges … I thought
A Jet Benchtop Oscillating Spindle Sander – the only good way to work on concave curves
Festool ETS EC 125/EQ … a Random Orbital Sander (ROS) … the 5″ model for edge sanding
Festool RO 150 FEQ … another ROS, the 6″ model for sanding the tops and bottoms of boards
Festool DTS 400 REQ, a triangular sander for reaching nooks & crannies
Here are the hand sanders I use, all by Festool. When I use them, they’re connected to a Festool “Dust Extractor” which absolutely minimizes dust in the air. When I bought these, my air got cleaner and my life got better.
Lazy Susans are cut on the CNC, which means that I screw down the work piece to the sacrificial board, then have to remove the tabs that hold the piece in place as it’s cut out. That’s done on the band saw … and then I have to sand the tab stubs smooth. Typically, I’ve done that on the belt sander.
And that was wrong.
With this batch, I’ve confirmed that I can avoid the belt sander altogether … as it leaves vertical scratches around the entire circumference of the Lazy Susans. Instead, I used my 5″ Festool ROS (Random Orbital Sander, or the ETS EC 125/EQ), and that removed the tabs nicely … and I didn’t have to then clean up the entire circumference of the Susan. That’s 4″ of sanding, instead of 55″ of sanding.
Oh, I still had a bunch of sanding to do, and I still sanded the entire circumference – twice – before these pieces reached the finish line. However, by avoiding the belt sander, I had an easier time of it.
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.
I’ve got a history with this event, so I begin cautiously. After all, this is where the Flying Dry Soup Canopy took flight … and crushed Mrs M’s Handmade. That was in 2018.
But I came back in 2019. I note Mrs M declined the opportunity; I was solo.
So, this is year 3. Once again, Mrs M has declined the opportunity to join me in Arizona. Something about her “job.” As if that could be important.
So, what will Lake Havasu City have for me … and in my first event in 2020, our 7th year as vendors?
New Ideas
The weather forecast for this year is (at last) wonderful. Blue skies & highs in the 60s on Saturday, with more of the same on Sunday … until a storm blows in late in the day. About time we have good weather for this event!
I feel like everything is new at this event, since I haven’t done any event in 60 days. And, I haven’t done this physical setup with 2 pop-up canopies & me solo since … the Simi Valley Street Fair in 2019, and that was 8 months ago. I feel like I have no clue what I’m doing.
And, yes, that is new.
Observations
The load in at 6am on Saturday was just like last year: chaotic. I was yelled at for being in someone’s way by 6:10am. And … I was parked partially IN MY BOOTH. She just didn’t like that I narrowed her path to the width of a bit more than a parking spot – that was clearly marked, and unobstructed by me.
Such is the chaos that is Winterfest load in. I emptied the trailer ASAP, and moved my Jeep & trailer out of the line of fire.
Set up, unfortunately, takes as long as it takes. These days, my full set up in a double booth takes about 4 hours. I had walkers after about 2 hours. Fortunately, they were primarily dog walkers, and they are not my buyers.
The event started hot, and traffic was significant a bit before my set up was complete. When I was done at 10am, traffic was good. Very good.
This event has 2 kinds of people in attendance: snow birds that winter in Arizona, and residents of Lake Havasu City … which are definitely weighted towards retirement age. Both have issues with my offerings: snow birds often have a need for me to ship to their home, because they are limited by the airlines for suitcase weight. Local residents don’t have that issue, but older people that are downsizing are not my crowd. People that cook & people with families that cook … those are my people.
I nearly had a fight break out over a Garlic Dipping Board that 2 ladies had their eyes on at the same time. It got a bit confusing, but eventually lady # 1 decided on something else, so lady # 2 got the GDB that she wanted. Meanwhile, lady # 1 changed her mind 4 times before finally making her selection. Eventually, her buddy asked me a question mid-transaction, causing me to lose track of where I was … and lady # 2 left, with me still having her credit card in the machine.
Oops.
She came back on Sunday to retrieve the card. And bought something else.
Last year, I met Mesquite Mary. She was an LA resident that was in the process of retiring to Lake Havasu City, where she and her husband have a 2nd home. There was a wonderful mesquite tree that they had to cut down … and she offered me the wood if I could use it.
Of course I could. She only asked that she get something that I made from the wood.
Of course I would.
But, come to find out, I couldn’t. The wood had laid out in her backyard for 2 years, and was just too old for me to use. Too many cracks.
I did give the wood to my buddy Charlie, and he was able to use the wood for turning, with cracks adding to the character of the wood. Charlie gave me a bowl he turned … and a year after I met her, I returned to Lake Havasu City with the bowl for Mary.
She was on the moon! So happy. I got a hug, even. Saturday was a happy day.
A young lady saw my Cracker Things, and didn’t think they were cute. Or clever. No, she thought they were bad ass. That’s good … but she didn’t buy one. That’s bad.
I met Rob Cook, who published Popular Woodworking in the ’90s. We had a great chat, and he complimented me on my work. Much appreciated from a real pro!
I started Sunday going walk about, and saw about half of the vendors. This is a chamber of commerce street festival … and it is *very* buy & sell. There is some handmade merchandise there, but not much. That can be a bad thing … a very bad thing … but in this case, the attendance is high enough that the event still works for me.
Thank goodness.
A Cracker Thing went to a party, I’m told. Don’t know anything about the party … but I do know that 3 ladies came to the booth on Sunday wanting to buy a Cracker Thing. Unfortunately, I had none. Sold out.
Sorry.
A couple looked at my Lazy Susans. We had a long conversation about the event, what they wanted … and how the event ended at 4 o’clock. The lady asked what my 4 o’clock cash price was for the Susan she wanted. I told her the price doesn’t change … still $80. She walked away.
Buy bye. My prices don’t change.
A couple wanted a custom cutting board for a wedding in a month. I turned it down … I have no time. No. Time.
T-shirt of the weekend: “I may be old, but I saw the great bands.” Made me laugh.
The event ended at 4 o’clock … and the weather began to turn. Clouds rolled in. Temperature dropped. Winds picked up a bit … and I knew I was in a race to get everything into the trailer before the storm hit.
I didn’t make it.
I was close. I was doing well, but I got to the part when I take the signs down when the wind started gusting. Signs hang on the walls … part of the weight that holds the canopies down. Wind. Gusts. I’m in a race. It got exciting at 6pm.
I won’t say I lost.
I won’t say the canopy flew … but it did hop. At the time, I had the signs down, but the mesh walls were still up, so there was a bit of a sail making the booth catch the wind. Luckily, I had some nice neighbors that leapt in to help, and with them holding things together for me, I quickly – well, as quickly as possible – dropped the mesh walls & collapsed the canopies. No more incidents.
I ended with 3 helpers, 2 broken fingernails (how did that happen?), booth hardware in 3 pockets, and a trailer finally loaded at 6:55pm. Finally.
The weekend was a success. In 3 years, this was the best one yet. That’s a great way to start off 2020.
Requests were for a TV tray, a custom counter top, shoe horns, smaller Lazy Susans (2 of those), Pegs & Jokers (on my list, honest!), a stamp dispenser, an English pub game called Shut the Box (?), and a wine rack.
The Food
Best Meal: Saturday night pizza from Rosati’s. Recommended.
Worst Meal: Saturday breakfast was 2 hardboiled eggs. I don’t love eating immediately after I wake up … and once the set up started, that’s all I did.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 612
Booth cost: $350
Food cost: $95
Travel cost: $505
Total sales: $2,590
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: 0
Saturday alarm: 5:00a
Sunday alarm: 7:00a
# transactions: 34
# soap & lotion vendors: none that I saw in the half of the event that I walked
# woodworking vendors: none that I saw (!) in the half of the event that I walked
Returning next year? Yes. I left my first deposit for 2021.
Boards sold: 48
Cutting Boards: 3
Garlic Dipping Boards: 4
Trivets: 7
Serving Pieces: 3
Signs: 8
Cracker Things: 7
Charcuterie Board: 1
Lazy Susans: 4
Cheese Slicers: 5
Cribbage Board: 1
Pizza Server: 1
Bread Saws: 2
Sous Chef Boards: 2
Sous Chef 20 – 518. Jatoba, Canarywood & Purpleheart. 10″ x 12″ work surface.
Sous Chef 20 – 520. Chaos board. 10″ x 12″ work surface.
Cribbage boards are a top seller for me. That’s a wonderful thing … but it created a problem over the holidays. I sold too many.
So, I had to make more.
That solves the problem, pretty much.
The problem is that my inventory needs to be broad, my time is precious … and I’m yet to catch up with anything. I’m still behind with cribbage boards: I have 3 special orders to do, as well as holes in my existing inventory that need to be filled.
It’s always something. And that, my friends, is a wonderful problem to have.
At most events, people tell me about signs that I SHOULD make. Usually, they’re wrong.
I make signs about Food. Family. And, Wine/Beer/Liquor.
That’s it.
I don’t make signs about pets. I don’t make signs about politics. I don’t make signs about how awful my wife is: I don’t lie. My signs are truthful, from my perspective. My signs are family friendly … because they should be.
I will custom make a sign for people; no problem. But the signs that hand in my booth are about food, family, & drinking. Good times. Good people.
That’s it.
These signs are replacements for those sold late in the year, plus a couple of new ones: the quotes from George Carlin and Ernest Hemingway.
All of these signs will be at my next event … in 3 weeks, at the Fresno Home & Garden Show. I hope to see you there!
When the shop is humming, I make a wide variety of things.
Oh, I do most of my pieces in batches … I might make 24 cheese slicers at once, or perhaps 6 large cutting boards. But when I start a new batch of things, I typically do 50 or so glue ups (which takes a couple of days). Since some glue ups (what I call “blanks” before they are cut to final shape) are cut into 2 different pieces, I often end up with about 75 pieces being worked on in the shop at the same time.
One blank makes 2 Cheese Boards. One blank makes 4 Coasters. One blank makes 6 Cracker Things. Cutting Boards are always made one at a time, as are handled boards (“Sous Chef Boards”), Cribbage Boards, Signs….
I always like to take what the lumber gives me … which means sometimes I’ll find a board that tells me exactly what I have to do with that piece RIGHT NOW. That’s how the Black Walnut Charcuterie with live edges got made: I found the unusual and perfect board, and I had to make that singular piece.
Other times, something will happen that makes a piece fall out of the production cycle. Perhaps it has a problem that has to get fixed, I run out of time to get everything to the finish line, or maybe it just gets forgotten amidst the chaos.
It happens.
In any event, here’s a collection of recent pieces that made it to the finish line. To quote Bill Murray in Groundhog Day: “I’m versatile.”
With this new batch of boards, I’ve accomplished 2 goals for 2020:
I’ve got a beginning inventory – again – of handled boards.
I’ve put together a good photography indoor set up that I can use.
I was most disappointed in the photography for the last post. Just like with these photos, it was done indoors … but I used a white background that was totally over-exposed when I did the shots. Having dark boards in front of a very light background is not good … this set up was much better, and the colors of the individual boards are very realistic in these photos.
Thank goodness.
All of the new handled boards will be at this weekend’s event in Lake Havasu City, AZ … Winterfest. It will be my 3rd annual trip to this event, and I hope to see you there!
I recently read in a woodworker’s forum that the reason to use the term charcuterie is just so you can charge more for the board.
Hogwash.
When I started making boards, I didn’t even know what “charcuterie” was. It’s a French term for prepared meats, such as bacon, ham, sausage, etc. And, in reality, any board can be used for charcuterie, just as any board can be used for cutting, cheese & crackers, fruits, or what have you.
Any of my boards, anyway.
These boards are my choice for charcuterie. I love the curvy edges. The board just feels right in your hand.
Your mileage may vary, of course. Buy one of these, and you can call them anything you want!
