Yes, I used that funny French word that people have trouble pronouncing. The word means smoked meats … and, when in France, you go to a “charcuterie” to buy, uh, smoked meats.
Why did that become the word we use for cheese & cracker platters?
’cause it’s fancy. “Fancy like Applebees,” as Walker Hayes recently sang (link below).
But I digress. Now that we’ve got our groove on, it’s time to talk about these new boards that have a couple of unique stories to go with.
First, I am pleased to present several boards made from Olive wood, which is new to the Woodshop. After years of searching, I just had to go out the front door to get this wood … when we bought the house in 1988, there was an ornamental olive tree in the front yard. The kids climbed in it growing up. Pretty tree, and a great climbing tree, to boot. But, sadly, the tree died several years ago. I had a crew out to remove the tree … and leave me the good logs. I then went to my buddy Charlie to “slab” the logs and branches that were usable. The ends got painted with a latex/wax combination so the wood would dry slowly and not crack. The wood then got stickered (small boards between the Olive pieces to allow good air flow for even drying) and then I left the wood in my storage unit to dry out. I didn’t touch the boards for 18 months.
Eventually, the boards came back to the shop for processing … and, time being what it is, I didn’t touch them for another 2 years.
But then the stars aligned, and I made the boards you see below. These are live edge pieces, meaning the actual edges of the natural tree – maybe even the bark! – is the edge of the board. About half of these pieces are finished with mineral oil and board butter, as I do all of my pieces that are destined to touch food.
Until now, that is. Some of the boards had knots, voids and cracks that needed attention, and needed filling since they were destined to be serving pieces. I reached into the bag o’tricks, and here are my first boards with epoxy filled, mica-colored accents. These boards were then finished with a Urethane top coat.
As is normal for me, all boards got non-skid rubber feet held on with stainless steel screws.
Two of the boards are made from live edge Black Walnut. My niece – the namesake for the “Kaye’s Board” end grain design that is a personal favorite – found a sawyer near Cameron, MO that had processed some lovely Black Walnut lumber and was willing to let me bring 5 boards back to the Woodshop.
So, new lumber. New finishing. New, as it often does, also means Mrs M had to have some.
But, good news, she decided to not be greedy and I do have some left for your consideration. These are, obviously, very unique, one-of-a-kind pieces. Please note that all sizes are approximate. Every board was finished to get the most out of the wood that was available, so they are not perfect rectangles. They are natural.
I have already heard from several people that want some, and 3 ladies are first in line (Jeri G, Reva W, Sue E in that order). Boards that I still have will go with me this 4th of July weekend to the Art In The Park event in Morro Bay, CA. Want to buy one? Email me at Henry@MowryWoodshop.com. You’ll need to tell me the number of the board(s) you want, and please give alternate choices if you have some. I will send you an invoice, and then ship the boards to you after the holiday.
Charcuterie 22 – 114. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 21″ x 5″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 111. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 17″ x 9″ x 3/4″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 109. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 21″ x 7″ x 3/4″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 107. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 16″ x 6″ x 1″. $90.
Charcuterie 22 – 105. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 20″ x 8″ x 1″. Added to the Mowry collection.
Charcuterie 22 – 103. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 17″ x 7″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 115. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 16″ x 5″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 117. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 15″ x 12″ x 1″. $125.
Charcuterie 22 – 104. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 20″ x 8″ x 3/4″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 106. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 19″ x 9″ x 1″. $125.
Charcuterie 22 – 102. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 21″ x 7″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 113. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 20″ x 7″ x 3/4″. Added to Mrs M’s private collection.
Charcuterie 22 – 101. 19″ x 7″ x 3/4″. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. $90.
Charcuterie 22 – 108. Olive Wood with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 19″ x 9″ x 1″. $125.
Charcuterie 22 – 112. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 16″ x 6″ x 1″. Added to the Mowry collection.
Charcuterie 22 – 116. Olive Wood with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 20″ x 6″ x 1″. $100.
Charcuterie 22 – 118. Black Walnut with Live Edge. Mineral Oil/Beeswax Finish. 12″ x 12″ x 5/8″. $85.
Charcuterie 22 – 110. Black Walnut with Live Edge and Epoxy Accents. Urethane finish. 21″ x 10″ x 5/8″. $100.
This pandemic has been good for almost nothing, near as I can tell. When all of my scheduled street fairs & craft festivals canceled beginning in March and continuing through October, at this point … I kept going back to the shop.
Every day.
When you’re a maker … it’s what you do. So, I did.
My total inventory is now, for the first time, over 800 pieces. And, for the record, I’m not stopping. I will take a pause soon, however, as I have an event over the July 4th weekend. The only problem … is I have to leave California to do the event. California is still closed, but luckily, Prescott, AZ, is my destination. To see all the current schedule of events for Mrs M’s Handmade & Mr M’s Woodshop, click here.
But, this post is the story of this board, which was actually a special order through MrMsWoodshop.com: a Father’s Day Gift! The order was for a large cutting board, made from Black Walnut.
There is nothing like Black Walnut; I love working with it, every time. Unfortunately, though, Black Walnut can be a challenge to work, as it’s very difficult to get good Black Walnut lumber in Southern California.
I’ve found.
I actually set out to make 2 of these large Black Walnut cutting boards, which would require about 12 board feet of clean stock. Unfortunately, to get the 12 board feet of finished lumber, I went through 20 board feet of lumber. Here are the boards for the 2 cutting boards that I’ve “picked & processed”, ready for glue up:
Those are good looking boards. The problem is the waste. For a cutting board, I need clean boards, free of knots, voids, bark inclusions, shakes and cracks. Here’s what that the process waste looked like:
The very thin pieces are normal waste from the edges of the boards; they get recycled. The larger pieces with knots in the middle will get cut into smaller pieces to remove the knots and will eventually be used … after I store them long enough to gather enough small pieces that I can make something with. Unfortunately, that saving process can take years, and I end up chasing buckets of small cut offs around the shop until I’m ready to start that process.
But I digress.
This is the story of one of my favorite boards: a large, end grain Black Walnut Cutting Board. This beauty is 16-5/8″ x 21-1/4″ x 1-1/2″.
And the normal finishing touches, of course:
Non-skid rubber feet, held on with stainless steel screws for long life
Routed finger holds for easy pick-up
Finish is mineral oil, with a topcoat of Mrs M’s Board Butter
Cutting Board 20 – 508. Black Walnut. End Grain. Commissioned Piece.
One last batch of cutting boards finished before the 4th quarter craft fairs begin. These, and many others, will be at Mrs M’s booth this weekend.
If you’re out and about in Santa Clarita on Saturday, please join Mrs Ms Handmade at the LA Sheriff’s Department’s Annual Fun In The Sun Chili Cook-Off at the Equestrian Center in Castaic. The address is 26983 Tapia Canyon Road.
If you’re not so fortunate as to be out in the heat with us on Saturday, then write me on the Contact Us form and tell me what you would like!
Two Hard Maple boards. Cutting boards for your RV? Cheese boards? Bar boards? You choose. One is 12-1/2″ x 8″ x 1-1/2″. The other is 13″ x 7-1/4″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 63 Cutting Board, $125. Edge grain cutting board. Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Cherry and Yellowheart.
# 62 Cutting Board, $150. Hard Maple, Walnut, Yellowheart and Cherry. 22-1/8″ x 14-3/8″ x 1-5/8″. Edge grain.
# 68 Cutting Board, $150. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Cherry and Hard Maple. 18-3/8″ x 14-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 66 Cutting Board, $150. Black Walnut, Jatoba, Padauk, Yellowheart and Hard Maple. 18″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 69 Cutting Board, $125. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk and Yellowheart. 15-1/4″ x 12-1/4″ x 1-1/8″. End grain.
# 64 Cutting Board, $125. Black Walnut, Cherry and Hard Maple. 19-1/4″ x 12-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 67 Cutting Board, $125. Black Walnut, Hard Maple and Cherry. 20″ x 12-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 65 Cutting Board, $125. Hard Maple, Cherry & Black Walnut. 16″ x 12-1/2″ x 1-1/4″. End Grain.
# 61 Cutting Board, $100 – $150, depending on size. Hard Maple end grain.
Hard Maple. 20-3/4″ x 12-3/8″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
Commissioned restoration project. This 20-year old board was presented to me in two pieces: a glue joint had failed. The pieces were squared up, re-glued, sanded and re-finished. Purpleheart and maple.