Archive for the ‘handmade’ Tag

Embracing Change: Woodworking Amidst Life’s Trials   1 comment

Dear Kathy, Pamela, Randall, Elizabeth, Tony, Josh & Mrs M:

I am – at long last – on the cusp of getting your special orders done. This is my humble attempt to update you and apologize. Again.

I lost my way in 2025, without question. We sold the familial home of 37 years, bought another home with no 2nd story … and then decided to remodel the new home with me as acting general contractor. I began to juggle balls.

Lots of them.

The remodel consumed me, as such things do, and it became my obsessive focus in April of last year. We moved into the house during the still-active remodel in late May. The woodshop in the old house got shut down … but the new shop didn’t get up until September. Sort of. It’s still sort of up today. Cabinetry is not built. There is no storage. None.

Black Walnut, right on top. 2 days to find this.

Dust collection is almost done … but the temporary connection to my table saw is still zip tied, leaning, and not that good at sucking, honestly. Hand tools & supplies are always a challenge to locate. I’ve bought 2x sets of drill bits (and still haven’t found my old ones). I can’t find anything, truly. I lost my black walnut stash this week. 2 days went by. I looked everywhere to find the lumber … in the corner behind the band saw, right where I put it. Along with some Hard Maple I didn’t know I had.

It hasn’t been pretty.

In November, both of my knees went into an arthritic crisis, apparently. Walking became a huge issue for 3 weeks. Standing … not possible. More time I was not in the shop because my knees insisted I sit down and put my feet up. Beyond scaring the hell out of me, I learned to take it easier and nursed my knees back to health. They are largely back, but I certainly baby them more than I did when I was running marathons 15+ years ago (and my knees were *never* an issue then. Go figure.)

As many of you know, I have been powerfully distracted by some of my other prominent roles … PaPa was needed to help with Sloane, as Little Girl’s geriatric pregnancy put her in the Dr’s office 3x every week in the final weeks. Good news: Grandchild #4 is here, everyone is healthy, but I now miss breakfasts with Sloane. So, a happy ending, but Papa was not in the shop as much as I was during my old normal.

New normal? Not there yet. That’s the problem.

Then my mother’s health took a turn for the worse, and I traveled to see her in Missouri a couple of times this year. She lived a long and fruitful life, and helping my sister, brother-in-law and mother over the last few months was treasured time that was well spent. Mom saw her 96th birthday, and died 11 days ago. I will now be traveling to Missouri as needed to help sell her house & do the tasks that need to be done. Her Celebration of Life is on April 18.

While helping with my mother, obviously, I was not in the shop.

Which brings me to my oldest special order. It was from Mom: she wanted me to make the box to hold her ashes. I, of course, accepted the order. The box is now complete, and it was one of the hardest things to make I have ever done. Oh, the design was simple. Joinery not that challenging. But I found it impossible to work with tears in my eyes, so it took a while to finish the box. It is now in the truck, ready for me to drive it to Missouri.

Which brings me to my remaining special orders. The required time is set aside, irrevocably. The pieces are picked, processed, glued up and smoothed. I still have some CNC work on some of these pieces. Some sanding. Finishing. But my plan is to be done done done with these pieces and ship them out next week. Honest.

I have accepted one more order, for a Soap Drying Rack, that is next up after these pieces … and my return from my 3rd trip to Missouri this year.

Moving forward, I believe I will shut down my website for the rest of the year. I have made promises, you see, to the Lady of the house. I am to build a bed, nightstands, dresser, garden bench … plus a new office & master closet for me. If I don’t block out the business … I’ll never get to the personal. I know me.

I am committed to 3x events this year: April’s KHTS Home & Garden Show. November’s Boutique Fantastique at Saugus High. And, December’s Santa’s Art Shop in Ridgecrest. I will be there. And maybe, just maybe … you’ll see the grand return of Mrs M’s Handmade in the 4th quarter. But her product offerings … as well as mine … are very much TBD. Stay tuned for those updates.

So dear friends, there you have it. I have juggled far too many balls and am ashamed that so many of them were dropped. My special order backlog, though, is about to get handled. God willing.

Thank you so much for your patience. I don’t deserve it. I must do better as I search for my new normal.

And, yes, I heard the hysterical laughter as I typed the last sentence.

Thanksgiving Prep: Mrs M’s Perfect Cutting Board   1 comment

We approach the culinary summit of the year … in Mrs M’s dream kitchen. She had a thought. Could she get an old cutting board that I have (huh?) to use an electric knife on? WHAT?

I do give her credit that she learned her lesson and knows she cannot use an ELECTRIC SAW on her cutting board. But, she thought I had “old cutting boards” just laying around that she could destroy with her ELECTRIC SAW? No.

Well, she wondered out loud, could I just make her a board “out of scrap” so she could cube the bread for her renowned stuffing easily? So, a board out of scrap.

She doesn’t know me at all.

The board was made. It’s a 2-sided, no-foot light weight board to abuse as she wishes. I would have preferred more time and bread board ends on a cutting board this thin … but ’twas not to be. After all, this is just for her to destroy.

Black Walnut for the win. 15x21x.75″ A board good enough for her to destroy. After all, her stuffing is at stake.

Since I was in the shop and hungry, I re-surfaced & oiled her main board, sous chef board and the cheese slicer for good measure. Big doings in the Mowry kitchen this week. I am at her service: I don’t starve that way.

Mrs M’s Go To Cutting Board. 16″x21″x1-1/4″. Edge Grain. Goncalo Alves, Black Walnut, Honey Locust, Jatoba & Cherry. The board just got a rare tune-up … and will be 12 years old this Christmas.

The above board is the first cutting board I ever made. Hardwood for the win.

The companion sous chef board is smaller, lighter and had blown a foot. After the footectomy, I replaced all 4 feet. The small feet that I install (1/4″ thick) on small boards & serving pieces do fail – especially when pushed, not lifted. I’ve tried many sources; can’t find better feet. Let me know if you ever need a new set if you have had a failure.
Our cheese slicer also needed a quick resurfacing … and a footectomy. The slicer now has a smooth top and 4 new feet.

If you find your cutting board(s) need some love after your big doings this week, I am happy to resurface your board for free. It takes me about 10 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Board Chronicles: Boutique Fantastique 2025   Leave a comment

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 event is the only one we’ve done every year since we started in 2012. It’s the oldest and in some ways, still the biggest holiday boutique in Santa Clarita. It’s a PTSO scholarship fundraiser for Saugus High students. All of our kids graduated from here, and one even won one of these scholarships. So, it’s never a question of if we are going to do this event. We will, as long as we are making. And they’ll have us.

“Us” is a euphemism for the business, officially named Mrs M’s Handmade. Mrs M (remember her???) actually outsold me most years at this event, but I’ve had to bring my solo set up since covid cancelled SoCal events for more than a year … & Mrs M’s inventory expired. She is yet to replace it. I have high hopes that she will return to making & be there next year. Stay tuned.

High hopes.

But back to business. How was 2025?

First, it was stressful. I have not done an event since April … and I’ve emptied a house, moved, and remodeled the new house since them. Along the way, I have scattered tools, inventory and display pieces all over the place. The shop only became fully operational (though with no storage) last month, so getting ready for this show was … challenging. I did (finally) make new cutting boards & side tables, so it’s clear I haven’t lost all of my skill. But perhaps I have lost my marbles. Mrs M was certain of it.

What’s different this year (other than our address!)?

  • I decided to not use the cargo trailer, in spite of the double booth I was setting up. My inventory was light … and I just wasn’t feeling it. So, I shrank from my traditional 10 display tables to only 7 and enjoyed a booth that was easier to walk though.
  • I took a truck load, then Mrs M was convinced to follow on with a car load of inventory. This was basically how we did events 10 years ago. The more things change….
  • This event is always the first Saturday/Sunday in November, and this year it fell on the earliest possible dates, November 1 & 2. When they turned on the background music before the 10am opening … the traditional Christmas songs offended my ear. The songs were the classics. My ear, unfortunately, was still processing Hallowe’en, gone for less than 12 hours. It definitely seemed early for Christmas shopping (foreshadowing, that).

Biggest surprise: I arrived at 6:05am, and was so deep in line that I couldn’t get the truck into the Saugus High parking lot. First time that has ever happened. I was unloaded by 7:15am, though, so all was well. I was set up by the 10am opening.

Biggest sale: A lady bought a side table + several ramekins for her charcuterie presentations. That was the singular side table sold … and honestly, I sold several single items from across my inventory. 1 cheese slicer. 1 cutting board. 1 ampersand board. And so on. It was a good weekend, but it was not because of overwhelming sales. I was, in fact, never ‘whelmed.

Biggest pleasure: Oh, so many people come to visit me and assure me they are still using/enjoying the cutting boards, serving pieces & such that they have bought from me over the years. I truly love that. OH. And visits from 2 Cub Scout families were a treat, too. Apparently some of the silly songs I taught Pack 575 live on at family gatherings to this day, decades later.

I did apologize. Apparently the ditty about fast food brands (it is called “Pizza Hut.” Remember it?) is still a favorite.

Most vendors I talked to, with a broad array of products from jewelry to decor to personalized gifts to handmade stuff … all complained about how 2025 was not good for craft fairs/boutiques/etc. Sales have been down 25% for just about everyone. Now, vendors always complain, sales are almost always down, and the reasons cited range from the economy, the political landscape and the cost of electricity. I prefer the reason to be the phase of the moon. Who knows what is going on? But, sales were down this year, which is always a sad thing.

But, I am once again making. I am back in the vendoring game. And I have one more event to prepare for this year: Santa’s Art Shop in Ridgecrest, CA. Hope to see you there, December 6 & 7. Meanwhile, here’s what the booth looked like this year:

The Board Chronicles: KHTS Home & Garden Show 2024   3 comments

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.

There is nothing like an event in your home town. Easy transport. Sleep in your own bed. Smiles from lots of familiar faces.

What could go wrong?

New Ideas

  • A new display for cutting boards! It only took me about 18 months to take the time to build it.
  • A new display for handled boards! This did not take as long, but definitely upped my game from using the cast-off crates from Mrs M’s unused display as I had been doing.
  • I have live edge side tables, or perhaps a coffee table, available this weekend. First time. They were made by a buddy and our local contractor, Steve Mark of Steve Mark Construction. Truly great work. Wonder if there are furniture buyers at the Home & Garden Show?

Observations

  • This is one of the very few events that I do a triple booth at. This means I must put up the 10’x20′ Trimline canopy as well as a 10’x10′ pop-up. I then put 13x tables in the booth to show … everything. Well, not really. Today with my built out foodie inventory, I had no room for cribbage boards, chess boards, or Magic Bottle Openers. In a triple booth, I am out of room. l think I have a problem.
  • Set up is on Friday, and I actually had some help. I brought in the Cat Sitter for some help, and then our contractor, Steve Mark, lent a hand since I was going to sell a couple of tables he made. Loved the help.
  • Before I left check-in, I was cautioned – as was everyone – that high winds were expected overnight in Santa Clarita. Keep your canopies low and weighted! I, of course, do this routinely and wind, though a real concern, is nothing that I worry about in normal conditions. The canopies went up, the weights and ratchet straps went on, and my canopies will not move.
  • 2 other canopies were lost to wind during set up. I heard product breaking on some gusts throughout the weekend.
  • Hometown.
  • Set up was fairly simple with the help. I got it done in about 5 hours, start to finish. That left some touch ups, price signs and cracker displays to be done before the 10a start on Saturday.
  • One quirk of this show is that they always shut off vehicle access for Saturday morning. No drive into the site to drop off inventory on Saturday. Not a problem, just plan ahead. I have a little wheeled crate to make carrying in my electronic gear (charged overnight) and cooler easier to bring in from the parking lot. That was commented on; not everyone lets wheels do the work.
  • First customer was the husband of an exhibitor. I inquired about her business … she’s a medium, helps contact the departed. That was the first time I have heard that answer at any event.
  • An older gentleman approached, walking with a cane. “OK, here’s a quiz. What kind of wood is this?” I unfortunately had no idea. He then explained it was an Irish Shillelagh, made from a root of some tree or bush. Still didn’t know what it was!
  • One conversation I often have (perhaps 5 times this weekend) is … “You don’t cut meat on this board, do you?” The answer, of course, is YES. Some believe meat should be cut on a separate board – this is often due to a fear of bacteria. However, wooden cutting boards are actually naturally anti-bacterial. Research done at the University of Wisconsin and UC Davis has found that, when you infect and then test the bacterial growth on all of the different cutting board surfaces, you’ll find wooden cutting boards have less bacteria after an hour, and after a day. Naturally.
  • Bacteria can come from ANY food, not just meat. If your lettuce is infected with bacteria when you chop it, then anything cut on the board after that will get tainted if you are not using good clean techniques with your raw food. Without good technique, it really doesn’t matter what cutting board you use, because you can get sick.
  • I did this explanation, explained how to keep a cutting board clean, and the lady became a customer. I love happy endings.
  • Hometown.
  • Saturday was a day of special orders: 4 separate orders were taken, practically simultaneously. I got ‘whelmed early, and had 4 transactions happening all at once. Life gets exciting in the hometown.
  • Legacy customers are the best part of local events. One customer stood in the middle of the booth and said, “I have one of those, and one of those, and….”
  • Nothing like local.
  • Mrs M still has fans out there … I was asked again when Mrs M will return with her soaps and lotions and such. I have a standard answer: I don’t know. I encourage you, dear reader, to talk to her and demand she get back to making, as I am out of my soap. She formulated it just for me. A delicate flower, I am, and I need my soap.
  • Many people verified I was a local vendor throughout the event. My house is about 3 miles from the event site. And the logo does say it all:
  • Come to find out I made a mistake on the cutting board display. I knew that I wanted the dowels holding the boards upright to be 8″ apart … but I neglected to consider that a diagonal between dowels was not the same as a vertical line. Ooopsie. Good thing I make everything to be modular. The legs get smaller, the display will be perfect.
  • I was an hour into my strike when a lady walked up with her son and wanted to buy a cutting board. She was local … but I had the containers (already packed) right there, so I agreed to open some containers to see if any of the boards on hand would speak to her. One did.
  • It was my biggest sale of the weekend. You just never know when a customer will find you, and when they do, you need to be present. Had I left early, this would have never happened.
  • The event ended at 4p Sunday, and then my hard work began. I struck the event by myself. It is one of my largest set ups, and I didn’t find help. My bad. I finished about 8:15p, and was in the shower by 8:35p. Dinner quickly followed, and I did not move much after that. As I write this on Monday … the ibuprofen helps. Always.
  • Going a-vendoring is a glorious, fun thing to do … separated by long stints of very hard work. Be prepared. Always.
  • Those tables by Steve Mark did not find their forever home this weekend. Pictures are below. And they are still in my truck, so….
  • This was my 8th year doing this event. I have done it every year since 2015 … since we’re in California, the event was shut down in the covid years. Of course. In any event, in our 11th year of going a-vendoring, here are a few observations for you vendor types:
    • This is the largest vendor event in Santa Clarita. Largest attendance as well.
    • However, it is not necessarily the home of the largest sales for every handmade vendor. Home & Garden Shows, after all, are famous for being about … your home & garden. So having a great display of handmade goods may not be a perfect solution for you, depending on what you sell. If you are selling air conditioning services, you may think this is a much better event. Of course, their booth costs are much greater than for vendors of those handmade goods. Thank goodness.
    • Be clear, I LOVE this event, and it is my top event in Santa Clarita. But is it the best event I do? Alas, no. I have better events when I am out of town … and not sleeping in my own bed. Life is full of trade-offs.
    • Apparently.
    • As always, your mileage will vary.
  • See you out there!

The Food

  • Best Meal: Velda cooked a steak from Jess & Jim’s Steak House in Kansas City … we get beef from there as a Christmas present. Steak for the win. Of course.
  • Honorable Mention: Sunday dinner was Polish sausage & mashed potatoes. Velda’s comfort food after a very hard day. Oh, and there was bourbon.

The Facts

  • Total miles driven: 24
  • # of people we met during the event from the producer: Many, as always. I knew the people at my hometown radio station long before I went a-vendoring. I worked in the radio industry for nearly 3 decades, after all!
  • Visits in the booth by a promoter’s representative: sure. Lots.
  • Returning next year? No question. See you there!

Boards sold: 25x

  • Trivets: 6x
  • Cutting Boards: 4x
  • Special Orders: 4x
  • Lazy Susans: 2x
  • Heart: 1x
  • Cheese Board: 1x
  • Serving Tray: 1x
  • Charcuterie Board: 1x
  • Cracker Thing: 1x
  • Coaster: 1x
  • Saw: 1x
  • Cheese Slicer: 1x
  • Handled Board: 1x

Embracing Chaos   3 comments

It was time to embrace the chaos and make some chaos boards. I mean, look around. Right?

I last did this 5 years ago, and my techniques have been refined a bit. To make these boards, I selected 256 boards, each 24″ long. The boards were from 21 hardwood species, and were glued up initially into 15x different laminates. These had 3x different thicknesses, which were smoothed and then cut into strips that were 1-5/8″ wide to turn them into end grain boards.

And I was just getting started.

Those 1-5/8″ strips were then selected so that each of the 13x end grain glue ups I made had at least one strip from each of the original laminates. After the glue was fully cured, each end grain glue up was cut apart at a 5* angle. Glue cured, and they were then cut again, each at a different angle. Different widths. More glue curing time, and then I did it again. And then a 5th glue-up to get to where we are today: 9x very colorful chaos boards. Each is a minimum of 13-1/2″ x 19″; most are 14″ x 19″.

And there is a bonus, a new design of chaos board that in this case only has 2 species of wood. I call this design Confetti. Here you see that board as it started through the CNC for initial smoothing. That is a difficult step, as the multiple glue-ups leave a very ragged top and bottom that requires significant machining to get smooth. That process started on the CNC, and then moved to the drum sander … then finally to hand sanding and my normal hand-rubbed finish of mineral oil and locally-harvested beeswax.

The main project, though, was what became 9x Chaos Boards featuring 21x species, from 3 continents. Here are the woods used:

  • Afrormosia
  • Ash
  • Black Walnut
  • Bloodwood, AKA Satine
  • Bubinga
  • Canarywood
  • Cherry, AKA Black Cherry
  • Goncalo Alves, AKA Tigerwood
  • Hard Maple
  • Hickory
  • Honey Locust
  • Jatoba, AKA Brazilian Cherry
  • Makore
  • Osage Orange, AKA Hedge
  • Padauk
  • Purpleheart
  • Sapele, AKA African Mahogany
  • Wenge
  • White Oak
  • Yellowheart
  • Zebrawood

All of the boards have a chamfered edge (a cut, in this case, at a 45* angle) on each side, for easy pick up of the board. To ensure a dependable, un-moving work surface, all boards have non-skid rubber feet held on with stainless steel screws for long life. 5 of these boards have juice grooves that are 3/4″ wide and 3/8″ deep. 5 have no juice grooves, just the way Mrs M likes them. You get to choose to be groovy, or not. Mrs M made her choice. Just saying. I mean, she married me. Obviously.

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Visit the retail site for Mr M’s Woodshop

Posted February 13, 2024 by henrymowry in Woodworking

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12 Tips To Buy Your Perfect Cutting Board   Leave a comment

There are 4 questions to answer before you buy a cutting board … but I have some tips that will help inform those decisions for you. No wrong answers here: your cutting board is yours, and you need to like it. What other people do is their business. Thank goodness.

So, here are those all important 4 questions:

  1. What size do you want the board to be?
  2. What color do you want the board to be?
  3. End grain or edge grain?
  4. Juice groove or no?

When you answer those, you will make sure you are getting the board or boards you want and need. But here are those tips that will help smooth your process.

  1. Where are you going to use the board? Is it mobile? Beside the sink? Beside the stove? On the island? Or … ? Wherever that special place is, get out your measure and see what the dimensions of the space are. If you have a galley kitchen with standard cabinets, you have 24” of depth to use. If you have appliances against the wall, then you only have 12” or depth or so to work with.
  2. How many are you cooking for? Cooking for a family of 4 is different from cooking for you and your spouse. If this is a general purpose board that will be used to prepare large meals, I would recommend at least 14” X 18”.
  3. Is this board single purpose? Some cooks like a dedicated board to only do onions and that stinking rose, garlic. Every cook is different. Maybe you want a set of 3 that are dedicated for meat, vegetables or bread. You get to choose. But, each of those purposes can dictate a different size and shape.
  4. Does the board live on the counter, or do you need to store it at times? Storage of a board can be difficult the larger the board is. A handled board, though, can hang on the wall and add to the warmth of your kitchen.
  5. Be Colorful! Most of the large retailers that sell cutting boards use overseas factories to make them, and they generally offer one or perhaps 2 woods or colors of boards. I have 40 woods in the shop, and all do find their way into cutting boards. So, you can match your décor. Contrast with your counter top. Indulge your eyes with your favorite colors.
  6. Bigger is not always better. Cooks that prepare large hunks of meat often want very large, thick boards – but those come at a cost. Heavy is difficult to move, big is difficult to clean, not to mention storage! There is no need for a board to be more than 1-1/2” thick. More than that is making a statement, for sure, but it is not improving the performance of the board.
  7. Smaller is not always better, either. The thinner the board, the less stable and more prone to warping or twisting it becomes. I do make my smallest boards, AKA Cheese Boards, about 8” x 10” x 5/8”, and those laminated assemblies are stable. People that use the ¼” thick bamboo boards sold in grocery stores … well, they will have issues using them, almost immediately.
  8. End grain boards are harder and show less wear, but they require more time and better tools to construct properly. Time is often needed to custom order a “perfect” end grain board. Plan ahead.
  9. Edge grain boards are perfectly fine when made from good hardwood. A quality cutting board will last for decades with minimal care. It all comes down to … do you like stripes? Or fancy patterns that look a little like a chess board?
  10. Mrs M is a hard NO for juice grooves, and she is a serious cook, smoker & BBQ boss. Many people want juice grooves (they get to choose!), but the grooves do shrink the usable space available on the board. Add 2” to the height and width if you are getting a juice groove.
  11. If you get a groove, make sure it is big enough to clean with your finger. And a brush or cloth! My standard is 3/4” wide x 3/8” deep.  Smaller and deeper will cause you problems. I do also make grooves 1-1/4” wide on my Carnivore Boards, which is needed if you want to corral the juices from your Thanksgiving turkey.
  12. Before you buy your board, pick one up. Move around with it. Cleaning it is a daily task, frequently multiple times in one meal when you practice good sterile technique. Make sure the board fits you as well as your kitchen.

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Shop at Mr M’s Woodshop

Carnivore Boards!

Edge Grain, 14″ x 18″

Custom, Large End Grain Boards

Cutting Boards?   Leave a comment

I love talking to people about cutting boards. Good thing, huh?

But, seriously, I love the subject. Part of the joy I find is that everyone has a different view of what their cutting board should be. I think there are 4 questions:

  1. What size of cutting board do you want?
  2. What color do you want your board to be?
  3. End grain, or edge grain?
  4. Juice groove, or no?

No answer is wrong. Everyone’s situation is different! My job is to (hopefully) have a nice selection for people to choose from … because the choices are truly infinite.

Here are the latest additions to the selections I have on hand.

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Cutting Board 101: Choosing A Cutting Board

Mr M’s Surprising Trivets   1 comment

The sign in my booth says “Mr M’s Trivets – Protecting Hot Stuff Since 2017.”

And people still ask me, “What’s a trivet?” It’s a funny word, so I can see how people that are non-native English speakers might be challenged, but it’s more than that. Many people just aren’t familiar with the term – in any language. I’ve watched the younger generation ask their elders what a trivet is in their native language and get blank stares.

So that’s the first surprise: many people do not know what a trivet is. So my task is to help educate people, one trivet at a time.

The second surprise is much more artistic.

My trivets are popular, and the most popular purchase … is two, mismatched trivets.

I make the trivets from “blanks,” as I call them. Each blank makes 2x trivets, so people can buy a matched pair. They just don’t want to!

Well, not usually, anyway. Mrs M did want a matched set, so she did not embrace her love of chaos in this particular case. Not predictable, that one. Believe me, after 45 years, I don’t even try to predict her.

But I do work to protect the wonderful hot stuff coming from her kitchen.

Here are the latest trivets for shoppers this holiday season.

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Buying Trivets from the Woodshop

Posted November 2, 2023 by henrymowry in Woodworking

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All Susans Are Lazy   Leave a comment

And with that statement, I define the most interesting thing about Lazy Susans.

No one knows WHY we call Lazy Susans … Lazy Susans. No one.

The first written instance that has been found was in a Vanity Fair magazine over a 100 years ago. My first Lazy Susans introduced this fact way back in 2014, when the Woodshop idea was but a dream. I did quickly learn that I could make Lazy Susans that people really liked … even as they had no idea why they called Susan Lazy.

See the link below back to that original post that explored the origins of a favorite serving piece. And, here you see the latest additions to my collection of the latest torments to all of the Susans in the world.

My Susans are about 17.5″ in diameter. The bearing that revolves is rated for 500 pounds … but I wouldn’t go there. As the weight increases, inertia will be a powerful problem to overcome. Because … physics.

Who knew that Susans being lazy could be so instructional?

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The Cleverest Waitress In The World

Buying A Lazy Susan From Mr M

Posted November 1, 2023 by henrymowry in Woodworking

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Cheese Needs Slicing   Leave a comment

This problem vexed us for a few years, it did.

Then I found the hardware needed to make cheese slicers. And, here we are.

Slicers are all approximately 7″ wide and 11″ long. The tightly stretched wire will cut hard cheese, soft cheese … all cheese. If you are an eater of cheese, you need to be a slicer of cheese.

There are now 22x of these slicers available, and pricing is between $50 and $90.

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Buying a Cheese Slicer from Mr M

Posted November 1, 2023 by henrymowry in Woodworking

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