We love good food around our house, and as excited as we get about a new shop tool.... creating or finding the perfect, quality kitchen tool is something we appreciate. In our day of hectic lifestyles ( and we get it, time is a precious commodity) it seems the inclination is to too often resort to convenience or processed foods or eating out. However, nutrition and variety are often the first resulting sacrifices in our food prep and consumption. There's something deeply satisfying about the feel of a well implemented saute spoon or spatula in your hand.........or dusting flour on an oversized pastry board in preparation for rolling out dough.......or the weight of a finely crafted, wood Peppermill in your hand as...
For the last week or so the Carpenter has been busy “spring cleaning” and reorganizing his shop. Seems anytime we’re really busy ,even our best efforts fall short in keeping things neat and organized…….lots of sawing, planing, sanding, turning, and gluing has taken place and the evidence was all over the place:) Micah had little interest in helping.... he preferred to lay in the accumulated sawdust outside the shop. The good news is that the “mess” was a result of a number of new products added to our line………. So we thought we’d share them with you here. We added Penblocks at the recommendation of a friend who is a pen lover. She clued us in on how true...
During my recent Bible study, in the midst of the Old Testament book of Judges, I was reminded of a central aspect of how God created us all. Whether believers or not, all of us were made to worship. While most relate worship to a religious practice, the reality goes far beyond that. As a matter of fact one of the definitions Webster offers is this: extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem. In my past, my worship was given to any number of self-serving pursuits that ultimately left me unfulfilled. Here’s an example: several years ago I was fortunate enough to share in season tickets for my favorite hockey team. Looking back, this was just one...
It’s pretty clear that we woodworkers love our wood and for me in particular I get the most satisfaction out of making end grain cutting boards. They are beautiful, functional, durable, forgiving to your knife edges and, perhaps more importantly, they are far more bacteria resistant than the more common (and less expensive) plastic cutting boards. Of course there are other surfaces that you can use to cut on, however materials like glass or stainless steel are completely unforgiving to your knife edges. If you value your knives, you will choose wood; if you value your health, you will certainly choose wood! **We’ve attached some research articles to back up our claims so don’t just go off my opinion, however...
I’m not the greatest at keeping my shop immaculate as my workday progresses but I do take the time to clean up at the end of the day so I get a fresh start the next day. One area that I’m pretty faithful in, however, is in keeping my tool blades clean. Even without having the blades sharpened (professionally or DIY) you can improve the quality of your cuts by keeping your sharp edges free of residue buildup. If you read my previous blogs you know I don’t have the biggest shop so a lot of my equipment is either smaller or of the “benchtop” variety. That said, I still produce fine quality products using a variety of hardwoods by investing a little...
