Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Lovely handmade wooden bowls

      We have just added a number of new bowls to our items that will be sold at the Murphys Irish Days event. We have around 20 bowls ready for sales and we are hoping to double the number of bowls in the next few weeks before the event. The bowls have a wide variety of shapes and sizes. We are even getting more of an artistic flavor which many of the lady friends seem to enjoy tremendously. One beauty of living in the mountains are the wide variety of woods accessible for turning. At this time we have turned oaks, buckeye, maples, alders, poplars and more. Not to mention the manzanita studies!

To see a variety of our bowls go to our bowls page.


    We also have a large number of candle holders. I believe there 18 in the last production. I am hoping to spend a few days making more. They take a fair amount of time but they are one of my best sellers. We have a number of other items but I will wait until the photos are finished and a new posting can be made. They are definitely super cool and worth checking back in later this week!







Friday, February 3, 2012

Wooden Cutting Board with Designs

           For Christmas my sister asked me for a larger cutting board. My sister is an amazing gal who has a big heart and a wonderful smile. She has two boys that are just entering primary school. Needless to say the last few years she has been a stay at home mom. During her spare time taking care of the little ones she makes wonderful homemade jams, sauces, desserts and other wonderfully homemade goodies! As a result of being her loving older brother, I get to benefit from these wonderful items. So I made sure she received a gift that would keep on giving.
          Her cutting board is made of Maple, joined together with biscuits and glue. The surface was smoothed to 220 grit. Then I used the router to carve out the design. The design serves two purposes, beautiful artwork, and a place for juices to run to. I used another router bit to edge the sides and allow ease of lifting. Another hit with the 220 sandpaper cleaned up any extra material. 
          For a finish I used food safe mineral oil. As most visitors know, I use all natural oils and avoid petroleum based products. After a couple of mineral oil coatings and letting them soak in, I used 400 grit sandpaper to clean the board for food products. I like the results and my little sis' loved it!