Football and Cutting Boards

Today is a short day.  Everything stops at my house for University of Tennessee football, especially when they are playing Georgia.  The game started at noon, so I only had a few hours this morning to work in the shop.  I used the time to start oiling finished boards.  I have so many that I had to set up my 6 foot booth tables to have enough space to spread them out.  I was only able to get about half of them on the tables, but I’ll rotate the next set in after the ball game.

I also got the walnut end grain boards back out of the clamps this morning and flattened them with the drum sander.

These are the two sets of walnut strips that are glued up and waiting to be sanded to remove the excess glue.  Once I cross cut them into  1 1/2 inch strips, I will glue them again to get three large end grain boards out of these.

This is what came out of the previous picture.  I got three 12 x 16 x 1 1/2″ boards out of the first glued up pair.   These are ready for a second trip through the sander at 180 grit.  I’ll then round over the edges, cut handles, and finish sand them to 220 grit before applying the oil.

Overall, I am pleased with the progress in increasing my inventory for the next couple of shows.  45 – 19 Tennessee!!!!  Ok, time to get back to work…..

Eight Days and Counting

I have eight days left before I head to Tennessee for my next show and the pressure is starting to build.  My face grain large board inventory is back to acceptable levels, but I still have at least one more day before they are ready for the oil finish.  I spent all day today running boards through the drum sander, thinking I would be done by noon, but it actually took me until about 3PM.  I run them though using 80 grit paper to remove excess glue and flatten them, then again at 180 grit to smooth the sanding marks.  Tomorrow I will round the edges on the router table and do a final sanding at 220 grit with my random orbit sander.   After these are bagged and tagged, I still have bread boards and large walnut endgrain boards to complete.   My plan is to get these started before the weekend.

This is a partial pile of boards in the process of sanding.  The stack on the left have been sanded and flattened.  The ones on the right are patiently waiting for their trip through the drum sander to remove the glue.  It generally takes three to four passes per side.

These are something new that I made up during a diversion moment.   Small cutting or cheese boards are very useful and popular with my customers.  I am trying out some with a handle at the Tennessee show to see how they do.   I found that cutting out and sanding the handles on these is very time consuming, so I am still soul searching the selling price.  These have some real pretty wood combinations and will look great once the oil is applied.

Cranking it up a notch

It’s only a few weeks until the Foothills Fall Festival and I’m in semi-panic mode.  The new cutting board designs completely sold out at the Sandy Springs Festival, so I need to create another batch.  The challenge I am facing is I have the Avondale Autumn Fest the weekend after the Tennessee show leaving me with about three days between shows.  This doesn’t leave me with enough time to replenish inventory before Avondale,  which means I need to have enough products for both shows by the time I leave for Tennessee.

Every show is different and it varies wildly which products sell the best from show to show.  I think the price points on the new face grain ones, at $30, is the driving factor, not to mention that they are pretty.  I sold out of them at the last two shows, so I figure that I need about 40 of various wood combinations.  I also need more long bread boards because the quantity is getting low.  For some reason the solid walnut end grain boards have moved rather quickly at the last two shows.  This is my most expensive board, and also very popular with the guys.  Here again, I sold my last one at Sandy Springs.

I spent today working off my cut list, cutting strips for the face grain boards until I ran out of wood.   This only gave me enough strips for 10 boards.  Since I am also out of 1 ½” walnut needed for more end grain boards, I need to make a trip to Peach State Lumber tomorrow to load up.  I’ve never tried to create this much inventory in such a short period of time, so I am rearranging the shop slightly to accommodate the increase in inventory.  I need more clear space to sit all these clamped boards while the glue dries.  I guess you could say that this is a good problem to have, but it’s still a little intense.

Back in the shop

I’m finally back in the shop and focused on cutting boards for a while.  I have about a month and a half before my next big show, so I have a little time to work on new designs and products that have been floating around in my head.  All of my light woods are hard maple, but the grain, or lack thereof, doesn’t have a lot of character.  Figured maple can be very dramatic, but it can be a little pricy and not always available.  Because of this, I am experimenting with ash.  Ash is almost as hard as maple and has a very pronounced grain pattern.

I have a large inventory of end grain boards, but I’m getting low on the less expensive face grain ones.  Face grain boards are simpler to make, thus requiring less labor.  The lower price points contribute to more sales and a faster turnover of inventory.  I’ve always had a few at each show, but I was never satisfied that I had a big enough selection and styles.  This will be changing this week.  I also have some new dipping board designs drying in the clamps right now using ash.

Latest Happenings

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last entry because I just didn’t have anything to say.  I’ve been lazy since getting back from Tennessee and haven’t had anything going in the shop, by my choice.  I may have experienced a little burn out because every time I went out to the shop, I couldn’t make myself do anything constructive.  I have a show at Virginia-Highland tomorrow and I have a lot of product, so I really didn’t need to do anything except pack the truck.

I received an order for a very large custom cherry board this week.  I made a little progress on it today, but realized I didn’t have enough 6/4 cherry, so I have to make a trip to the lumber yard Monday.  This thing will be 25” x 32”.  It’s going to be pretty heavy, but should handle any job thrown at it.

I got a chance to play around with some new cutting board designs this week also.  A few of them look promising, and hopefully I will get some feedback on them tomorrow.  One of the designs has been done by many, but I have never done this zig-zag design before.  It involves cross cutting a glued up board at 50 degrees to the saw blade.  Then, like the end grain boards, flip every other one and glue the whole thing back together.

This is a small 6” x 10” board made from cherry, walnut, and maple.  I can already see the possibilities by playing with different wood combinations and angles.

Zig Zag