Honey Sticks

Above: walnut wood honey sticks

 

I have started making my Honey Sticks again in Walnut and Cherry wood. New design plus engraving. The holes are honey cone shaped and adding engraving makes them unique and special. I can also do custom engraving for you if you like!

These Honey Sticks work great for dipping honey!

Purchasing my work is Simple, click the SHOP NOW button below!

 

Above: Cherry wood honey sticks

 

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Check out my Honey Sticks, click this link;  Honey Sticks

 

Below: Walnut catchall trays

 

 

After months of hard work and dedication, my NEW website is live!! I would love it if you would go take a look, here is the link:  MichaelsWoodcrafts

www.MichaelsWoodcrafts.com

Purchasing my work is Simple, click the above image or the SHOP NOW button below to be directed to my website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One of a Kind Handcrafted Wood Wine Stoppers

For more information, view more images or to order, click SHOP NOW

Handcrafted Wine Bottle Stoppers!

Above: Stabilized Box Elder Burl natural

Above: Dyed gold and green Box Elder  Burl wine bottle stoppers

Happy Valentines everyone!

Since New Year’s I have not spent much time in the shop which has given me some time to think about my work and how precious and valuable our time is.

Over the years I have made a lot of wine bottle stoppers on my wood lathe. The problem has always been once on the wind bottle, they were to tall to get into the fridge without lowering the fridge shelf. I’ve solved this problem by designed a recessed wine bottle stopper. I’ve made the cork disappear inside the wood turning. They have turned out beautiful! Check them out…

Above; all of these were handcrafted with the combination of Black Ash Eye Burl, Padauk and Black Veneer.

Above: Wine Bottle Stopper handcrafted with Maple Burl stabilized and dyed green along with African Blackwood. Photo above by Bob Bernotsky

I want to share a few pictures of the wine bottle stoppers I have turned. Each one is unique but the design is similar.

Close up picture showing the burl wood grain and the recessed cork.

The above two I made using Maple Burl and blue dyed Busheye Burl. I wanted to see how the blue dyed Buckeye Burl would look when finished.

Above, African Blackwood, Holly and Hybrid Maple Burl and Blue Acrylic

The above picture is an African Blackwood, Padauk and Holly wine bottle stopper in progress of being turned on my lathe.

Above, African Blackwood, Padauk and Holly

above, left to right:
Maple Burl, African Blackwood and Holly
Dyed Blue Maple Burl, African Blackwood and Holly
Dyed Teal Maple Burl, African Blackwood and Holly
Black Ash Eye Burl, African Blackwood and Holly
Padauk, African Blackwood and Holly

Below, a few pictures showing my Wine Bottle Stoppers being finished on the lathe.

above, handcrafted wine bottle stopper in progress on the lathe. Stabilized Box Elder Burl dyed teal.

Above, left stabilized natural Spalted Hackberry, right stabilized natural Box Elder Burl

More unique wine bottle stoppers coming soon!

After months of hard work and dedication, my NEW website is live!! I would love it if you would go take a look, here is the link:  MichaelsWoodcrafts

www.MichaelsWoodcrafts.com

Purchasing my work is Simple, click the SHOP NOW button!

Be sure to check out my cutting boards!

Black Walnut Rounds

This afternoon a good friend and I cut 2 foot off of a Black Walnut log that is 17 inches in diameter and cut 10 Walnut rounds. Each round was cut 2-1/4 inch thick.

I will store these in my shop, stacked with wooden spacers between each piece so that air is able to pass between them. I will rotate them serveral times a month until they are dry. Drying could take a long a 6 to 10 months.

The color looks great on these and as they dry they will darken.

They will make great cutting boards, serving boards, cheese boards or plate chargers! These will be available on my One of a Kind page once they are dry.  Below is a picture that shows how these can be used to serve your favorite food!

I hope you enjoy your weekend!

For more information, view more images, pricing or to order, click SHOP NOW

The above photo was taken by Bob Bernotsky at That_Paleo_Guy

 

 

Capers Blades and Blue Tips

Above picture – Capers Blades

I spent the last few days this week at Isle of Palm with my friends, together there were  six of us. We had a big house with a pool that was one block off the beach. This house was huge and had 6 master suites.

Above picture – Blue Tips

We all enjoy eating oysters, so we ate oysters each night at different restaurants, Pearlz, Boathouse, etc. The above picture is Capers Blade oysters, these are elongated and are delicious.

I love all oysters but my favorite are Blue Tips, all with a little lemon, sauce and horseradish!

Do you like oysters? What is your favorite?

Photo credit Rina Jordan, check out her website, Rina Jordan Photography

Walnut Coasters

Back in December I post Walnut and Pentacryl, the two Walnut rounds I had cut that day from a wet Walnut log and then soaked them in a Pentacryl bath. Pentacryl is a non-toxic liquid compound of modified polymers designed to prevent racking and splitting of green wood for the drying process.  Basically a preservation solution.

The idea in using Pentacryl was to stop the cracking and splitting. After soaking for 72 hours, they have been drying naturally in my shop with cardboard on both sides. Every week or so I would check the moisture content.

Just last week, the moisture content reached 9% which is what I needed before I could start preparing them for finishing. After I ran them them the drum sander to get both sides flat, I started sanding each side with 60 grit paper, then 100 grit, 120, 150, 200, 240, 280, 320, 400 and finished up with 600 grit.

After sanding I placed them into a food grade mineral oil bath. After 30 minutes I removed them from the oil bath for drying. Here is a picture of what they look like now!

The mineral oil makes them shiny but will soon soak into the wood and be a nice finish. The bark is holding on but over time could fall off or not, I am hoping it will stay.

They are looking good!

On February 13th, I posted Rustic Black Walnut Wood Slices, today I checked the moisture content on all of these and they are now at 11 to 14%. Still waiting on them to get to 9% moisture content so I can work these too!

 

The photo below of my boards Food Photographer Tricia Buice! Check out her website, Saving Room for Dessert.

 

 

Maple Burl

I was searching around today on Craig’s List and found a super deal on a couple of Maple Burl blocks. I got both pieces for $10, on Ebay and other wood stores these pieces would go for $45 plus. Maple burl is hard to get and nearly impossible in my area. I used a little mineral spirits on one side of each piece to show the colors!

Both pieces are 1-5/8 x 2-1/2, one is 17 inches long and the other is 11-1/2 inches long. I am planning to use these to turn a batch of my wine bottle stoppers!! Give me a few weeks and I will post pictures! Happy Days 🙂

 

 

Walnut and Pentacryl

I cut a few Walnut rounds on Saturday using my chain saw from a wet log that was given to me.  I used Pentacryl, which is a non-toxic liquid compound of modified polymers designed to prevent cracking and splitting of green wood for the drying process.  Basically a preservation solution. The idea is to stop the cracking and splitting, if I get lucky there won’t be any cracks! The Pentacryl is absorbed by the wood replacing the moisture in the wood.

Using a plastic bucket, I poured the Pentacryl over the walnut rounds with a small thin piece of 1/8 wood, 1″ x 1/2″ between each piece to keep them separated. About every 12 hours I rotated the Walnut rounds, letting them soak for a total of 72 hours.

The picture above I took after removing the Walnut from the Pentacryl, you can tell they are wet, the colors seem to bleed together. All that will change when they are completed try!

I removed them from the Pentacryl, stand them on their ends and let them drain for about an hour. Next I cut cardboard rounds the size of the Walnut for both ends and covered them. The cardboard will help slow down the drying process.

I will rotated these daily for the next 3-4 weeks. Once I think they are close to dry I will check the moisture content, can’t start the final finish until they are dry. I will follow up with another post when they are dry and show you the final finishing process!

Over the last year I have made a lot of new friends blogging and have so much enjoyed all the comments, conversations, emails and getting to know you! 🙂 Enjoy your Christmas with family and friends!

 

Charcuterie platter

Artisan cutting boards

 

 

 

Curly Figured Walnut

I was able to land some Curly Figured Walnut turning blocks the end of last week. These are hard to find in my area so I bought all this guy had.

On Friday, I prepared a couple of blocks for turning, cutting to size and adding the Blackwood. Today I turned the handle and mounted the stainless steel scoop. What do you think?

The ice cream scoops are heavy duty, the scoop is made of polished stainless steel. These stainless steel ice cream scoops make great gifts for any ice cream lover!

If you are not sure about a handcrafted Walnut ice cream scoop, check out my other designs!

Heavy Duty Ice Cream Scoop

12 inch board with unique handle!

First Snow!

Well, we did get our first snow, not much but it is cold! The snow started around midnight, so I guess it snowed on and off during the night. Temperature this morning on the mountain at 7:00 AM was 28 degrees and the wind is blowing about 25 mph. Thursday late afternoon I had spotted icicles along the trail so I decided this morning to hike down up there.

Here are the icicles, it’s hard to tell in the picture but they are about 2-3 feet long.

It’s 8:50 AM now and the road is starting to melt so looks like we can get out today if we need too!

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Check out my handcrafted cutting boards 

Sea of Ferns

After the rain stopped around lunchtime today I decided to hike along the north side of the mountain where the ferns cover the landscape. July on the mountain brings a sea of ferns in this areas where the ground stays moist. The forest floor has changed so much in the last 4 months but I especially love the sea of ferns that take over this time of year.

We only reached 63 degrees F yesterday but today we will be closer to 80 degree F. Not much sun to speak of yesterday, it rained all day and night and before it finished this morning we had slightly over 1 inch of rain.

 “We love the things we love for what they are.”   — Robert Frost

 

If you are interested in trading a few garden plants, check out my recent post, Plant Exchange.