Visit Our Etsy Shop to browse One-Of a Kind, ready to ship items!
Wooden Ware Care
Here's where you'll find everything you might want to know about Wood and How to Care for it.
|
Washing & Oiling your Wooden Wares
Take a look at our video to learn the proper way to wash, dry, and oil your Wooden wares! You really CAN keep them as lovely-looking and feeling as the day they were first finished.
All wood gains a distinctive patina over time. That's part the charm. We use spoons and cutting boards passed down from Meb’s grandmother daily. With proper care, your wooden wares should shine for many generations. Never put wooden wares in a dishwasher. Heat and water are enemies of wood. |
|
|
Keep Your Wooden Wares Polished
Hand-Rub and Oil Them -Once a day for a week -Once a week for a month -Once a month for a year -Once a year forever! |
How to Season Wood
My quick version: Under 5 minutes working time! 1. Use a soapy green scrubby (in the sponge section at the grocery) to clean. Rinse. 2. Towel off, then let air dry. 3. Use a dry scrubby to remove the leftover fuzz. Rub in the direction of the grain (along the lines) so you don't make scratches. 4. Then rub on your choice of oil, let it penetrate, wipe off well and let air dry overnight. Do this whenever wood gets fuzzy or dull-looking, wood gets that fuzzy-feeling after many uses and washes. If your Wooden Wares are kept wood is smooth and shiny, then you can dish out blueberry pie or borsht with no worries! |
|
Recommended Oils
In the workshop we use a pure boiled linseed oil. Unlike the stuff from the hardware store, this has no chemical dryers, it hardens on its on when left to dry. At home we sometimes use walnut oil (find this in the salad oil aisle) If you don’t have nut allergies, nut oils work best since, like the linseed oil- they harden. However if you or someone in your family has a nut allergy. use canola or grapeseed oil, as olive oil tends to darken the woods and can get a bit sticky. Sometimes you can remove stains in your Wooden Wares with a gritty liquid cleanser. Rub on the cleanser in the direction of the grain. Rinse well, then start over again with the seasoning process. If you want an impenetrable hand-rubbed finish with a deep-down luster, do the following: Put oil on the wood. Rub briskly with your hands till the wood heats up. That helps the oil penetrate into the grain. Keep rubbing continuously adding more oil as you go. Then prop it up to harden. |
Why don't we use mineral oil on our work?
Here's an excerpt from Prevention Magazine: "Q. What is mineral oil? Does it have any nutritional value? Is it safe to use? A. Mineral oil is a chemical byproduct of petroleum manufacturing. Sound unappetizing? Good. You should never ingest mineral oil - either as a laxative or by cooking with it. Granted, it's still on the market as an ingredient in some laxatives. But many doctors and nutritionists condemn its use. And well they should. It works by coating food particles and the intestinal walls so that food literally slides out of the system -- without much nutrition being absorbed. Also, mineral oil dissolves vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as some essential fatty acids. And, in spite of its name, it provides no minerals -- or any other nutrients." |
Germs and Bacteria- Wood is GOOD!
People often ask about germs and wood. Here's a quote from one of our favorite books:
"It was once believed that nylon or plastic cutting boards were preferable to the wooden variety. Since then, research has indicated that wood is probably better after all.
Researchers have discovered that when cutting boards are contaminated with organisms that can cause food poisoning, almost all the bacteria on the wooden boards die off within three minutes, while almost none die on the plastic ones.
For added security, you can wash your wooden cutting board periodically with hydrogen peroxide and water or a bleach-and-water solution. The ideal solution is to use one cutting board exclusively for vegetables and one for meat." - From Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Balch & Balch, Third Edition, 2000, page 384
NOTES:
1. Diluted vinegar works well, too.
2. Sea Salt rubbed into a board with half a lemon works well, and makes your hands smell great, too.
"It was once believed that nylon or plastic cutting boards were preferable to the wooden variety. Since then, research has indicated that wood is probably better after all.
Researchers have discovered that when cutting boards are contaminated with organisms that can cause food poisoning, almost all the bacteria on the wooden boards die off within three minutes, while almost none die on the plastic ones.
For added security, you can wash your wooden cutting board periodically with hydrogen peroxide and water or a bleach-and-water solution. The ideal solution is to use one cutting board exclusively for vegetables and one for meat." - From Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Balch & Balch, Third Edition, 2000, page 384
NOTES:
1. Diluted vinegar works well, too.
2. Sea Salt rubbed into a board with half a lemon works well, and makes your hands smell great, too.
Our Wood Selection Process
Our major wood supplier is in line with our thinking- they purchase only “quality timber from reputable foresters with clients enrolled in Vermont’s Land Use Program requiring sustainable harvest methods.
We use only the top grade New England hardwoods for our work. First, we love the subtle colors and grain patterns of our local woods. We’re pleased that our raw materials have a small carbon footprint. We enjoy our lumber yard forays, climbing three-story stacks of lumber, sorting through to find the finest-figured grains.
We use some woods from Tom’s brother’s place in the Adirondacks. We also use some local Connecticut woods that we’ve collected and had sawn up at a neighbor’s mill, then air-dried—an inch a year. That’s a lot of work, a profession unto itself. We’d rather MAKE things!
We use only the top grade New England hardwoods for our work. First, we love the subtle colors and grain patterns of our local woods. We’re pleased that our raw materials have a small carbon footprint. We enjoy our lumber yard forays, climbing three-story stacks of lumber, sorting through to find the finest-figured grains.
We use some woods from Tom’s brother’s place in the Adirondacks. We also use some local Connecticut woods that we’ve collected and had sawn up at a neighbor’s mill, then air-dried—an inch a year. That’s a lot of work, a profession unto itself. We’d rather MAKE things!
Wood Types, and Glossary of Terms
What is...? What does this wood word mean?
|
Wood Types
Maple- The hardest and slowest growing of the New England hardwoods that we use. Maple takes "figure" well, Curly or Birds-eye. Birch- Honey-colored with a wide, shimmery grain. Among the softer of our native hardwoods. Beech- Sometimes referred to as the mother of the forest, beech is a strong and heavy hardwood. Black Walnut- Dark and rich. reminiscent of chocolate White Oak - is classic and stately. We only use Oak for trivets or non-food items because of its open grain. Cherry- Like a fine red wine, Cherry gets richer and darker with age. |
|
Birds-eye (Maple or other woods) has long been prized by artisans and fine furniture makers, and lately can be seen in dashboards of Rolls Royce automobiles. We don’t know what causes this figure. Birdseye almost always grows from the pith to the cambium - that is, from the center to the outside of the tree.
Curl or Flame - This figure is caused by compression of the grain—either at the base of an old tree or under a heavy branch. Often we see the ripples of the Curl showing right through the bark. Maple grows so slowly that this figure has years to compress—hence the close Curls. Since Birch grows much more quickly, the Flames are further apart. After much sanding and finishing with oil, this rippling shows up as iridescent stripes—almost holographic.
Some say that trees consistently wind-bent towards the south will have Curl on the south side and not on the north. I wonder, too, if Flame Birch is accentuated by the dancing of Birches in the wind or if "some boy’s been swinging them". It’s fun to imagine anyway.
Figure (such as Curl, Flame, Ambrosia, Spalting or Birds-eye) is caused by years of distortion and disturbance of the grain. Natural occurrences like lightning strikes with subsequent water damage, fire, insects, fungi, heavy weights (maybe another tree fell on it) or banding by vines—all these make for unique figure in wood. Combinations of figures can be striking.
Grain is seen as thin stripes in lumber, the lines made by cutting across the growth rings. Different woods have different and distinct grain patterns. Raised grain is that fuzzy feeling that wood gets after water exposure.
Growth rings are added each year as the outermost layer in the sapwood, just under the bark. You can tell the age of a tree by counting the growth rings.
Heartwood is the older--usually darker and more highly figured--central core of the tree. Even in a growing tree, this wood is no longer alive. It’s protected from disease and insect damage by the sapwood.
Live edge shows the irregular outer edge of the tree, with or without the bark.
Sapwood is the outer ring of wood that surrounds a tree under the bark. In a living tree, the usually lighter-colored sapwood carries sap from the roots to the leaves in the spring and back to the roots in the fall.
Spalting is caused by water damage. It begins when a tree is struck by lightning or another tree, or loses a branch. Then rainwater gets in, freezing and thawing throughout the year. Finally, mold meanders along the grain, causing wonderful, irregular black streaks. It’s not healthy for the tree, though, and eventually rot sets in. Much of our locally harvested wood contains areas of spalting. Then the tree, usually a Sugar Maple, must be taken down, providing crazy possibilities for our work.
Spoonwood is a term sometimes used by Native Americans for Mountain Laurel.
Sustainable Harvest means that the tree taken down will be replaced by another tree, whether naturally grown or planted, usually of the same type. Sustainability implies maintaining balance in the forest. By using local wood, we recycle wood that might just have been thrown in a landfill or burned for firewood.
Wormy is just what it sounds like. We usually fill the holes. The worms are long-gone, though. They don’t like the high temps of the drying kilns.
Curl or Flame - This figure is caused by compression of the grain—either at the base of an old tree or under a heavy branch. Often we see the ripples of the Curl showing right through the bark. Maple grows so slowly that this figure has years to compress—hence the close Curls. Since Birch grows much more quickly, the Flames are further apart. After much sanding and finishing with oil, this rippling shows up as iridescent stripes—almost holographic.
Some say that trees consistently wind-bent towards the south will have Curl on the south side and not on the north. I wonder, too, if Flame Birch is accentuated by the dancing of Birches in the wind or if "some boy’s been swinging them". It’s fun to imagine anyway.
Figure (such as Curl, Flame, Ambrosia, Spalting or Birds-eye) is caused by years of distortion and disturbance of the grain. Natural occurrences like lightning strikes with subsequent water damage, fire, insects, fungi, heavy weights (maybe another tree fell on it) or banding by vines—all these make for unique figure in wood. Combinations of figures can be striking.
Grain is seen as thin stripes in lumber, the lines made by cutting across the growth rings. Different woods have different and distinct grain patterns. Raised grain is that fuzzy feeling that wood gets after water exposure.
Growth rings are added each year as the outermost layer in the sapwood, just under the bark. You can tell the age of a tree by counting the growth rings.
Heartwood is the older--usually darker and more highly figured--central core of the tree. Even in a growing tree, this wood is no longer alive. It’s protected from disease and insect damage by the sapwood.
Live edge shows the irregular outer edge of the tree, with or without the bark.
Sapwood is the outer ring of wood that surrounds a tree under the bark. In a living tree, the usually lighter-colored sapwood carries sap from the roots to the leaves in the spring and back to the roots in the fall.
Spalting is caused by water damage. It begins when a tree is struck by lightning or another tree, or loses a branch. Then rainwater gets in, freezing and thawing throughout the year. Finally, mold meanders along the grain, causing wonderful, irregular black streaks. It’s not healthy for the tree, though, and eventually rot sets in. Much of our locally harvested wood contains areas of spalting. Then the tree, usually a Sugar Maple, must be taken down, providing crazy possibilities for our work.
Spoonwood is a term sometimes used by Native Americans for Mountain Laurel.
Sustainable Harvest means that the tree taken down will be replaced by another tree, whether naturally grown or planted, usually of the same type. Sustainability implies maintaining balance in the forest. By using local wood, we recycle wood that might just have been thrown in a landfill or burned for firewood.
Wormy is just what it sounds like. We usually fill the holes. The worms are long-gone, though. They don’t like the high temps of the drying kilns.
|