Friday, January 3, 2020

Gillette Razor bodies

I had some really nice figured pieces of wood I had been letting air dry in the shop over the past few years. I was anxious to put them on the lathe and make some more razors. Taking a break from making cutting boards and bowls was good for the soul. These small turnings – while still time-consuming – are a great way to get back to the basics and work on finesse techniques. Burls are so fascinating, in that it's like opening a treasure chest. Each one is unique and you never know what you'll discover in terms of grain, voids, bark inclusions, and color.

The below are a series of razor bodies for Gillette Fusion and Mach 3 replaceable blades. You can buy the replaceable razor heads at your local grocery or drug store and throw them out when dull.

These are fun, functional and beautiful pieces that last a life time. I have been using one I turned for 9 years now and I'm always struck by its beauty each time I pull it out of the medicine cabinet.

If you are interested in purchasing one, please shoot me an email or get in touch via Facebook.

$50 - Gillette Fusion head. Body turned from cherry burl.

SOLD - Gillette Mach 3 head. Body turned from maple burl mixed with deep purple acrylic resin.

$50 - Gillette Mach 3 head. Body turned from maple burl.

SOLD - Gillette Mach 3 head. Body turned from maple burl mixed with deep blue acrylic resin.

SOLD - Gillette Mach 3 head. Body turned from maple burl mixed with crimson red acrylic resin.

SOLD - Gillette Fusion head. Body turned from maple burl mixed with deep blue acrylic resin. 
$50 - Gillette Fusion head. Body turned from teal/green dyed maple burl.



$50 - Gillette Fusion head. Body turned from cherry burl.

$50 - Gillette Fusion head. Body turned from cherry burl.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

2019 Woodworks for sale

It was a busy year in the woodshop. Lots of sawdust created and new techniques learned. A new branding iron so that I can sign/stamp my cutting boards. A new finishing process that includes my soon-to-be-famous Buddie's Board Butter.

Woodworking is great that way. If you take your time, be open to trying new methods, go into the shop each day with a student-like attitude, and allow the projects to tell you when they're done or need just a bit more TLC... the process becomes more stress-free and cathartic. These things can't be rushed. The moment you rush or panic in a time crunch, it becomes evident in your final finished piece.

It's a ton of work (cumulative hours) and at the prices I sell them, I consider it a gift of my time to my friends, family and neighbors. I really hope they bring you a sense of warmth to your life. Just think, they all started out as a seed that happened to land in fertile soil. Always amazes me.

As always, feel free to browse through my list of items for sale below and contact me with the item number(s) you'd like to purchase. I don't keep an inventory, so once it's sold... it's gone. Each piece is unique and one of a kind. You can pay via cash, PayPal, or Venmo. If you require the item to be shipped somewhere, I'll figure out shipping prices and let you know how much extra it will be.

I will do my best to mark these items as "SOLD" on this site when they are no longer available.

This year, each cheese board comes with a free 3oz. tin of Buddie's Board Butter. I will also sell you a 3oz tin on its own – for those of you asking – while supplies last.

If you have any specific questions about these boards/bowls/duck calls, please ask. Also, if you are curious as to how to best care for wooden cutting boards, I'm happy to provide instructions and wisdom.


SOLD - Walnut, cherry and maple
SOLD - Walnut, sapele and maple

SOLD - Cherry, maple and walnut

SOLD - Maple, walnut and cherry

SOLD - Sapele, maple, walnut and cherry

SOLD - Walnut, sapele and maple

SOLD - Maple, sapele and walnut

SOLD - Walnut, maple and sapele
SOLD - Walnut, sapele, maple and cherry

SOLD - Maple, walnut and cherry
SOLD - Walnut, maple and cherry
SOLD - Sapele, maple and walnut

SOLD - Sapele, walnut and cherry
SOLD - Maple, walnut, cherry and sapele

SOLD - Walnut, maple, cherry and sapele

SOLD - Walnut, sapele, maple and cherry

SOLD - Walnut, cherry, bloodwood and sapele

SOLD - Walnut, sapele and padauk

SOLD - Walnut, sapele and padauk with maple pinstripes

SOLD - Padauk, walnut, maple and cherry

$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

SOLD - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.
$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

SOLD - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.
SOLD - Walnut and padauk with maple and walnut pinstripes, hard maple mouthpiece and brass band pinned with brass.

$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, padauk mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.


$50 - Figured walnut with maple pinstripes, African ebony mouthpiece and aluminum band pinned with brass.

A lineup of my duck calls on a live edge call shelf I made out of hickory. Ready to bring in the mallards. Quack!





















Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Wooden spoon for no reason but to learn

Who knows what inspires my brain when it comes to woodworking. Suffice to say that my mind is always spinning with new projects and ideas. I had never thought about carving a spoon until I decided to try it. And once my mind was made up, I couldn't let go of the thought until I tried it. It's an odd affliction, but ends with pretty cool results. This certainly will not be the last spoon I carve. Fairly inexpensive project as compared to some others. I did purchase a spoon carving kit from BeaverCraft, which should last me for years.

Great learning process, and allowed me to sit on the back porch and chat with the family while I worked.

Learning to carve with a spoon knife on seasoned/dry wood is a little tricky. Like all things, it takes practice.

After two evenings of carving on the back porch, the bowl of the spoon was in good shape. Next step was to cut the profile of the spoon face and handle. This was done on the bandsaw.

After consulting with my wife and daughter, they agreed that the final spoon should display all of the chunks and chips of the carving process. A smooth "manufactured" spoon wasn't going to cut it.

Final carving complete. Last step was to add a food-safe finish. How about some of that new Buddie's Board Butter?

A close up photo of the spoon bowl. Cherry is such an awesome wood. Darkens with age to a great patina.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Buddie's Board Butter

For years, people have asked me how to maintain cutting boards, bowls and other wood items they've purchased from me. Honestly there are as many right ways as there are wrong. In order to solve this conundrum, I decided to make and market my own Buddie's Board Butter. This blend of food-safe mineral oil and cosmetic-grade beeswax is a safe and simple solution to keeping those pieces in great condition for years to come.

After hand washing a cutting board or bowl with warm soapy water, pat dry with a paper towel or hand towel and lay it flat on a countertop. Give it time to dry. Be patient.

Once dry, apply a liberal amount of Buddie's Board Butter and rub it in. You can use a paper towel or simply use your hands. Remember, this is food-safe. No worries about harsh chemicals coming in contact with your skin. My suggestion is that you let this soak in over night or an hour or two to absorb into the wood grains. This process allows the dry wood to soak it all in and bask in the butter.

When you're ready, take a dry paper towel and buff it all off. You should immediately seen the shine and luster come back to the wood and it's ready for the next time you're entertaining guests.

Buddie's Board Butter - "Might wanna git you some butter on that board." Contains mineral oil, beeswax and love. But mostly love. Now available in 3oz. tins.

A test piece after applying Buddie's Board Butter to a walnut bowl. Buffs up nice and clean.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Revamped 1940's China Cabinet - Heirloom piece from my granny's kitchen

I inherited a special piece of furniture from my grandmother decades ago. It was a simple china cabinet that once graced her kitchen in small-town New Jersey in the late 1940's. At one point it was a focal point of her kitchen — housing all of her plates, saucers, bowls and coffee mugs. I always loved its simplicity and small size. It was a very blue-collar/utility piece and it held pieces of my own kitchen for many years.

While my wife and kids were away on vacation, I decided it was time to give it new life, while respecting its age and era. I wanted to refinish it, sure up its bones, and to add a rustic touch with some distressing.

Here is what 2 solid weeks of sweat equity can result in.

The original china cabinet after removing the top glass doors, the drawer and the bottom doors. In general, it was solid, but needed a new back, a new drawer runner, new hinges, new knobs/pulls.

The longest part of the project included painting on multiple coats of paint stripper. This took a tremendous amount of patience and was a messy process, but after each coat of paint removed, it revealed more and more of the original piece. The fumes of the stripper weren't as bad as I'd thought, but I still kept the garage door open for the 95 degree "fresh" air to keep me from passing out.

First coat of stripper doing its job. They key is patience here. Paint the stripper on and leave it to dissolve as much as it can, before scraping it off with a putty knife.

A photo of the front frame after the second coat of stripper. Still peeling off plenty of paint here. 


Finally seeing a little bit of wood under all those coats of paint.


During the stripping process, I started to notice that the piece had once been robin's egg blue. After asking my grandmother about its history she did remember it being a light blue at one point.

Some of the blue paint starting to come off during scraping.


Next it was on to the doors. Thankfully the glass on both doors was intact after all these years. It was a bit tricky scraping the paint from the glass trim detail. I just took my time, so as not to damage the molding or crack the glass.

One of the top glass doors getting stripped.


A few layers of paint to go. See that blue color of the original?


Next step was to strip the layers of paint off of the shelves. Both top and bottom of each shelf was stripped. This was also the point where I went and bought some beadboard to make a new back to replace the old one.

The shelves took a long time to strip given the stubborn paint they held on to. Also noticed what I think were details of a flowered vase painted or stuck to the bottom doors.


After most of the paint layers were stripped and sanded off, it was time to patch some old dents, dings and gouges.

With much of the paint removed, it was time to detail sand and patch.


On to the drawers and doors. They were in pretty rough shape and needed some patching and sanding love.

The two bottom drawers. The faces were made out of fiber board, which is really tricky to sand, so patching was a must. I also decided to fill in the old handle/pull holes so that I could reposition and install new pulls.


All of the original glue had broken off of the drawer joints and the drawer bottom was too far gone to repair, so I took some scrap fiber board and made a new drawer bottom as well as removed all of the old glue and reset, squared, glued and clamped the drawer back together.


Once it was cleaned off and sanded, I test fitted the new beadboard back.

New beadboard back fitting nicely.


With the new back secured, I moved on to test fitting all of the doors and drawer and laid out where I wanted the new hardware to go. Still in rough shape, but very close to being ready for primer.

Test fitting the new hardware. I was looking for practicality and symmetry.



You can see in the photo from where the patches are that the cabinet once had small knobs (most likely made of wood) and later someone (probably granddad) added handle pulls.


After the geneal assembly, it was still lacking something in stature. The top, I felt, needed something to give it a presence. I decided that I would make an oversized top out of oak and crown molding. I hadn't worked with crown molding before and wanted to learn something new. It was just the touch it needed.

New crown molding and solid oak top. Ready for final sanding and primer.


After all the messy parts of the project were out of the way (approximately 10 days worth of work) I brought the pieces inside to paint. I started with the interior (back and shelves), which I decided were going to be painted with General Finishes Milk Paint (Antique White).



A few coats of the interior parts later, I was ready to start on the outside. Now, my ultimate goal was to give this piece an antique/distressed look. I started with a base coat of flat black so that after sanding the final coats of paint, it would reveal and offer a nice repainted rustic look.

Exterior panels, frames and top painted with two coats of flat black.


On to the most exciting part... the final color.

Flat black color covered over with General Finishes Milk Paint (Persian Blue). I put on two coats so that I had a bit more control over the distressing process.


Now on to the scary and rewarding part of the process. Taking off bits and pieces of all of the hard work I had just accomplished over the previous few days.

After all drying was complete, I used a combination of steel wool and sand paper of different grits to scuff some edges to create the look of wear and tear.


This was my first time distressing a piece of furniture on purpose. I learned that less is more. If I did it again, I may have done a bit less, but it still turned out great,

Almost done. Almost to the finish line.



A closer view of some of the distressing. See how that black comes through and creates a contrast with the blue?


And the very final-final step was to apply a paste wax to all of the surfaces to give it a slight sheen and to protect the piece from moisture and finger prints.

Finished within an hour of the family coming home from a two week vacation.


Overall, I'm really happy with how this project turned out. I learned a lot throughout the process and also realized how long even a "simple" project can take. Two full weeks. Might have been easier and quicker to build a new one, but this heirloom piece is special to my family and I and will no doubt be a conversation piece for generations to come.