Small Things

09-11 Jan, 2020, Oakland, CA

I’ve been busy in the shop the last few days. I created another of those redwood platters – this one a bit more refined – with small feet and very subtle shaping to the underside. I continue to experiment with ways to highlight the variation in wood density in redwood so I may reveal interesting texture from the quarter/rift sawn faces. This piece took shape in far less time and with far less sanding than the previous pieces in similar style because I focused on being very careful and gentle with the shaping disk when hollowing out the top. Time well spent.

I also did some experimentation with food-safe finishes. In the end I settled on a beeswax/mineral oil blend in roughly a 1:5 ratio. You can see the final/finished piece at the bottom of this page in the gallery section.

After all that shaping and sanding, the shop (which is also the garage and laundry room among other things) was a dusty mess. I spent a few hours giving it a deep clean and got organized as I aim to close the Small Things chapter and get on to a new project…

My best customer (OK, only customer so far) wants to install some benches made from salvaged slab lumber or old doors on the sidewalk outside her shop, so I went down to check it out yesterday. With rough dimensions and her vision understood (I hope), I’m off tomorrow to price materials so I can prep a quote.

Preparing a quote and estimating labor should be a good exercise for me. I’m interested to see how well I can stick to my prescribed timeline and what all I’ll forget to count. Plus I need a cool template for quotes going forward. Not exactly making dust, but important work nonetheless.

63 slack-days left.