Monday, April 26, 2010

Chess Board


As was the end grain cutting board I just posted, this chess board was something that has been done for awhile but I just got around to posting it. It's made from Bubinga and Maple, and the edges are from scrap Cedar.

Another End Grain


Just finished another end grain cutting board. Actually it's been almost done for a long time but I finally decided to just put the last sanding on it. It is actually the twin to the last one I made since they were just one really thick piece I just cut in half.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Um......Best Package Ever!


I just got the best package ever in the mail today. Complete with dog bones, chocolate cake, cookies, spicy snack foods and much much more. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter


Just got back from having Easter dinner with friends and figured it was time to put up another cutting board picture. I have actually finished a few new things but have been lazy about posting and hope to get back to it soon. I have just finished a chess board and a few new cutting boards, but some of them have come and gone faster than I could even fully finish them. I have also just recently purchased my new planer and hope to start pumping out new stuff.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Two in Two Days!


Two cutting boards in two days, I'm CRAZZZZZZYYYYYYY! I have nothing better to do right now and besides the point, I've been working on this one on and off. This is another end grain cutting board. Tell people to take a look and buy something if it strikes them, (nudge, nudge). All proceeds will go towards a good cause....................... a new planer, mwuhahahahahahaha.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

New Cutting Board


Here is a new cutting board........ well not new exactly. This would technically be my first cutting board but I was forced to abort it because when I glued it the pieces got so far off course that I couldn't sand the imperfections out of it. Until last weekend I didn't have access to any tools that could do the job but I got to use a planer last Sunday and that did the job nicely. Oh yeah, I have to get one for myself. It's a little weird but it's almost fun to just run a board through a planer over and over again until it's paper thin.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

NFW

Not From Wisconsin will be playing on Saturday night at the Nines at 9:00PM. GO CHECK THEM OUT, you will not be disappointed.

St. Patty's Day!!!!


All of my good friends came over for St. Patty's Day for a big party/potluck. We made Irish soda bread, potato soup, greens, shepherds pie and bread pudding. As for the drinks we had Mcsorley's, Guinness, Blue Moon, Saranac and Irish Car Bombs! After we all had a fair share of the drink we decided to have a little fun in the form of arm wrestling, Indian leg wrestling, pull ups and this strange poking game which is much harder than it looks. All in all it was a great night.

New Cutting Board

A friend of mine wanted a cutting board as a gift so this is what we came up with.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Tired


It was a good weekend full of great hiking, beautiful scenery and good friends. The cabin we stayed in was amazing!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have any pictures but I do have a few videos that I might put up of the cabin. When we arrived on Friday we hiked one of the lower peaks called Hurricane which was 3694 feet. I borrowed snowshoes from a friend and ended up getting a nasty blister on both heels about 3/4ths of the way to the top which really sucked. It was all worth it in the end though. On Saturday we all decided to hike Algonquin which is the second highest of the High Peaks at 5114 feet. I had almost decided not to even go because I couldn't even walk on flat ground in my shoes very well but couldn't back out that easily. About half way up my friend Anna asked if I wanted to switch snowshoes with her to see if that would help any............Um, YUP!!! From that point on my heels never touched my shoes which was the only reason I could finish, thanks Anna! Near the top there is a branch off in the trail where you can head to Algonquin or Wright Peak which is 4580 feet. We decided that we didn't have the time to do Algonquin so headed up to Wright which was amazing. I don't know what the wind gusts were when we were there but earlier in the day they were upwards of 80mph. On the way down we ran most of the way which is fun and strange in snowshoes hahaha. The first two pictures are from Hurricane and the last two from Wright.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Bread for Pot Luck

The bread for the pot luck is done. Here you go.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

SO MUCH TO DO

Friday morning is the ADK trip and there is sooooooooooooooo much left to do between now and then. Going to spend most of tonight making my portion of the pot luck which consists of bagels, two loaves of white bread and a loaf of some kind of hard crusted bread.

I think it's time to cut my hair, there is this uncomfortable Jack Nicholson from the Shining thing going on

Monday, March 8, 2010

Oh Man

Well the whole maple syrup thing is going good but I don't know what to do with it all. Each day the four taps I used this year are pumping out three Ball jars. I now have 5 and am working on 7 or 8 as I type this. Every year I start off totally excited but it doesn't take long to get tired of the waiting involved with boiling it down. Whatever..... more for everybody else.

Syrup!

Well I managed 2 jars out of the sap I had, but it didn't finish till 2:00AM......Ugh. At least it tastes great and much more should be on the way. Maybe to a home near you.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Long Wait Ahead

My Maples finally decided to open up a bit and give me enough sap to begin boiling it down. It is currently 10:00PM and the sap is about half boiled down, it should be done around 12:00 or 1:00. Let's see, on top of that I made a new bread and a couple of new cooking utensils out of Curly Maple. I decided earlier to start carving another wood chain following the one my Malamute devoured a couple of weeks ago but had to abort this one as well. Just as I was about to finish carving the links free my knife slipped through a weak point in the wood and lets just say finger wrapping was necessary hahaha. So to this date that wooden chain has proven a worthy adversary but I will try again tomorrow maybe.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Day of Cooking

Today was a lazy day full of cooking and throwing snow balls at the dogs on the pond. Leslie and Mike came over for a day of baking and getting fat. Success on both fronts, at least on my part. I had started off the day thinking I would boil down some maple sap but the taps stayed frozen most of the day so I didn't get nearly enough to even bother with. Here is what most of our day consisted of. The two loaves on the left were made by Mike and had this really thick and hard crust but an airy center that went great with a little butter. The center loaves were a french bread filled with olives from the olive bar at Wegman's and the pizza was a white garlic pizza.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Three Metric Tons

So a friend of mine wanted three metric tons of bread which equals 6600 lbs of bread. So Anna how would you like that, what kinds of bread and how much of each? To be honest..... I'm not even sure I have made over 100 lbs of bread let alone 6600 lbs of it.

Maple Syrup Time

I just got finished tapping some of my Maple trees..................home made maple syrup!!!!!!!!!! I did this last year but tapped 12 trees, and at 5 to 8 gallons a day that was way too much. I scaled it back this year to 4 taps. I am glad to report that as soon as I pulled the drill bit out of the trunk I heard the steady drip, drip, drip and took a quick sample. Yup, it's sweet. I am hoping to have the first batch done by Sunday. Time to go out and see the friends and have 2 dollar Yuenglings and beer hot dogs.

New End Grain Cutting Board

Just finished this one, I like this one most I think. The design was not planned at all, I just put different wood together and this is how it came out.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

It's Alive, It's Alive!!!

So in my last post I mentioned that I was trying an experiment and I think it's going to work. I am hoping to have it finished tonight but I might be pushing the glue a bit. On a side note I have two dogs that are sleeping on either side of the house right now, one looks dead and the other has a crusty face and looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger does now. Yeah you know what I mean.... old and fit but with that wrinkly over skin.


Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Something Crrrazzzzzyyyyyy!

Yeah yeah I know the title is a little dumb but right now I don't care. I decided to start another end grain cutting board, this one will be much different though. I will call this an experiment due to the fact that I have no idea how it's going to turn out.

First One Got it Done...... Buh Dum Bum Ch!

Finally finished the first end grain cutting board and as usual along the way found the hangups that could be avoided in the next one to make it faster next time.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Good Time Had by All

Well the NFW show tonight at wildfire was great as usual, maybe even a little better this time. It's about time for a CD I think. Oh yeah and on a side note........................pssssst, it's still snowing and that sucks.

New Bread

Just finished making a new batch of bread that plays off of an old recipe that is great. This one is a hard crusted but soft centered bread with dill, onions, cottage cheese, a poblano, japaleno and habanero peppers. Mmmmmmm.

NFW

NOT FROM WISCONSIN. Can't wait to finally see them in Ithaca instead of having to leave town. Oh yeah.............come see them I mean it.

I Had a Car..........I Thought

Hmmmmm, I thought there was an automobile attached to the payment I make every month but I could be mistaken. Oh wait I found the mirror, whew it's just under the 22 inches of snow we got over the last two days. Well I can look at it like this I guess, I can't get it out so that means I can't drive it, and if I can't drive it it won't get covered in salt, and if it doesn't get covered in salt it will rust less and that's a good thing. Finally my Malamute Jack feels at home!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Four Hours and Change


Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Etsy Modifications

Just so everybody knows I am willing to make reasonable compromises with prices and shipping on anything I make or have for sale. The way shipping works on Etsy is a little cut and dry. I don't really know how much it will cost until someone tells me where it's going and by then it's usually too late to change the price. If anybody is local I won't charge shipping. If anybody is interested in well priced pottery you should check out NorahSmith on Etsy. I have purchased a couple of things from her and use them almost every day. She does good work.

Ambitious Day

I am home today because for the next two days I will probably be sitting behind the wheel of a truck pushing snow, so I guess I should try to get something done. I have a new bread recipe I might try and I think I might try to get to the next step in one of my end grain cutting boards. I would have a third project to work on today but I have a very bad dog here and he likes to work on the same things I do!! I will clear things up...........the other day I started making a wooden chain and had probably put four hours into making this particular one. I went to my basement to use the table saw and when I reached the living room there lay my innocent little Malamute sleeping so soundly.....surrounded by a pile of shredded wooden chain.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Pizza Time Success........and projects

Pizza was a success! A R and I finished two pizzas one of which was the best white garlic I have ever made to date. I have tried to make a white garlic pizza for a long time that I liked as much as one I could buy at a pizza joint but with really lame results, but now I think I might have fixed it............Yay! I worked a little on one of the end grain cutting boards today during work but I am running into problems with making it perfectly flat. I might have to break down and borrow a planer but I will give it one last time with the orbital sander. I have to go digest now.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Bread Bread the Magical Fruit

Well I'm sure all of who will read this know that I also enjoy to make breads. I would love to make and sell bread but I don't really know how you would go about selling a very perishable item. I will probably try a new recipe tomorrow or the next day....... ok maybe the next day, I have a couple of pizzas to make for tomorrow. Come on, who wants a metric ton of bread? I will give you a good deal I promise.

Good Food and Good People

I just posted an event sidebar for a band called Not From Wisconsin who are very good. I have a friend in the band and want to help them get their name out as best I can. Anyway..... you should go see them they are great and they are playing at Wildfire Lounge in Ithaca, NY on Saturday Feb. 27th at 10:00PM I think. They are great people and Wildfire has great food so stop in.

Current Projects

Right now I have a few works in progress and can't seem to focus on just one. I am making a couple of functional cooking sets one for someone and one for Etsy. I have another pair of earrings in the works as well as a gift for one of my favorite shops on Etsy, you should check out this shop if you have a thing for humor and zombies (zombietoes). I am also working of a style of cutting board that I have never made but am really excited for especially if it works out right, it's an end grain cutting board. I will post a random picture from google just to show what they look like but it won't be the one I'm making.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Requests or Purchases

If anybody is interested in anything I have for sale you can just go to Etsy and purchase it there. On the other hand if anybody wants anything made I am up to the challenge as long as it's within the realm of what I think I have the tools to do. I am much more interested in making specific things people want than I am just making things that come to mind.

New Cutting Board


I finished a new cutting board this morning and I think this one is the closest to perfect I have made so far. This board went together seamlessly. I just put it on etsy and am hoping it gets some viewers. If anybody wants anything that I have for sale just drop me a line or go to my Etsy page and purchase it there.

It's a Start!

I have decided to create this whole............"thing" because I wanted to be able to post my projects online for others to see without paying to post them. Currently everything I make I have for sale on www.etsy.com unless it is a special project for something specific. I have only been working with wood as a hobby since June of 2009 and it started with a spoon.


-I have a couple of really good friends that I give credit to for the whole start of this hobby. I had gone over to dinner at their house and noticed a hand carved spoon from some wood which escapes me currently that he had carved and thought it would be cool to have one. I had asked him to make me one but figured it wouldn't be too hard to do myself with a knife and any piece of wood. So one day I had invited this same couple over to boil down some maple sap into syrup and took a knife and a pine 1" * 4" board with me to carve while the sap boiled down. Long story short the spoon above was the end result and thus the beginning of my hobby.