It occurred to me one day when I was a kid that we were eating food on:
Plates, to keep the food off of the
Placemats, to keep the food off of the
Tableclotch, to keep the food off of the
Veneer Pad, to keep the food off of the
Finish, to keep the food off of the
Table, to keep the food off of the
Linoleum, to keep the food off of the
Floorboards, to keep the food off of the
Foundation, to keep the food off of the
Dirt.
At some point, you just gotta use something.
That mineral stain would look totally different if that board was saturated in oil. My board has tiny spots and streaks like that all over it. It's a piece of wood. I want it to look like wood, and I want to love it for the food I made on it.
Forgot to put the winky on the end ;-)
My father in law has a spray in bed liner in the box of his Nissan Titan so the metal doesn't get scratched, but he then has a carpet in there so the spray in Bed liner doesn't get scuffed, but then you have to be careful not to put anything in there that would get the carpet dirty...
I only borrowed the truck once. I'm still surprised he didn't make me pay a damage deposit or sign a waiver that I wouldn't drive through any puddles or fart in the seat or something.
If your returns look like that... I bet there is a line to buy your b-stocks.
Am I the only one who searched for The Edge from U2 and ended up here?
Totally. Resell the B stock with liability waiver.
Dave, have you considered planing down the returns/seconds/etc, making them fully half of what they were, then selling them as cheese boards, presentation boards, etc? There can't be any food contaminants that far down into the wood, it doesn't even get light and air down there.
It'd save you some dollars(maybe recoup some shipping and materials for the replacement?), and be a cool thing people could buy.
Ah well, this is a byproduct of producing functional 'works of art'. Even though the board will get cut into, oiled, etc. and change appearance as time goes by, you run the risk of buyers expecting something "perfect" upon arrival. I suspect if 5 boards were laid out before you for purchase, and you had a choice, most would likely pick the one that either had the least 'defects', or the one that had the coolest-looking 'defects'.
Based upon the buyer's initial reaction when the board was removed from the packaging, I believe the 'pride of ownership' that had been built up by reading so many glowing reviews of Dave's boards immediately went out the window, and the buyer felt he had been cheated somehow. It's too bad he jumped right on the forums to vent, but I doubt reading a bunch of postings from people saying 'don't worry, the board is fine' will not change his opinon that he was due a wood product that contains zero blemishes.
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David (WildBoar's Kitchen)
+1. I can see that you want to be careful and sometimes tossing things is just the easiest solution, but I don;t see anything wrong with thoroughly sanding a board and selling it again. As for the problem itself, I guess expectations just vary. I often look at wood pieces and wonder whether something is a flaw or a 'character feature'. That's why I usually try and show snapshots of the final product before I send it out. Not sure if you do that, David, but considering the high shipping cost, it might be a good idea? Of course, that's another added work step.
Stefan