New products - wooden utensils, charcuterie boards + care kits

[John Loftis]

Hey everyone, sorry it’s been so long. Lots going on here - we’ve bought a new shop, grown our team, and have been busy working on lots of new projects. Our butcher block business that is now almost 20 years old is going strong. I wanted to give a quick update on a couple new things.

We generate a LOT of offcuts in the shop, and decided to use those by making wooden utensils. We’ve got two sets- one 4-piece set and one 8-piece with a holder. We spent a lot of time prototyping and finalizing the details of these, and I think we’ve come up with profiles that are both beautiful and functional. The 4-piece set includes a maple scraper, cherry spreading knife, and 2 walnut spatulas. The 8-piece set includes a maple stirring spoon, 2 walnut serving spoons (one slotted and one non-slotted), a maple scraper, 2 mesquite spatulas, a mesquite spreading knife, and a maple, cherry, or walnut holder. The spatulas, spreading knife, and scraper are made entirely by hand. The spoons are roughed out using a CNC machine and then hand-shaped and finished sanded. This process seems to make the best, most consistent results. We also offer engraving of a single initial on the holder on request.

Second, we have started making charcuterie boards. Most of these boards are one-offs that we individually photograph and upload on to our website. Each charcuterie board is live-edge and we’ve used a variety of species for these including unsteamed walnut, rock maple, and cherry. These are great for serving and can also be used for light/occasional cutting.

Finally, we have new cutting board care kits. These include both board butter (a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax we’ve been selling for years) and mineral oil. This combination is the best way to care for butcher block, and this is a bundle customers have been asking me about for years. Glad to finally make it happen.

We’ve worked hard on developing these products, and I’m excited with how they’ve turned out. As always, I welcome your feedback.

 

[BillHanna]

Had you considered the holder alone, for sale?

 

[John Loftis]

Had you considered the holder alone, for sale?

We could definitely do that, either Monogrammed or not. Just shoot me an email at [email protected] and we can get you taken care of.

 

[Edge]

Those really look good John. Nice to see a new post from you.

 

[daveb]

Glad to see the new product and glad to see your growth. Well earned!

 

[Jovidah]

I like the hexagonal utensil holders... I can imagine those might do well on their own. You could also consider different sizes; some people have large collections of utensils.
For spatulas, personally I prefer something that has at least some sort of curve on one side of the spatula; makes it easier to stir in frying pans that invariably have a curve on the outside. Other than that I think they look nice.

 

[John Loftis]

I like the hexagonal utensil holders... I can imagine those might do well on their own. You could also consider different sizes; some people have large collections of utensils.
For spatulas, personally I prefer something that has at least some sort of curve on one side of the spatula; makes it easier to stir in frying pans that invariably have a curve on the outside. Other than that I think they look nice.

One of the things we didn't realize when we designed the hexagonal utensil holders is how beautifully they 'nest' into each other, particularly in a set of 3. So in our kitchen, we have a holder for wooden utensils, one for metal ones, and one for synthetic ones. It really dresses up the look in our kitchen.

We prototyped 4-5 different sizes of holder and this one seemed the most right for the most tools.

We've got hexagonal 'salt cellars' coming next month. Those also nest beautifully into the utensil holders.

 

[Jovidah]

Yeah the nesting makes it look nice and tidy. That's really the only downside of the round flower pots I've always used in the role.
Splitting utensils by material is also what turned out to be the most aesthethically pleasing for me - even though sorting by type was more practical.