Beech family

Picture day for the beech family members. One fellow sporting a hand chiseled bow-tie to secure a crack running up the handle. This beech wood is very beautiful but splattered with knots, splits and cracks. All adding to the rustic look of these boards!

The beech wood that we found was the perfect width for cheeseboards and had great natural edges which have been kept on both sides. Unique pieces!

It's next to impossible for me not to take pictures of the ducks. It might be that the edges of their beaks curve up into a grin. Or that they follow the kids around like obedient little children following their mother!

~ Happy Mother's Day ~

Hand chiseled bow tie joint

Bow tie joints (or butterfly joints) are a decorative way to repair or strengthen a piece of wood with a split. This is a very old, thick piece of cherry...incredibly beautiful with all its natural splitting and knots. To prevent it from splitting further, and to give it more stability, I added a bow tie inlay cut from walnut. 

Not going to pretend this was easy. 

I felt like I had climbed Mount Everest when I finally had it chiseled out and placed in. (A little obsessed to get it right since my first try at this on a board is now laying as ashes in the bottom of our wood stove.)