Wax & Oil – Now Available

Bottles and cans of my wood oil and wood wax now at  By Brooklyn. Works great on any woodenware in your kitchen – cutting boards, butcher block counter tops, wooden spoons, salad bowls, etc.

It’s made from mineral oil, beeswax, anise oil, and orange oil. Works great and smells great (but not enough smell to flavor what you’re cutting on the board, of course).

The oil is great for regular maintenance (like a nice coating once a month), the wax is for adding a bit of shine and added protection, as well as helping to bring back to life a board that may have seen better days.

Coat the board, wait a while (at least 15min), and wipe off the excess and buff w/ paper towel or cloth. If you really want to get fancy, you can heat them up (a double boiler works well – the microwave won’t work), and that will help it soak into the wood.

Plan to have it in other stores soon. At least stop by By Brooklyn and give it a smell. The wax also works very well as a lip balm.

In the coming weeks you’ll be able to buy it from this site via a proper online store as well (finally!).

Wall mounting – practical, looks swell

All boards come with the necessary hardware to store them on the wall (rubber plugs that fit into recesses on the back of the board).

If your walls are somewhat-less-than-rock-solid like mine, you’ll have it up in no time at all.

(Over-stove board shown, & can also be mounted vertically. Cookbooks not included.)

New board for your stove, and more about Morse code

Just updated the page for my new stove-top cutting board – I absolutely love this thing. The high-temp silicone “feet” really do the trick, and took it on a trip to Lowe’s to covertly test it on a number of rental-apt-esque-stoves, and it worked quite well.

I also added a bit more here on the Morse code motif, and why I think it’s cool. I mean, really, who doesn’t like the idea of the Victorian Internet.

Modular Shelving System – in process

This is Gowanus Furniture Co., after all.

Not Gowanus Cutting Board Co.

This is the beginning of a new system of shelving – in process. They’ll be relatively simple shelves, in a variety of lengths (8″-24″), ranging from 8-10″ deep.

The shelf is the vertical portion to the left, the horizontal part will be against the wall. They’ll be strong enough to hold some books, or are great next to your bed.

This prototype is made from 4/4 walnut, so it’s about 7/8″ thick. The final version will be 5/4, so a little more than 1″ thick.

You can see the two pieces joined together with a walnut spline. Will be pretty strong, but will find out exactly how strong…

The shelf will be mounted to the wall in a similar way to the cutting boards are – two rubber bumpers – very easy to mount, dismount, it’ll be sturdy, and look cool too.

In this picture you can see a little lip on the bottom:

It’s that little bit to the left of the “Y” in Bessey. That lip will fit into a notch at the top of anther shelf, so that you can stack them up your wall without gaps between them.

Great shelves you can buy as needed, arrange, rearrange, and keep from apartment to apartment.

Monogrammed Long Grain Boards

Here’s a new one:

This part of a new line of single-letter monogrammed boards. The one above is a “G” – “dash-dash-dot” – in walnut. The rest of the board is hard maple, as usual. Can do any letter as well, obvs.

Each board made by me, and tagged as well:

They’re 13″ by 16″, wall mountable, and with slick side handholds. 1.25″ thick.

$90.

Full details here.

Available from me directly, or By Brooklyn.

Over Stove & Lime Boards

Two new products were unveiled at By Brooklyn on Aug 20 – (thanks to all who came out!) – take a look at these two new creations:

Over Stove Board

This board sits on your stove (or my stove, or any stove) – there are two high-temperature silicone cords on the bottom to let it rest sturdily on the burners. It’s especially convenient because, really, who has enough counter space?

Two sizes – 7″ wide for small stoves (like mine below so can leave some space between the board and the other burners), 9″ wide for larger stoves.

(Obviously, people – don’t turn on the stove below the cutting board. If the grates are still a bit hot, it’s ok, but the stove must be off.)

Lime Board

Sometimes (most times?) all I need is a board to cut a lime. It’s also great as a dedicated garlic board so keep the garlic from making its presence known elsewhere. $25 at  By Brooklyn.

It looks like it has little feet. How cute.

There's a hole in the corner to hang it on a rack, or can keep it in a drawer.

Board for Bilotta

Just dropped this off at the Bilotta showroom.

One of the biggest boards I’ve made yet at 19″ x 22″. Take a look at the lip on the front and the juice reservoir. It says “BK” for Bilotta Kitchens, arranged vertically.

The grain on this one is absolutely gorgeous, I think.

In process, pre-groove.

New items for sale

So I have the event at By Brooklyn next weekend (8/20, 2-5pm), and have been working a number of new pieces that I’ll have for sale.  There will be some great stuff to looks at, touch, and smell, as well as an opportunity to give a board a spin chopping a carrot,mincing an onion, etc.

I’m especially excited about a board that rests on two 3/4″ silicone cords – these two “ropes” of silicone embedded in the bottom of the board let you use it on your stove top (when the stove isn’t on, of course), and the board won’t, slip, teeter, or totter.

Don’t know about you, but my lack of counter space makes the stove a great option. (Pics soon.)

Do come by and say hello.

This end-grain board below makes a great gift. And it’s even already looks gift-like. Note the new style of slick handholds. Wall-mountable, too.

I do like the scraper, but after seeing how great the walnut looks, kind of wish I left it out. This basic design will be available as a “grab-and-go” item from By Brooklyn or me directly.

I’ll also have an assortment of lime/cheese boards. Personally, as much as I love cutting boards, I only usually need to cut a lime or a single piece of cheese or whatever (like most people…). These approx. 4″ x 6″ boards look/feel/smell great and do the job with aplomb.

And look at that glass!  Got a pair. For $5. That was a fantastic find at a small antiques fair upstate after a friend’s lovely wedding. Late ’40s early ’50s? So cool.

Hope to see you 8/20 – if you’re one of the first of those who show up who like Gowanus Furniture Co. on Facebook, I’ll have something for you…

Into the woods.

Time for a trip up to the Adirondacks.  For months, I’d been trying to make a proper Backpacking Cutting Board. I wanted an approx 5″ wide and 3/8″ thick piece of maple, about 18″ long (with a live edge on both sides) that I could use for my charcuterie and cheese boards. So much room and so easy to pack!

Well, not so easy to make. Each time I built a jig to saw the log, I learned I needed a more sophisticated jig. So much for that.

So much for that. I’ll try again soon, but, in the meantime, for this trip, I’ll just bring this small guy, which will ably serve when cutting any meats or cheeses. Not the best as far as ounce-miles, but better than using the package.Meats and cheese (and most likely some bourbon) on the menu. Follow me on Twitter to see pics of the board in action.

 

 

 

 

 

Some news and updates

Yeah, so July has come and gone. Such is the summer. With some travel and weddings and beach and all that stuff, was a bit quiet, but now have a number of posts and projects in the hopper. Watch. Out.

I’ll be at By Brooklyn on Saturday, August 20th from 2-5pm hawking my wares. Mark your calendars. Come on by and say hello, take a board for a spin and julienne a carrot, and check out some of my newest products.

The first 10 who come in and who like Gowanus Furniture on Facebook will get a free 6 oz. can of my new Cutting Board Ointment. Keeps any cutting board or kitchen woodenware healthy and happy – feels great, smells great, and can even be used as a lip balm.

Speaking of new stuff, here’s a sample of what I think is the most beautiful board yet to come out of Gowanus Furniture. The pic is super lousy (new camera next week, YAY!), but the walnut is absolutely extraordinary. And it has a built in stainless steel board scraper. See it / feel it / smell it in person on 8/20. More pics of prototypes on Facebook.