Standard Products

We guarantee that what you purchase is what you get.  We take extra precautions to ship our pieces in a manner that gives them the best chance of surviving the shipment.  We make every effort to show representative pictures of products on the web site.  When one picture represents multiple items there may be slight color and size variations between pieces because after all these are made from natural products, woods, that vary from piece to piece.

None of our pieces are intended for direct contact with raw food unless specifically noted.  Wrapped candy, nuts in the shell, and similar items should be fine.

None of our pieces are intended for substantial contact with or immersion in water.  They are specifically NOT DISHWASHER SAFE.

We cannot guarantee the color on most pieces over time.  This is because most woods lighten or darken over time with exposure to light and general environmental conditions.  Some brightly colored woods actually turn different colors (e.g. purpleheart can turn from a bright purple to a rich brown, cocobolo's bright orange markings usually mute over time to some sort of brown, cherry often starts out as a salmon pink color then gradually turns to a rich reddish brown with time).

Our products are not intended for outdoor exposure to the elements unless specifically stated for that product or piece.

Spalting is caused by certain white-rot decay fungi growing in wood - primarily hardwoods such as maple, birch, beech, and dogwood.  The fungi create colorful, sometimes fascinating patterns in the wood usually evidenced by contrasting dark lines.  The unusual color lines can range from black to pink to gray and even a variety of colors in the same piece of wood.

If the decay progresses too far the wood gets very weak and spongy and generally useless.  However, woodworks crafted from spalted wood generally take on a distinctive flair of their own.  This is why spalted wood pieces can be highly prized, higher priced and often sought-after by woodworks collectors.

As the wood dries the fungi go dormant and are considered to be encapsulated by many modern finishes.  This makes them safe to handle, but such pieces are not recommended for contact with food as a general rule.  This is why you shouldn't see spalted salad bowls.

Complementary and contrasting color accents can be made in many ways.  We currently have these favorites:

• Wood shavings - We save wood shavings and dust from general woodworking and use that in various applications to fill cracks and voids.  The shavings and sawdust may be mixed with white, yellow, or cyanoacrylate glue or a two-part epoxy as appropriate and applied to a void, crack, knot hole or imperfection.  Colors added this way are more natural and subtle.  These techniques are often used when we want to correct slight imperfections in a piece.
  
• Artificial colorants - Over time we may use a number of different artificial colorant processes.  Currently, we are using mostly Pearl-ex pigments mixed with a two-part epoxy.  This combination can be worked quickly and often provides stunning and spectacular points of interest in a piece.  The objective is always to make a piece look interesting and attractive by adding these colors. 

We may use a variety of finishes on different products over time.  Our favorite finish is General Finishes' Arm-R-Seal Oil and Urethane Top Coat and Seal-A-Cell Sanding Sealer.  These are wipe-on finishes.  They bring out much of the color and features of the natural wood and also protect the piece with the hard urethane finish.  Depending on the product we may use a gloss, semi-gloss or satin finish as best fits the application.

These finishes typically are fulling cured in a matter of days.  In most cases they are fully cured before we send them out.  Once fully cured these finishes are generally considered to be non-toxic.  Despite that indication we do not recommend, endorse or warrant our products as food safe for direct contact with raw food. 

Care and cleaning of our products is typically done through regular dusting and/or occasional cleaning with a damp cloth.  Always dry the piect immediately after wiping with a damp cloth to make sure no moisture remains on the finish.