Art in An Open House

Art Show and Exhibit

This is a close-up shot of a knot in the wood that brings out the character of the wood.

A Contemporary, Trendy Home for Sale in a Gated Community.
A One-of-A Kind Custom Built home with perfect Feng-Shui and the essence of space and function.
Bring a friend, and enjoy networking with wonderful people and viewing the works of local artisans.

Saturday, March 13th Noon – 5 pm
Food and Wine Provided
Art By:
Tire Swing Designs Lucas VanSickle
Bev Shots Lester Hutt

For More Information Contact:

Lucas VanSickle : lucasvansickle@gmail.com or 850-408-8056
Debbie Kirkland, Realtor : debbiekirkland@homesalesoftallahassee.com or 850-212-0440
Portion of Proceeds from Sales benefit LeMoyne Art Foundation

Directions: 6475 Tracy Lane, Tallahassee, FL 32312; Located off Velda Dairy Rd. in
The Ridge at Velda Dairy
(note that the map calls this Velda Dairy Cir.)

Click here for directions MAP

Starting Location: Florida State Capitol Building 400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32301
1.Head north on S Monroe St toward Apalachee Pkwy
2.Turn right at E Tennessee St
3.Continue onto Mahan Dr
4.Turn left at Capital Cir NE
5.Slight right at FL-61 N/Thomasville Rd/US-319 N
6.Turn right at Kerry Forest Pkwy
7.Turn left at Velda Dairy Rd
8.Turn left at The Ridge at Velda Dairy
9. Left at the end of the circle, 6475 Tracy Lane, Tallahassee, FL 32312…
look for great people and come on in!

A Few Quotes on Beauty

• Three quotes for the day dealing with beauty. And one of my favorite pieces to accompany them. Although titled Adagio in G minor by Albinoni, Remo Giazotto first published this in 1958….the name is quite misleading….nonetheless it is still beautiful.
• Adagio in G minor by Albinoni
• 1.Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked. ~…Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal……”
• 2.I don’t like standard beauty – there is no beauty without strangeness. ~Karl Lagerfeld
• 3. Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

In From The Wood Pile to The Kitchen, How a Cutting Board is Made (Part I), I left off with the cutting board having been cut, glued, shaped, and reinforced with dowels. Here we will focus on refining the cutting board to a finished, usable product.

1) Adding A Special Touch

On this cutting board, I added 1″ oak dowels in a diamond configuration for decoration. Using a Forstner Bit, I drilled the holes according to my marks, and glued the dowels in place over night. Forstner bits tend to yield a very clean hole, and are nice to use for spots where one needs a tight fit.

The cutting board has 1″ holes drilled, and is ready for dowel placement.

The dowels have been cut and glued into the appropriately marked holes.

2) Sanding and Shaping

I use a 5″ Disc Sander for the initial shaping and finishing of the board. I start with rough sanding discs and work my way to finer sanding discs. Once the general shape has been achieved, I will sand out the larger sanding marks with a 5″ Random Orbital Sander. The basic idea behind sanding is to make finer and finer scratches on the surface with an abrasive material. Once I have reached a point where the surface is smooth from the electric sanders, I sand the cutting board by hand.

The cutting board has been sanded with the disc sander, and is now ready for the random orbital sander.

Using a vice clamp to hold the cutting board in place makes sanding the cutting board easier.

This is a close up of the random orbital sander in action.

When sanding by hand, I like to start with medium grit, and move to a finer grit sandpaper, until the cutting board is extremely smooth. (the spots on the cutting board are from rain, for I work outside)

3) Finishing

Once the cutting board has been completely sanded, it is ready for a protective finish. I like to finish my cutting boards using Walnut Oil and Beeswax . Walnut oil is wonderful to use due to it’s low rancidity, and the ability to penetrate deep into the wood. I use two coats of walnut oil, and one final coat of a mixture of walnut oil and beeswax. Between the two coats of walnut oil, I sand the cutting board with very fine sandpaper, as the oil tends to raise the wood grain. The beeswax seals any remaining hairline cracks or gaps, and acts like an overall attractive smelling, protective coating.

Heating the walnut oil allows it soak into the wood more effectively.

The beeswax must be melted in with the walnut oil for the final finishing coat.

The cutting board is finished and ready for use.

This is a close-up shot of a knot that brings out the character of the wood.

The cutting board is now finished and ready to be used for the preparation of many delightful meals. But there are steps one can take to care for a cutting board and lengthen it’s life. Please read my post on cutting board care that should be up in a few days. Happy cutting!

Woodworking is a part of my life. There is no way of getting around that, and I don’t want to. Engineering is also a part of my life, so I figured I would do what any good engineer would do and solve a problem. For me, this problem was figuring out what to do with discarded and unwanted wood and materials. I decided the best thing to do would be to reclaim it and make it a usable product for somebody to cherish for the remainder of its life. Employing a strict set of guidelines when constructing and refurbishing each piece guarantees every piece constructed, a happy, useful life.
   Before the actual process of constructing a product, outlining and designing what the finished product will look and feel like, is essential. I will admit that there are many changes along the way, but the ultimate goal is to have the piece look like what my mind envisions, and more important what the client ’s mind envisions. Woodworking, Engineering, Designing…..