We were approached by a restaurant here in town to build some prototype buffet serving items to bring a local organic feel to their corporate events. We were excited to showcase our concept of “products with a story” and also use locally foraged materials.
There are several components to the order ranging from serving boards, to risers that lend a vertical element to their food presentation.
The wood we used comes from a variety of locations. Spalted Sycamore from KCMO, Walnut from North Kansas City, River Birch rescued from a burn pile in Johnson County and some Hackberry from our own farm. The hackberry was milled during my no-beard phase as you can see from the picture.
We mentioned that we used spalted sycamore in this project. Spalting is an effect caused by fungus in dead or dying wood. The net effect is an incredibly beautiful pattern of color in the wood. Here is a close-up of the piece we used after a few passes through the planer.
We started by removing one live edge from each piece of river birch and then surface planing the wood. We then took a few passes on the jointer to provide a flat edge to use during glue up.
With the glue drying on the larger items, it was time to start making the smaller serving boards. Since we started with rough lumber, the first step was to make the boards flat. Then once we had the rough dimensions set, we began to cut the rough shape of the finished board. Once that was completed, we removed the bark to leave a clean live-edge which gave the boards a natural feel. Lastly, we drilled holes in the handles and rounded over the edges with a router.
Next on the list of things to create were some platters and risers made from BauBuche. This is a fantastic product that we liberated from a defunct business here in town. It has a unique grain pattern that creates an interesting visual look. The risers have a waterfall edge where the grain appears to fall over the edge in a continuous pattern. Any irregularities in the surface were patched and then sanded smooth.
Raw lumber is full off all sorts of knots and cracks that occur as part of the normal growth and drying process. We filled each of these with resin to stabilize the board as well as provide additional character to the finished piece. We learned the hard way that seemingly small knots sometimes go completely through the wood and come out in surprising locations so we covered the underside with duct tape to prevent leakage.
We collaborated with the clients on the idea of adding an accent to the BauBuche platters in the restaurant’s colors. To do this, we cut a small channel in the boards with a dado blade on the table saw and then mixed a variety of dyes into the epoxy used to fill the grooves.
With the epoxy dried everything was rough sanded and then cut to final dimensions using a straight edge and a saw. The edge was then refined with a straight bit router to provide a blemish-free edge and then rounded over with a router.
The pieces were then finished with a food-safe product that would stand up to repeated commercial use.
Here are some examples of the finished products in action; supported by some rustic tables we created previously for this same client.
