[caption id="attachment_627" align="alignleft" width="243" caption="Samuel F. B. Morse - © Ken Knowlton, 1999"][/caption]

The inaugural batch of cutting boards is in production. It includes standard 16" x 20" x 2" monogrammed counter top boards (both one-sided and two sided with an au jus groove), as well one designed to fit over a sink (with a hole and a container to toss your onion skins!)  and a thicker 3"+ board to be installed in a recess in a work surface. ( Shoot me an email if you'd like your own.)

All feature the Morse code design, and will be made of walnut and maple.

So, seriously, what's with the Morse code?

I designed this for myself because I wanted to make my dinner on something worth making my dinner on. Something substantial and worth looking at. Something hand-made. And something personalized but not obviously so. I like to buy things that will last and buy them once.

I’m fascinated by the blending of art and science, and importance of innovation. Years ago in undergrad I originally majored in biology, but then also art history. Later business school. Now Gowanus Furniture Co. Go figure. I proudly don’t have a speciality.

People forget that Samuel Morse was a highly regarded artist who invented the code after he was away from home at the time of his wife’s death. He only learned of her passing well after the fact because there was no effective means of rapid communication at the time. He then decided to solve that problem.

Morse code is old and people don’t really know how it works anymore, but it’s still effective. The telegraph revolutionized how we interact and communicate with one another. Some have even referred to it as the Victorian Internet. These days txts and email are more effective, sort of, but not in every way. And Morse code still does work. And it always will. There’s no equipment. It’s an idea. Whistles, flashlights, smoke signals, or a telegraph will can all convey the information

I want to remember and celebrate game-changing ideas. Those old ideas are always supplanted by new disruptive technologies (i.e. progress), but let’s not forget those that did revolutionize our society. Especially ones that made information more accessible and allowed distances to shrink and brought people together.

This is about starting conversations.

Use this board when you make dinner. Do it yourself. And invite over your friends, too.

I made this board for you and your name is in it. Most others won’t notice that at first, but it’s a cool story.

Tell  them.

Morse code is also the most elegant and efficient way I could think of to personalize the board. My original thought was to use the standard UPC bar code format (it’d be scannable!), but then for one letter the cutting board would have to be over two feet wide. Not going to work. Inefficient. I also briefly considered binary code, but that too needed too much space, and, while comprising only two states (i.e. 1 & 0) like the cutting board (walnut and maple), how to indicate the where one letter ends and the next begins? And I’m not getting into checksums and error correction. It works for computers, but not for people.

Here are my initials, PER, in binary:

010100000100010101010010

Yeah, no.

The cutting board had to be designed for people, and the layout and means of construction of the cutting board had to lend itself to this sort of communication.

This is PER in Morse code.  I think it looks pretty hot.

It's a cutting board that fosters interaction.

We spend a lot of time eating. Make the experience as worthwhile as possible.]]>

[caption id="attachment_594" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times"][/caption]

Article in the Times today detailing the flushing tunnel under Degraw Street, and the work being done to it.  Good article, except it kept going on about the canal "stench" - which is just factually incorrect and makes me wonder if he's walked around here much.  I mean, hey, a mountain spring it is not, and after heavy rain, it's not pretty.  I am, however, tired of the comments like "oh, you live in Gowanus, how do you deal with the smell!?"  Years ago, sure.  It was known as the Lavender Lake.  But in 2011?  Just not true.  Comment #1 was spot on.]]>

Here's the finished product:

It was a gorgeous day on Friday, so I cut up some limes on the board. I feel a little bit bad about it. I'm a big fan of seasonality when it comes to liquor. Scotch in the winter, and gin in the summer. That's the way it is. There may be some overlap, but usually when I make the switch - usually sometime between Tax Day and Memorial Day - there's no going back. This year I was weak. Damn. But it was a mighty tasty gin & tonic.

Anyway.  Take a look.  Walnut and maple.

It's about 16" x 20", 2" thick, and rests of 4 rubber feet. It has two handholds on either side to make it easy to pick up. For those who may be interested, it's assembled using food-safe Titebond III and sealed with Watco Butcher Block Finish.

I like it. I think it looks pretty hot. It is the first one. And there are flaws. Of course. And most of which only I notice, but so it goes. Version 2.0 will have improved handgrips as well as have the option of being reversible with a groove to catch tasty meat juices.  And it will be flawless.  There will also be a number of different finishes to choose from (oil, oil & beeswax, food-safe varnish).

There are a good number of cutting boards out there. Like this one - actually the brand used on the Food Network. Or - the perennial favorite - the John Boos cutting board.

But mine's better. It's made by me and personalized with your initials (though they do make great gifts...). There are also enough options so that I can make the exact board you want.

The layout of future boards will focus more on the dots and dashes of the Morse code. Here's an example of my initials PER on a cutting board. The R is more pronounced. Note the pattern at the bottom of the board.

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The first cutting board is almost done. These guys involve a lot of cutting, and gluing, and waiting, and cutting, and gluing, and waiting, and sanding, and finishing, and waiting, and finishing, and all that, so they take some time when done individually.

It's 2" thick and solid walnut and maple.  Heavy.  Here it is pre-glue:

Playing around with the Morse code idea, going forward, I'm going to do something more like this:

It gives it some directionality and makes the dot/dash pattern a bit more prominent.

The board is a blend of old and new. It's made by hand and personalized, but working within specific bounds. It's something you can order over the interwebs that uses a form of communication invented 175 years ago. It starts a conversation.

Samuel Morse was also a founder of the National Academy. People forget that. He was a painter first. He only went on to revolutionize communication after his wife passed away in New Haven while he was in Washington, DC, with Morse finally aware of her failing health only when it was too late.]]>

[caption id="attachment_559" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times"][/caption]

So the EPA finally published its findings regarding the pollution in the canal.

Some quotes...

From the Brooklyn Paper:

“The contamination … is widespread and may threaten people’s health, particularly if they eat fish or crabs from the canal or have repeated contact with the canal water or sediment,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said on Wednesday morning.

Yes.  Avoid the crabs.  Real crabs.  The crustaceans.  I'm not talking about this.

It is, after all, "...one of the most contaminated water bodies in the nation."

But that's not really news.

[caption id="attachment_558" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="© Tonky Designs"][/caption]

I do live here and am quite fond of it, and do look forward to it eventually being restored to decent urban not-totally-gross waterway. But I've been canoeing in it, and it's not really as bad as it seems. And it doesn't smell. Really. No, and not in the summer either.

But, due to the combined sewer overflows (CSOs), it can get a bit messy at times.

Looking forward, this, from SCAPE (via PSFK) is encouraging.  Oyster-tecture.

[caption id="attachment_560" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Photo: SCAPE"][/caption] ]]>

Months ago I threw together a very simple pot rack which has worked well enough, and then later saw this article which got me thinking about how I could expand my basic pot rack idea.  I really like the designs by nearby Atlas Industries:

...and the one by Argentinian Alejandro Sticotti:

I like the simplicity and elegance of the two designs - especially Sticotti's.  They are pretty pricey, though.  I also wanted to make something that was slightly more adjustable/modular.  And less expensive.  My shelves are for people who would love to have shelving systems like those above, but likely won't be able to afford them or have the space for them for at least a few years.  And Swedish alternatives are not an option.  My design is easier to produce, and with less expensive materials, but it isn't "cheap."

Looking at my current design, I want to make a few changes for the next version.

First, the crosspieces made of the walnut plywood that run the width of the unit bother me a bit.  Just too much.  It needs something a bit more delicate.

I think square steel tubing would be much better.  Certainly strong enough, but less wide, and dark metal with the walnut would look good and sort of recede into the background.  It should also make it easier to hang and obviate the need for the cleat.  It would also echo the size and shape of the pegs.

As for the pegs, I attached those using small dowels and holes drilled into both the frame and pegs.

It works well enough in this case, but the precision required to drill the holes so that the pegs are at exactly the correct height was harder than I thought, and since the location of the pegs affects the level-ness of the shelves, being a little bit off is a problem.  Not big amounts - 1/32" - but even that's noticable.  For the next version, I'm going to go a bit more Lincoln Log - the pegs on either side would be one solid piece, with corresponding notches on the uprights and pegs where they fit together.  Much easier to meet the requisite tolerances via  dados on the table saw than trying to drill identical 1/4" holes in dozens of different pieces.

In this version, the conduit doesn't pass through the uprights on either side.  This was another design consideration that made it much harder to build.  The holes in the uprights that accept the conduit had to be a precise depth, the conduit a precise length, and a hole drilled through the back side of the upright into the conduit for the set screw also had to line up perfectly.  As with the pegs, not too complicated, but those sorts of tolerances when it come to woodworking pose a challenge.  For the next version, the conduit will pass through at either end, but still be held in place with a set screw.  I also like the look of the o-rings.  This is a version in maple:

I'm also now working on designs for desktops and drawers that could be added to this modular system.  In addition, if you have a frame that can hold, say, 7 shelves, but want a larger space in the middle for taller books / sculpture, can easily remove a section of the conduit with a tubing cutter and customize the arrangement.  Then pop out a shelf and insert a desk.  Or a drawer.  Etc.

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Oh right, furniture and making stuff.

That's what this blog is supposed to be about.  Right.  Yes.  Yes.

So the hybrid pot rack / shelving experiment is finally done.  Saw this article, and got me thinking.  This piece is the result.  Will post more about that in a bit.

Uprights are solid 5/4" walnut, shelves and frame on the back are 1" walnut ply covered with solid walnut veneer on the edges.  Rods are aluminum conduit brushed to a matte finish.  All of the conduit pieces are held in place with set screws making it quite secure.

The shelves rest on the conduit with a channel on the underside about 1/4" deep, and are held in place with wooden pegs at the rear of the frame so that the shelves cantilever out.

I think the pegs remind me a little of Mackintosh - I really like that.

The whole system is affixed to the wall with a a cleat.  I need to add more hooks to the underside of the shelves to hold more pots.

What do you think?

I also may have also overstaged the photos slightly, but had to be a quick shoot.

This was designed to fit my friend Justin's space.  Would like to build an entire bookshelf system with identically sized shelves covering an entire wall.  There shelf spaces would be taller  and a bit deeper to be more effective for books.
If any interest in a good deal on a protype, do get in touch.

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