Here’s what we made.

Here’s a closeup of the detail.

This project was fairly simple, as we already had the thin stabilized wood pieces from our wood stabilizing company.  All they needed was some sanding, shaping, and a coat of tung oil. All the teachers really loved them.

Anna-Marie made some very creative little bookmarks out of stabilized wood.  She chose curly maple for this project and I think it worked out quite well.  The pieces were sanded to 600 grit and drilled for the bead strings.  Anna-Marie designed the graphics and I burned them into the wood for her.  I was surprised that the acrylic stabilized wood burned so well.  After that, Anna-Marie signed them and colored them.  This is great gift for anyone who loves to read.

Mike is also making some gifts this year.  He’s going to turn some pens using stabilized birch burl and stabilized maple burl.  I can’t wait to see how they look when he’s finished.

I’m going to try and find some time to do some woodburning.  I’m not sure that I’m good enough yet to give it away as gifts… but with a little practice, maybe I’ll be ready for next Christmas.

Happy holidays everyone!

While Mike and I were attending the Woodworking Show in Abbotsford, we picked up a Burnmaster Woodburner, a Colwood handle, some replaceable tips, and of course a few books to get me started.  Sue Walters has a great book called Pyrography Workbook.  It’s very complete and covers everything including tool selection, safety, work area setup, timber selection, preparation, pattern transfer and of course, how to use your tools.  She also touches on adding colour with artist acrylic paints.  Can you tell…this was my favorite book!!

Here’s a picture of some roses I burned on a trinket box I purchased from the dollar store. The picture turned out pretty good, but I have to work on the edge border.

This is my third time using my new wood burning tools and I think it turned out pretty good.

As I learn new techniques, I’ll be using my new hobby to make Christmas gifts, including cheeseboards, trinket boxes, and natural edge animals pictures with colour.

Here’s a few tips on how to use a BBQ grilling plank.

First, you soak the plank in your kitchen sink (a roasting pan filled with water will also work) Soak the plank for a minimum of 4 hours.

Be sure and weight the plank down (a dish filled with water will do the trick)

Preheat your BBQ and season your plank with oil (I use olive oil) Then place your plank on the grill for a minute or two. Then you’re ready to add your salmon.

Close the lid and barbeque on medium low heat until done.   If your plank flares up, spray it with water to put the flames out, but be sure not to saturate the board… you don’t want to stop it from smoking.

ENJOY!

If you’d like to give plank grilling a try, contact Christina

Our grilling planks sell for:

10 pack alder and maple mixed $24.00 USD (including shipping to Canada and the USA)

30 pack alder and maple mixed $45.00 USD (including shipping to Canada and the USA)

100 pack alder and maple mixed $110.00 USD (including shipping to Canada and the USA)

This is made out of 1/2″ curly maple with a 1/2″ plywood bottom. The pattern was cut out on the bandsaw and the hearts were cut out on the scrollsaw.  It was a fun project and was well played with when Anna-Marie was younger (I made it for her when she was 3 years old).

Nothing beats the taste of alder smoked chicken.  The chicken stays moist and takes on an incredible flavour.

Here’s what you need:

• Alder Grilling Plank (naturally air dried for cooking, not from the lumber yard)
• Boneless skinless chicken breast and thighs
• 1 full bulb of elephant garlic minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• fresh ground salt and pepper
• mango salsa to serve on the side

Take an alder grilling planks and soak it in your kitchen sink for about 4 hours or longer.  Brush the soaked plank lightly with olive oil. Mix the olive oil and garlic together. Place the chicken on the grilling plank and generously spread the garlic and oil mixture over the chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Close the grill and cook on med heat until the juices in the chicken run clear.  Serve with mango salsa, rice and salad.  I serve this to company all the time and it’s always a big hit

Remember to keep a spray bottle on hand  in case the edges of the plank flare up.

Enjoy!

I know this isn’t woodworking… but it is creating something mouthwatering from wood.

With the warm weather comes BBQ season and I have to share one of our favorite recipes for cedar planked salmon.

• You’ll need a cedar plank (don’t buy just any cedar from the hardware or lumber store, you don’t know if it’s been treated with anything..you want cedar planks made for grilling that have been naturally air dried) We wholesale them at Vedder Mountain Hardwoods for $1.50 each (you can contact me for more information)

• Salmon fillet
• 1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed (I use more, but we like a lot of garlic)
• fresh grated ginger to taste (optional)
• fresh chopped red onion

Soak the plank in your kitchen sink for about 4 hours or more (make sure to weight it down with a cup filled with water).   Combine all the ingredients except the salmon. Pour 1/4 cup of the sauce into a separate dish to use as a glaze.

Pour the rest of the sauce into a shallow baking dish and soak the salmon for at least one hour before grilling.

Take the plank out of the water and brush lightly with cooking oil.  Place the salmon on the grilling plank skin side down and sprinkle with the chopped red onion. Grill on medium low heat for about 20 minutes or until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.  About 10 minutes into your grilling time, brush some of the remaining sauce onto the salmon as a glaze .  Serve right from the plank with rice and a salad.

This salmon is mouthwatering and once you’ve tried plank grilling, you’ll never BBQ any other way.   WARNING : It’s very addicting

Note : If the edges of the plank catch on fire while you’re grilling, have a spray bottle of water near by and spray the flames to put them out.

The top wood is quilted/curly maple with a thin strip of paduak down the center. The guitar body wood is alder.