This year was really special for me. All of my kids and their kids were together on the actual holiday! My sis and her little guy spent the day with us, too. It was wild and crazy here, but so much fun! The boys turned sticks into baseball bats, the girls made a mortar and pestle out of wood scraps and mixed up some kind of potion. All the ladies had their nails done by Miss KK. There was a game of cribbage going on, and we ate and ate.
Perfect holiday!
And, a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving I found something I've been wanting for awhile. Well, something close to what I've been hankering for. What I've dreamed of having in my kitchen is a well-used chopping block. One that's cut from a beautiful piece of wood, worn down in the center from constant use as food is lovingly made for the family. What a conversation piece that would be, right?
Well, I didn't get that exactly, but I made an impromptu stop at a garage sale at the end of my street. And I found this big block on legs with casters. It wasn't pretty, but it was a chopping block and it was big - and it was $5. Of course I bought it! Then, I sent the boys down the street to roll it home for me. I thought they'd have fun rolling this big thing down the street - they did, too, until it toppled over and landed on RyRy's big toe - poor thing. The doctor isn't sure, it could be broken or just badly bruised. In either case, it hurts. But, he's been a trooper about it - only wincing a few times when they were all playing!
I should have gotten a picture of it as it was when I got it. But, I was so anxious to get the legs off of it and start sanding it down that I didn't. Here it is though, in pieces!
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| Isn't that leg ugly??? And, the block itself was dingy and gunky. |
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| Here it is after I'd sanded it with my orbital sander. Looking better, but still sticky. I think I went through 10 sanding discs just to get it to this point! |
And, then Logger SIL came up behind me and very nicely asked me if something was wrong with my belt sander. When I told him not a thing was wrong with it, that I just avoided using it because it's big, heavy, and too fast for me to handle, he offered to take over the sanding for me! What a difference it made! He got that sucker down to bare wood.
Then we oohed and aahed, and scratched our heads wondering what kind of wood it was - well, he did. He thinks about those kinds of things. I just basically oohed and aahed! It was so pretty. And, it was stamped on the inside that it was made in Indonesia, so I'm thinking it's some kind of hardwood from that part of the world.
And, voila!
Here it is in my kitchen. I'll have to get used to moving around it, but it fits nicely with room to open cabinet doors and oven and refrigerator doors. It's a good height for chopping. Logger SIL says I can work on a shallow indentation only - this isn't a solid block, just made to look solid. The wood, whatever it is, is just over an inch thick all around and it's heavy!
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| This is the block with a coat of food safe mineral oil rubbed into it. It took on a rich, warm, almost cherry-wood color. |
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| I hated the legs, but at $5 it was a bargain and I figured I'd just use it as-is, sort of. I did sand the legs and stain them to match the block. |
I'm pretty darned pleased with my $5 purchase.
It looks so pretty in my kitchen - almost too pretty to chop on!
What do you think - are you tempted to get out to more garage sales??
Looks Great Sue - and I am pretty sure it is Rubberwood.
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