In general, no. I will not start a job without payment. However, I understand that some custom orders can get pricey. Discuss this with me when ordering.

All items are made by hand and made to order. Some items take less time to build than others. Items are generally built in the order that they are received. I will always give you an idea of the turnaround for your order. If I specify that turnaround is 2 weeks out, it is 2 weeks after I receive payment. I will not start a job without payment.

The timeframe that I provide when ordering really depends on my workload. I am the only one in the shop working on the projects. If I do not have to push other jobs back, I can work extended hours, on a job, for a rush fee. Make sure to request the rush when ordering.

Is it possible? Yes. Will it be practical? Probably not. Most of the items I custom make are larger items and wood weighs quite a bit, so although shipping is possible, it will probably be very expensive. If you would like to know what the shipping would cost on an item, feel free to ask. I can run to UPS and check the pricing.

Yes, I do offer engraving. It isn’t done in-house. For the time being, I outsource all engraving work. Therefore, I do have to quote each job, individually and I have no flexibility on the price given. I can add engraving at any point in the build process, but if the decision to engrave is made after I have already put a finish on it, there will be an extra charge to reapply finish.

One of my favorite things about making hand-made wooden products is the charming idiosyncrasies inherent in working with a medium (trees) that is always changing. No single piece of wood looks like any other, and as such they are all perfectly imperfect! So the answer is yes – it’s a part of the whole hand-made craft thing. The world has many other avenues available to procure something that looks exactly like it does in the catalog, but fortunately our shop is not one of those avenues.

Wood Movement 101

When humidity is high, wood absorbs moisture and swells. When humidity drops, wood shrinks. This “movement” is gradual, so you probably won’t notice weekly changes. But seasonal changes cause problems you can’t miss, like sticking doors, ugly gaps in woodwork or a crack in a tabletop.

Fortunately, I’ve gotten this question many times and I have created a specific web page for this very topic. Head over to the Cutting Board Care page for a detailed description on caring for your wood boards.