someone threw away their countertop and i found it in the trash. it’s solid wood, but alot of pieces glued together, and it’s a good thickness for practicing.

i started by drilling a hole, reducing the usable area of cutting surface considerably.

this is a drill bit that is adjustable and it’s kind of great except it smokes a lot when you’re cutting

i started with a larger piece and went to the milling machine to cut a depression. getting it clamped in the machine was a hassle and realizing i was already working at the maximum width the machine could handle was kind of depressing.

i wrote down how the machine works, if you turn this knob it goes this or that way - because it’s very damn confusing and mistakes come easily.

this is the piece of wood i want to fit in the groove. i have already cut it, so i can make the groove and see if it fits, and then make it kind of precise instead of working the other way around.

i went too deep with the bit, so the piece of wood isn’t that strong anymore, but i learned something anyway. if the wood weren’t running this direction - if the strips of wood were glued 90º another way, the piece would be stronger. but like this it will be easy to break in half, and now as a cutting surface it feels cheap, but it is lightweight because a lot of wood has been removed.

remind me to tell mention additive and subtractive manufacturing processes. starting with a block of material and then removing 50 percent of it is kind of stupid, because it’s 50 percent waste - but sometimes that’s the way it goes and it’s necessary.

i modified a clamp to fit under the head of the machine, and still the piece of wood jumped because i was having to use that clamp on the opposite side as well

so it’s finished and the piece fits

then i put some magnets in the board because i wanted this tray to slide out and snap to a few positions. trying to use as few magnets as possible, i cut holes and used a metal rod, but the metal rod/magnet connection wasn’t that strong

this is a machine to drill holes in the side of things, and also it can move horizontally to cut grooves and stuff - it’s a funny machine

now we are making handles in the metal workshop using 6mm rod

the process is rough, using a vice and a mallet and leaving plenty of marks on the metal that would need to be sanded off later, but it’s just for fun this time so whatever

handles - if i was smart i would have made them the same size but i fucked up and didn’t think about that until later

“polishing” them

but at least the handles nest and i like it when things do that

i had the idea that you might write the grocery list on your chopping board, or write anything on it, because it’s a big surface and crayons write on almost everything

and exploring the transition between preparation and serving - it unintentionally became a serving tray when i had to move my mess from one table to another

this herb chopper is next and some scavenged birch tree