Walnut Whip

After a 4 hour round trip to one of my favourite timber suppliers this (Friday) afternoon I have some absolutely stunning prime walnut and Elm boards that I'm going to use for the Breeze Board variations. I don't normally have to drive so far because I work in a forested area full of English trees and timber yards. But I need some walnut and that is harder to come by in the quantity I need.

I have a some of it marked out for the chopping board variations, but there will be some left for new inspiration - I hope. 

I already have oak and pear wood , so these 4 wonderful species are just waiting to be whipped up into - I hope - a very tasty new product. 

I made a start on the variations last week by making legs from walnut sapwood and pear - both with long tenons to join to the darker walnut heartwood and feature as pale stripes on the walnut worktop. I spent most of the day today milling the timber into workable pieces so  by the end of Monday I could start to see what the first variation was going to look like. 

One particular piece of walnut was really standing out  with an incredible grain and contrasting heartwood sections - What a stunner - can't wait to finish this to see the final effect. 

I've still got some decisions to make about the final proportions though - the dimensions of the walnut top are important - this piece is longer and wider than my previous design, and I have to stand back and make sure that the overall proportions are still going to work as well as the smaller oak/elm variation. It is very tempting to just leave all the wood as it is, just because it is a beautiful cut - but I have to look past that to the whole design and be strict about getting every component in proportions that work from every angle.  It would be a shame to trim this slab of walnut down further, but sometimes just a few millimetres here and there can make all the difference I need visually. 

Hopefully I'll whip this walnut into shape today.

I found an oak board at home that had been drying out for a few months - After I stripped off the bark and started milling it down, I saw something I hadn't seen before... but, that's another story.