Pie server in mesquite

[jmischel]

Another piece that did't involve a lot of carving. I rough cut this one on the bandsaw, used my knife to get the shape just right and form the handle. To flatten the blade, I clamped the belt sander upside-down on a table. I also did a little work with my old rotary tool and a lot of hand sanding.

That knot in the middle of the handle has a lot of cracks radiating from it. After I'd shaped the handle and sanded it with 220 grit, I filled the cracks with super glue, let it dry, sanded them smooth, and repeated. Had to do that twice more to fill all the cracks. Final sanding was with 400 and then 600 wet/dry.

The piece is about 10 inches long and the blade is about 2-1/4 inches at its widest. The wood is mesquite from my back yard. Finish is Howard Butcher Block Conditioner (mineral oil and beeswax).

Larger picture at Pie server in mesquite.

[Sharon of the Dell]

The pie server is beautiful! It would be perfect for pumpkin pie or any pie, anytime.
I also checked out your prototype for the Christmas puppy and it's really cute!
I have my puppy you sent sitting on top of my computer! Just love him! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the mesquite!!!!

[Claude]

Nice server, Jim!

Claude

[jmischel]

Thank you, Sharon. I'm sure you'll come up with something unique and beautiful to make from the mesquite.

Thanks, Claude.

[Mottles]

Jim, I love it! You did a fantatic job of carving and I love the color of the mesquite. Forgive me if you have already answered this but what do you use for foodsafe finish?

[jmischel]

Thank you, Kathy. Yes, the mesquite really is lovely stuff. I don't understand why it's not more popular. It can be a bit hard (the piece I'm working on right now is really hard), but I think it's well worth the effort.

I've been using Howard Butcher Block Conditioner (mixture of beeswax and food grade mineral oil) as a food-safe finish. I've also used that Salad Bowl Finish, but it's a pain to apply (sand, apply, wait to dry, sand, apply again, wait to dry, sand . . .).

[MackTheKnife]

That's a beautiful pie server. Being an old Texas boy myself, I've had a little experience with mesquite. A beautiful wood, but in my estimation harder than maple and certainly more abrasive.

If you're interested in the true story of why mesquite is so hard, take a look at my blog post: Flying Chips: Rat-Tail Joe Explains Why Mesquite Is Hard

Every word is true. I swear!

Bob

[Nomad]

Very very nice! Much more class than my metal one. That mesquite is gorgeous too.

[Sharon of the Dell]

Bob, if you read this, I read the Rat Tail Joe story. Loved it!

[jmischel]

Thank you, Bob, for the nice comments, and thanks also for the story about why mesquite is hard. I'll have to link that one from my blog.

Thanks, Terry. Funny you should mention the metal pie server. That's why I made this one. My wife has a ceramic pie dish that she can't use metal on. She was using a plastic spatula to serve a pie and as you might expect it didn't do so well. Imagine trying to remove a "pie slice" with a rectangular spatula. She said, "I need to buy a plastic pie server." That was last Friday. Sunday I had this thing cut out and shaped . . .