Solid hardwood, cut to the millimetre you send us
Every piece here starts as a blank on the rack and ends as a size written on an order. We cut laptop risers, docking trays, serving boards and carving boards from oak, ash, beech and walnut. Nothing waits finished on a shelf, so the list below is a list of sizes rather than a list of stock.
The three numbers that matter are length, width and thickness, and we work to them in millimetres. Send those three and a timber, and we will say whether the size comes out of one blank or wants a glued panel.
The list, opened line by line
Each line below is a catalogue entry that opens where it sits. Inside are the cut size, the timbers it is taken from, the edge treatment, the finish route and the days it takes at the bench. The reference at the left is the timber code we mark on the blank.
OK·R1 Laptop riser, standard 320 × 240 × 95 mm high
- Cut size
- 320 mm long, 240 mm wide, 95 mm to the top face
- Top thickness
- 22 mm, thicknessed to within 0.5 mm
- Timbers
- European oak or European ash
- Edge
- Square-edged, with a 2 mm arris broken by hand
- Finish route
- Three coats of hardening oil, ends flooded twice
- Off the bench
- Twelve working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- One 1200 mm plank yields the top and both legs
Two through-legs are glued and pinned into the top, so the riser sits still on a desk without feet. The 240 mm depth clears a keyboard placed in front of it.
OK·R2 Laptop riser, wide 400 × 260 × 95 mm high
- Cut size
- 400 mm long, 260 mm wide, 95 mm to the top face
- Top thickness
- 22 mm, thicknessed to within 0.5 mm
- Timbers
- European oak, European ash or American black walnut
- Edge
- Square-edged, with a 2 mm arris broken by hand
- Finish route
- Three coats of hardening oil, ends flooded twice
- Off the bench
- Twelve working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- A 260 mm width usually wants a two-board glued panel
The wider top takes a sixteen-inch machine and keeps the cable run clear of the back edge. Ring direction is alternated across the glue line, which is why the top stays flat over a winter.
WN·T1 Docking tray 300 × 150 × 40 mm
- Cut size
- 300 mm long, 150 mm wide, 40 mm overall depth
- Walls and base
- 12 mm walls standing on an 18 mm base
- Timbers
- American black walnut or European beech
- Notch
- A 30 mm cable notch cut in one wall
- Finish route
- Two coats of hardening oil, then a wax buff
- Off the bench
- Nine working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- Walls and base come off one 900 mm length
A shallow open tray for a dock, a watch and keys, with the corners mitred and splined. The base is let into a groove, so the tray keeps its shape once it is loaded.
WN·T2 Docking tray, deep 300 × 150 × 65 mm
- Cut size
- 300 mm long, 150 mm wide, 65 mm overall depth
- Walls and base
- 12 mm walls standing on an 18 mm base
- Timbers
- American black walnut or European beech
- Notch
- A 30 mm cable notch, dropped 20 mm from the rim
- Finish route
- Two coats of hardening oil, then a wax buff
- Off the bench
- Nine working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- Deeper walls take a 1200 mm length instead
The same footprint at greater depth, which is why it suits a standing charger and a folded cable. Everything below the rim stays out of sight from a seated desk.
AS·S1 Serving board 400 × 220 × 20 mm
- Cut size
- 400 mm long, 220 mm wide, 20 mm thick
- Timbers
- European beech or European ash
- Hand hole
- 60 mm, set 40 mm in from the short edge
- Faces
- Both faces worked, so it turns over and reads either way up
- Finish route
- Three coats of hardening oil
- Off the bench
- Eight working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- Two boards come off a 900 mm plank with the kerf allowed
Flat-sawn faces keep the figure lively across the width. At 20 mm it stays light enough to lift one-handed off a table.
AS·S2 Serving board, long 560 × 200 × 20 mm
- Cut size
- 560 mm long, 200 mm wide, 20 mm thick
- Timbers
- European beech, European ash or European oak
- Hand hole
- Left off unless it is asked for
- Faces
- Both faces worked to 240 grit along the grain
- Finish route
- Three coats of hardening oil
- Off the bench
- Eight working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- A 1200 mm plank gives two boards with 40 mm to spare
Cut long and narrow for a table run, which is why it carries bread and cheese down the middle of a setting. The long grain runs the full 560 mm, so the board stays stiff.
OK·C1 Carving board 450 × 300 × 32 mm
- Cut size
- 450 mm long, 300 mm wide, 32 mm thick
- Timbers
- European oak or European beech
- Juice groove
- 8 mm wide, routed 20 mm in from the edge
- Groove volume
- Holds roughly 40 ml before it reaches the rim
- Finish route
- Three coats of hardening oil, ends flooded twice
- Off the bench
- Ten working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- A 300 mm width is usually a two-board glued panel
The groove returns on itself at each corner, so nothing runs off at the ends. At 32 mm the board takes a knife without flexing under a joint.
OK·C2 Carving board, small 380 × 260 × 32 mm
- Cut size
- 380 mm long, 260 mm wide, 32 mm thick
- Timbers
- European oak or European beech
- Juice groove
- 8 mm wide, routed 20 mm in from the edge
- Sink fit
- Sized to lie inside a standard 400 mm sink bowl
- Finish route
- Three coats of hardening oil, ends flooded twice
- Off the bench
- Ten working days once the order is confirmed
- Blank
- Comes out of the offcut left by the larger board
The smaller footprint keeps a heavy board manageable at the sink. We cut this one from the waste of OK·C1 wherever the rack allows it.
Lengths and widths are cut to within a millimetre, and thicknesses to within half of one. Any line here can be made to a size of your own, so send three figures in mm and the timber you want.
Four timbers on the rack, read by how they work
European oak is hard, open-grained and heavy, so it goes into carving boards and into risers that stay put. Ash is lighter in the hand and pale, with a long straight grain that machines cleanly at 20 mm. Beech is close and even, takes a groove without tearing out, and shows almost no figure. American black walnut is softer and much darker, so we keep it for trays and wide riser tops.
Grain direction decides how a piece behaves once it reaches a kitchen. A board moves across its width as it takes up and gives off moisture, and it moves almost nothing along its length. We mark out so the growth rings stand as close to upright in the end grain as the blank allows, since quartersawn stock moves less and cups less.
End grain is the thirsty face. It drinks the oil coat, it drinks water from a sink, and it is where a board opens up if it stands in a puddle. We flood the ends on the first two coats for that reason. The drawing beside this text is how we read a blank before a pencil goes near it.
Each of the four timbers is set out in full on the timbers page, with densities, the thicknesses we keep and what each one is picked for.
What a 300 mm board does in a heated kitchen
The question that reaches us most often is whether a wide board will cup, so here is the figure behind the answer. Timber takes up moisture through a damp week and gives it back once the heating goes on. Width is where that shows: a board of 300 mm has thirty times more room to move than a 10 mm strip, and the length barely shifts at all.
| Timber | Flat-sawn | Quartersawn | A 300 mm flat-sawn board |
|---|---|---|---|
| European oak | about 1.2 mm | about 0.6 mm | about 3.6 mm across the year |
| European ash | about 1.1 mm | about 0.7 mm | about 3.3 mm across the year |
| European beech | about 1.6 mm | about 0.8 mm | about 4.8 mm across the year |
| American black walnut | about 1.0 mm | about 0.6 mm | about 3.0 mm across the year |
Read the table as movement, not as damage. A carving board that gains three millimetres of width in August and loses them by February is behaving exactly as solid timber should. Beech moves the most of the four, which is why we cut beech boards a little thicker through the middle of the range.
Cupping is the other half of the story, and the drawing beside this text is the whole of it. Rings lying flat in the end grain want to straighten as the wood dries, so a flat-sawn board lifts at its edges and hollows on the face nearer the heart. Rings standing upright have nowhere to straighten into, so a quartersawn board stays flat and simply narrows.
Two things we do at the bench follow from that drawing. Wide panels are glued up with the ring direction alternated, so one half pulls against the other. Both faces of every board get the same number of oil coats, once the sanding is done, since a board sealed on one face only will cup towards the sealed side.
Guide only — timber varies plank to plank
Working a blank out: yield and offcut
Before a blank is marked we work out how many pieces come off it and how much timber is left. The sum is short. Every cut takes the saw kerf with it, so the kerf is added to each piece before dividing, once down the length and once across the width. The panel below runs that sum on whatever numbers you put into it.
The count takes the blank as square-edged and holds one grain direction throughout. Knots, shake and a wandering edge are picked out at the bench, so a plank in the hand sometimes gives one piece fewer than the sum says. An offcut over a third of the blank usually means a second, smaller item wants nesting into the waste, and that is the whole reason we run the numbers before the saw.
Cubic metres, board feet and a rate you type yourself
Timber merchants quote two different volumes at the same counter. British yards work in cubic metres, and imported hardwood is still sold by the board foot, which is a piece one inch thick by one foot square. One board foot is 2,359,737 mm³, so the two units convert cleanly once the blank size is in millimetres. Put a blank into the panel below and it prints both, along with whatever rate you type in.
The figure printed is the volume of the blank, so it sits above the volume of the finished piece. A 32 mm carving board starts life as a 38 mm sawn blank, which is why a merchant invoice always reads higher than the board in your hands. Use the yield panel above it to see how much of that volume leaves as offcut.
From blank to box, and what happens if it comes back
An order starts as a size and a timber, and it is confirmed by e-mail before anything is cut. We pull a blank that carries the width without a glue line where the rack allows it, and mark it out from the yield sum so the offcut stays useful. The blank is docked to length first, ripped a few millimetres over the finished width, and then left standing for a day, since freshly ripped stock will often move before it settles.
Squaring comes next. One face goes flat, one edge goes square to that face, and the piece is thicknessed to the figure on the order. Grooves and hand holes are cut while the piece is still stiff and square, and riser legs are fitted, glued and cramped overnight. Anything glued up as a panel has its ring direction alternated across the joint, so the finished width stays flat in a warm kitchen.
Sanding runs through three grits along the grain and finishes at 240, and the arris on every edge is broken by hand. End grain gets an extra pass, since it shows every scratch that a face will hide. Then the oil coat, wiped on thin and left to soak, with the surplus taken off before it goes tacky. The whole finishing routine, and what it asks of you afterwards, is set out on the finishing page.
Once the last coat has cured the piece is checked against the order for size, for square and for finish. The measurements go into the workshop file beside the order, so the same board can be cut again to the same figures. It is wrapped in paper, corner-protected, boxed with a card on oiling and washing, and handed to a tracked courier here in London.
If a piece arrives damaged, or if it does not match the order we confirmed, e-mail the workshop with the order reference and a photograph. We collect it at our own cost and either remake it or refund it, and a made-to-order size is covered the same way once the fault sits with us. Where a piece was cut correctly to sizes you supplied, we talk it through first, and we would sooner recut a board than argue over a millimetre.