my first spatula made from OAK

[thetyreman]

I made my first spatula from American Oak yesterday,

taken directly from the paul sellers book 'working with wood 1 & 2' I used only hand tools for the whole thing,

let me know what you think!

see pics attached.

regards,

Ben.

 

[mikefab]

Nice job!

It would be interesting to know which hand tools you used? And what is the purpose of the hole in it, or is it merely decorative?

 

[thetyreman]

Nice job!

It would be interesting to know which hand tools you used? And what is the purpose of the hole in it, or is it merely decorative?

I started with cutting the piece to size with a panel saw,

drew on the shape with a cardboard template,

the vast majority of the work was done with a spokeshave, an old stanley 151 to create the shape, and a rasp on hard to reach bits, the curve where it meets the handle,

then for the hole I used a brace and bit drill, this is optional, I preferred the look with the hole, it helps liquid get through when you are scraping food.

final stage was 240 grit sand paper and vegetable oil which was then wiped off, the whole thing took around 1 hour and I enjoyed the smell of oak.

There's a video of Sellers making one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9YTRC4NHYQ

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Just don't let vinegar or lemon juice near it.

 

[thetyreman]

Just don't let vinegar or lemon juice near it.

what happens if you do? does it melt? cheers.

 

[mikefab]

Thanks for the details!

 

[AJB Temple]

No, it goes black. Which is why something like beech is often used for wooden kitchen implements. Nice shape. Probably too thick for me to use in my kitchen. Being dead lazy everything has to be dishwasher proof!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^^ yes, it stains blue black. Incidentally, mentioning washers much as I dislike Jamie Oliver the best bit of advice I got from one of his progs. was to buy plastic chopping boards small enough to go in washer. I regularly use three or four at a time - no contamination if you're mixing raw and cooked.

 

[Racers]

I make flat spatulas from beech and they last for years, dishwashered after every use.

Pete

 

[thetyreman]

cool! If make one again it's going to be beech then, are there any other woods people would recommend?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Chestnut stains like oak because of the tannin content. Sycamore or maple are best. Most are not bad, if not recommended. Avoid yew and laburnum.

 

[AJB Temple]

You can also use olive wood if you can get it. This looks very good and is durable. Beech is rather workaday as you can buy them for next to nothing.

A lot of people use oak for boards as well, but knife aficionados are not fond of it. The pores are large (I am talking about end grain boards) so it lacks the bacteria repellence of, say, maple. I saw an article in a woodwork magazine last month where someone had made an end grain oak chopping board that was about 2cm thick" bound to be fragile. He then oiled it with olive oil, which is a very bad idea as olive oil goes rancid eventually.

 

[thick_mike]

I made an oak spoon in Autumn. Like you, I love the smell of oak when I'm using it (mainly because it smells of Rioja!)

I didn't really think about the tannin and at first it stained with black marks where I left it on a cast iron pan. After a few trips through the dish washer over the intervening months the tannins have leached from the spoon and it is no longer stained and doesn't stain when left in contact with iron.

 

[Togalosh]

^^^^ yes, it stains blue black. Incidentally, mentioning washers much as I dislike Jamie Oliver the best bit of advice I got from one of his progs. was to buy plastic chopping boards small enough to go in washer. I regularly use three or four at a time - no contamination if you're mixing raw and cooked.

Erm.. that is not true. It is mandatory in catering to have colour coded boards for different food groups to help prevent cross contamination. They also should be replaced once badly scored. If you put cooked meat on top of raw meat juice then the surface you are using won't make that cooked meat safe. Polypropylene cannot prevent cross contamination, only good food handling can.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Hygiplas-Stand ... 0wodBPwOPg

Mike, The Spatula looks ace.

(However I thought oak is too porous to be useful & could/should impart a strong flavour until very well used/washed as well as going black while the tannins are still in it. I thought that the majority of wooden kitchen utensils are close grained woods like acacia & olive for these reasons).

I very much like the idea of using only hand tools.

Togs

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"Erm.. that is not true. It is mandatory in catering to have colour coded boards for different food groups to help prevent cross contamination. They also should be replaced once badly scored. If you put cooked meat on top of raw meat juice then the surface you are using won't make that cooked meat safe. Polypropylene cannot prevent cross contamination, only good food handling can."

I spent my working life in catering, I know the laws. I'm not sure of your point - I use one board for one foodstuff, another for another and maybe another for another, then chuck them in the machine. That's the purpose of using three or four boards. That was exactly my point.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There was a big study done about 25 years ago by a Californian university on surface contamination which showed that the best material for hygiene, i.e. bacterial contamination was not only wood, but old wood. Again iirc the worst were stainless steel, glass and plastic. This report came out at about the same time as the law changed and made plastic boards compulsory.
As an aside, the last food poisoning case I had any involvement with was due to ... guess... lettuce. Spanish lettuce. They had a drought and were watering it with raw sewage.

 

[DiscoStu]

Oddly had this conversation with a butcher friend of mine down the pub tonight. He was saying that it used to be plastic boards but they have now been proven to be not as good as wood (for butchering) because the natural oils in the woods can be anti bacterial whereas the plastic boards hold bacteria where cuts lines have created hiding places.

I think the point about multiple boards above is still the case with catering and I think you were both agreeing with each other!


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[Togalosh]

"Erm.. that is not true. It is mandatory in catering to have colour coded boards for different food groups to help prevent cross contamination. They also should be replaced once badly scored. If you put cooked meat on top of raw meat juice then the surface you are using won't make that cooked meat safe. Polypropylene cannot prevent cross contamination, only good food handling can."

I spent my working life in catering, I know the laws. I'm not sure of your point - I use one board for one foodstuff, another for another and maybe another for another, then chuck them in the machine. That's the purpose of using three or four boards. That was exactly my point.

Ah, I misunderstood you Phil.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I apolgise for being a little abrupt.

 

[Togalosh]

No need to apologise Phil, no offence was taken. We must be quite similar in that respect.. perhaps a life in catering has this affect.

Off Topic - sorry OP.

I just found this though re: Uni study on chopping boards (as what you said about glass & stainless steel really surprised me).

" We are aware that there are other food preparation surfaces made of glass or of stainless steel; we have done very little with these because they are quite destructive of the sharp cutting edges of knives, and therefore introduce another class of hazard to the kitchen. We believe, on the basis of our published and to-be-published research, that food can be prepared safely on wooden cutting surfaces and that plastic cutting surfaces present some disadvantages that had been overlooked until we found them. "

http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/facul ... gboard.htm (in case you can't sleep)

They only washed using a sponge & warm water with washing up liquid (to mimic domestic use) & used close grained wooden boards. Thoroughly washing & drying either makes them as good as each other it seems.

Oak though..?