One Olive Trunk, One Slab, and the Bark the Tree Grew Left On
An olive tree stops fruiting after a century. That is when the trunk is worth working. Cut out of one piece of it, 18" x 9". $119 direct from the workshop, not the $249 a store charges.
Alba Live-Edge Olive Wood Slab
$119.00
Almost Everything Wooden in a Store Is Glued Out of Strips
Turn one over and the seams are there. Strips of acacia or rubberwood pressed together, shaped in a few minutes and varnished. The glue is the weak line. A hot kitchen, one dry radiator winter, one long soak in the sink, and it opens along a join that was never wood in the first place.
What You Put Away Is What You Stop Reaching For
The plastic one goes back in the cupboard. The good one lives on a high shelf and comes down twice a year. What actually gets used is what stays out, and what stays out has to be worth looking at on an empty counter on a Tuesday morning.
Cut Out of One Trunk, So There Is No Seam to Open
The trunk of an olive tree that stopped fruiting after a century dries twelve months in open air. Then this board is cut out of that one piece, worked across four grits at the bench, and given three coats of cold-pressed linseed with ten days between each. Nothing in it that can come unglued.
Four Things That Separate This From a glued strip board from a store shelf
What changes when it comes out of a trunk instead of a press
What Separates This From a glued strip board from a store shelf
Six things that decide whether it is still in the kitchen in twenty years
Alba Live-Edge Olive Wood Slab
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Glued Strip Board From a Store Shelf
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|---|---|---|
| Cut out of one trunk, no glued strips anywhere | ||
| The bark the tree grew, left on one edge | ||
| Twelve months air drying before the first cut | ||
| Three coats of cold-pressed linseed, ten days apart | ||
| Numbered in the workshop ledger before it ships | ||
| Lifetime warranty against cracking and splitting |
One trunk, one piece · The bark the tree grew, left on one edge · Lifetime warranty
Notes From People Who Had Already Replaced One Wooden Piece
What they use it for, and what they stopped buying.
Week One: It Comes Out of the Box and Never Goes Back In
Most people use it for a full spread for eight before the end of the first day, because it is going to sit out anyway. The grain darkens a shade over the first months and then holds. One coat of mineral oil a winter is the whole of the upkeep.
Put One Trunk in Your Kitchen
Here is what ships to you:
· 1 Alba Live-Edge Olive Wood Slab, 18" x 9"
· Its number from the workshop ledger, written on the card
· A care card: damp cloth, one coat of mineral oil a year
· Wrapped in unbleached kraft paper, packed in a plain box
Common Questions Before You Order
Straight answers for anyone who has already replaced a wooden one once.