Ash Kitchen Utensil Set

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This Ash wood set of utensils has been a fairly long term project for one reason or another, mainly because I've not been carving continuously, having been busy with other jobs. Another important reason is that this is the first edition of a kitchen utensil set I will continue to make in varying forms and from different woods, so starting on the right foot has been important and taken many hours of thought and design.

After the design stage, a fair amount of time went toward finding the suitable pieces of wood, for instance the ladle is of a specific shape in the wood. Normally, wooden ladles are made either of two pieces of wood fixed together, or worse made with no regard for the grain direction. This ladle was made from a piece of Ash containing a right-angle and then a curve, perfect for a ladle.

Consisting of five pieces: a rack that holds a ladle, mixing spoon, spatula and fish slice (frying spatula), this utensil set is the perfect kitchen starter, which you can of course add to later with various spoons and salad sets. It may even be the ideal wedding present.

Based on the principle that when in the kitchen, convenience and availability are everything, this set has been made for hanging above or near the stove where each utensil is a moment away from use.

It contains the four most commonly used utensils in my own kitchen and I am confident they will serve you well. The rack which holds them has been fashioned with ease of use in mind: the straight hand carved Hazel wood dowels have smooth notches in them which are easily found by the Lime (Bass) bark cord loops of each utensil. I chose not to make annoying hooks which impede their removal or replacement. It comes drilled for mounting on the wall with screws and concrete inserts (Rawl Plugs).

Who are they for?

Simple and elegant, these Ash utensils are designed and crafted for the discerning chef and the caring home cook.

Why? Metal on metal, or worse, metal on Teflon(R) non-stick surfaces: in cooking, these two scenarios are best avoided. That is where wooden utensils come into their own. Not only do they avoid adding scraped particles of PTFE or pan metal to your food, they also eliminate that annoying sound!

Plastic utensils do not solve this problem, since the utensils themselves get hot and are more likely to release harmful chemicals from production into your food. Another problem plastic utensils have is the harbouring of bacteria in surface scratches, whereas wood has to fight bacteria in nature and already has the tool kit for this job.

These are all good reasons, but the best reason is this: you should enjoy the cooking just as much as the eating. It is good to be uncompromising of the food you eat and therefore also of the way it's prepared.

Design Features

Lime (Bass) bark cord // Maker's mark

Hand-twisted from carefully selected Lime bark fibres, this natural cordage loop allows you to hang up the utensils on their peg rack. Each utensil comes marked for authenticity.

Thumb Well feature for a positive grip

It just feels right to have a place to put your thumb, so here it is on each utensil, providing the perfect amount of control while allowing for a number of natural, unhindered grips.

Tooled Finish

While sand paper can produce an even surface, it inevitably leaves the wood slightly rough, a fact revealed after the wood comes into contact with water. The polished blade of a tool leaves a finish as fine as the blade edge itself, while leaving it poetic-looking, shiny and durable.

Please find out more about each utensil below.

Fish Slice

The flowing contours and almost musical grain may make it hard to hang back up on the peg. I especially like the ripple effect caused by the natural 45 degree bend that justifies the new role for this piece of wood.