Handcrafting a Spice Rack

From Raw Materials to Finished Product

In this age of mass production, it's not always easy to find handcrafted items, but yes, there is a handcrafted spice rack out there, and it just might have your name on it one day. "Handcrafted" does, indeed exist even in today's highly mechanized world.

Learn More About Our Handcrafted Spice Racks

Let's define hand-crafted. Typically it means that an item is made by hand, as opposed to being put together in an assembly line.

Are tools involved? Of course. They can be hand tools like chisels, drills, screw drivers, hand planers, wood carving instruments, sanders and staplers. Larger equipment in the professional woodworker's workshop might include a drill press, a band saw, a table router, a surface planer, a wood lathe and other woodworking equipment, in the case of, say, building a spice rack, which is the focus of this article.

Are machines involved? Only those that require manipulation by human beings as listed above.

Let's take the example of creating a handcrafted spice rack from bamboo. With just about any other wood, all you would need to do is cut the pieces and put them together, then sand, clean and seal the wood. With bamboo, it's another matter.

Bamboo isn't really wood. It is actually a grass. One thousand two hundred to one thousand six hundred varieties of bamboo exist, primarily in Southeast Asia, which produces just under 2/3 of the world's bamboo, with about 1/3 in South America, and the rest in Africa and Oceania. Bamboo grows up to and incredible four feet every 24 hours and reaches its full maturity three years from the time it is planted. Some varieties grow as large as nine or ten inches in diameter. Bamboo's tensile strength is stronger than a piece steel of a similar size and this strength increases with age, up to a certain point. Then it begins declining.

With such a vigorous growth rate, and since each bamboo plant can be harvested every three years without damage to the plant, this is one "wood" product that is a quickly renewing resource. By comparison, trees take decades to grow from seedlings.

To turn bamboo into "wood" it needs to go through a process. It is cut above the node closest to the base of the plant to allow for re-growth, and split apart so the interior membrane can be removed. Then all sugars are separated out from these strips via soaking or steaming. The strips are then laminated together to form boards. The boards can be sanded, stained and otherwise employed in the same way wood products are used.

Another process allows the bamboo to take on a mellow amber color, which makes it a versatile product.  Bamboo plywood is utilized in the construction of furniture, laminate flooring and other "wood" products, such as our bamboo spice rack

So once the artisan has designed the spice rack which he plans to hand craft, the pieces are all cut using precision tools and each spice rack is assembled, one at a time by human beings. Once assembled, the spice rack needs some finishing touches, including sanding, cleaning, possibly staining, and sealing the product. Then warehouse until the product is ordered.

And there you have it, the way a handcrafted spice rack is produced, from start to finish.