Christmas breadbox

[Pete Schupska]

Finally got back to finish up some more Christmas presents, after a 6-day hiatus to Mexico.

This breadbox is a mix of hard maple and spalted sycamore. No excuses, but I'm fairly happy with the way everything came together. The only thing remaining is a couple of felt pads and a chain to limit how far the door opens.

Be ruthless, I can take it.

[gary Zimmel]

Nice work on the breadbox xmas present Pete.
That spalted sycamore door is really going to look good with a finish on it.

[John Keeton]

Pete, that came together well! I really like the spalted sycamore - nice touch. Overall, great project. The only concern I would have, and it may be fine, is that the bottom is probably connected to the "box" and the grains run opposite. Were you to have much movement on the bottom, it could/may present an issue. And, then again, it may not be a problem.

Looks great, though!

[Pete Schupska]

John, I thought about that too, I only glued the bottom across the back edge, the sides and front are fastened with some elongated screw holes through the base.

I expect a bit of movement in the base particularly. The outside of the carcass is wipe on poly, the inside is Mineral Oil and Paraffin wax. The thinking was to allow the breadbox itself to mitigate the moisture of the bread. We'll see how it works.

My brother in law has taken a liking to making sourdough, and are keeping several loaves at a time.

[John Thompson]

Nicely done Pete. This brought back some memories as one of the first small projects I did in 1972 when I got interested was a bread-box with my trusty circular saw under a sheet of 2 x 4 ply table-saw. I didn't know much about WW and finishing in particular at that time so... I remember hand sanding that bread-box for hours using grits from 100 to 220. Of course it burnished the grain but the cheap pine was a smooth as a baby's butt and I felt impressed.

Again.. nice build as you don't see many BB's anymore as most put the loaf of bread in the frig to lengthen the life of it. But.. I still love bread-boxes as we had when I was growing up.

[Pete Schupska]

Now we're getting out there a bit. For store bought breads, the fridge will prevent mold for a few extra days, but they tend to go stale faster. Not such a big deal if you tend to toast your bread always. But for hard crusted "artisan" breads or anything of the like, the fridge will cause the crust to go soggy and the starch in the bread to crystallize and become very chewy. The best way to keep non-sliced breads is in an unsealed paper bag inside a bread box. The bag mitigates the moisture loss, the box keeps the light away and stabilizes temperatures.

Not that I'm a bread snob by any means, but I've got pretty dedicated bread bakers on both sides of the family.

BTW: 2 loaves of Nissua are rising as I type.



Merry Christmas!

[Baxter Smith]

Like the breadbox and it also brings back memories. Great way of showing off a pretty piece of wood.

Intersting Pete. I will have to pass that on to my wife. We don't have a problem with it going stale as it is usually gone in a day or two.