Our approach

Our approach to building product is simple. We do not have the staff, the space, nor the equipment to mass produce product, therefore everything we make is made by hand from start to finish. We decided to focus on producing a quality hand crafted product from beginning to end, rather than focusing on quantity, and that begins with wood selection.

we have two focuses on wood selection. The first is to source high quality hardwood and softwood from local, small, family owned sawmills. We understand that supporting our local small businesses has a much more important impact on our community than supporting chain store retail suppliers, so whenever possible we buy from the little guy and we hope that is a quality our customers value and that it will carry over into them supporting us.

second we seek out opportunities to salvage hardwood that would otherwise end up in a landfill or burn pile. We value hardwood sourced from old sites being torn down, such as historic buildings, barns, and old structures that have outlived their time. We find it intensely satisfying to be able to reclaim this wood and give it a new purpose and new life and we hope that also is something our customers value.

Because the overwhelming majority of our lumber comes from local sawmills, we buy our wood in large slabs ranging from 5’ long to 12’ long and anywhere from 12” wide to 3’ wide. These slabs can be as thick as 3” or as thin as 1 1/8” but they are all kiln dried live edge slabs. Like all natural woods sometimes they will have defects such as insect holes, cracks, or odd colorations. Sometimes they will cut into them and find a special quality such as Birds Eye, spalting, curly, ambrosia, or fiddleback grain patterns.

Often it is uneven, warped, or otherwise flawed and requires a bit of work to flatten, cut, and square up. However, we believe this adds to, instead of taking away from the quality of the end product as our customers know the item they buy is truly hand crafted from beginning to end.

We have nothing negative to say about builders who purchase lumber for their use that has already gone the this process. Certainly it is easier to just cut your wood to length and build with it but we believe there is something special about carrying the product from a live edge slabs all the way to a finished product. We’ve touched every step in that process from beginning to end. Sometimes we reject wood for a product because it just doesn’t “feel” right, and sometimes that wood goes into another project where it fits better and that is all part of the process.

I am an intuitive builder. I very rarely follow a build plan or blueprints. That means that even if I make the same item a dozen times, it will be different every time. Each item I create is unique. The differences may be slight but no two creations are the same. We believe this also adds value to our product as whatever you purchase here will truly be one of a kind. That is why almost none of my sales listings list more than one, because every item is different.

I sometimes see something and decide I want to build it. There isn’t always any rhyme or reason for these choices. Sometimes I just like it, but no matter what I build, if I use an existing idea I change it, I build it my way, and I make it a uniquely individual item.

we do custom orders for people. Sometimes someone will send us an idea and we do our best to meet their desires understanding that I will have to do it my way.

our custom items do require a down payment of at least 50% and as I build your order I send regular updates through pictures, through video, though live feeds on our facebook business page. This is something I do not ever see done and I hope it makes my work stand out. We have had many customers comment that they really enjoy getting to see and be a part of that build process.

Obviously I have a stock of premade items for sale and I can usually have those shipped within 48 hours of the order being placed.

Finally on all of our cutting boards, charcuterie boards, serving trays, cheese boards etc, we finish those items with a food safe mineral oil and a final coating of board butter which is a mixture we make that is a combination of mineral oil and beeswax.

We hope these things help you to consider ordering from us. For a quote on a custom order please email me at libertyleather2020@gmail.com