1 · The block

Every sculpture starts as a single, kiln-dried block of North American black walnut. We source planks with tight, mature grain — no plywood, no laminated layers, no veneer over MDF. What you hold at the end is what the tree was.

2 · The rough carve

The block is shaped on a five-axis CNC to bring the silhouette to within two millimeters of final form. CNC is a tool, not a replacement — it gives us a repeatable starting point so that every piece leaves the studio with the same proportions the design was drawn with.

3 · Hand finishing

Every curve is then hand-sanded through five grits (80 → 120 → 220 → 320 → 400). Corners are eased by hand — the CNC leaves a mathematically perfect edge, and a mathematically perfect edge does not feel warm. Hands do that part.

4 · Deep engraving

Your names and date are engraved 1.2 mm deep into the base — not surface-scored, not printed. The channel is then charcoal-burned, a finishing technique borrowed from Japanese woodwork: heat drives carbon into the walls of the cut, leaving a permanent, jet-black inlay that will not fade under sunlight, rub off, or wash out.

5 · Oil finish

The whole sculpture is treated with a food-safe hardwood oil that penetrates the grain rather than sitting on top of it. No polyurethane, no lacquer, no plastic top-coat. The walnut will darken slightly in the first month, then continue to deepen slowly for years.

6 · Inspection & sign-off

Every piece is inspected under natural light before it's packed. If anything is off — a chip, a mis-set letter, a proportion that feels wrong — it goes back on the bench, not into the box.

Materials + tools we use

• North American black walnut, kiln-dried to 8% moisture
• Five-axis CNC (Origin + hand-guided finishing)
• CO₂ laser engraver (25W) for deep base engraving
• Food-safe hardwood oil finish (mineral oil + beeswax)