News & Blog – Emotions In Wood

The butter blog #5

Mongolia & butter culture: When we hear the word Mongol, the first thing that comes to mind is the name Genghis Khan and of course, the powerful Mongol Empire from around 1206 to 1368. Obviously, Mongol tribes existed long before and still do to this day, albeit in…

Justin20/01/2026

Butter history Butter

Butter Blog E4

Who used butter in antiquity? Although butter consumption was first mentioned in Mediterranean antiquity, it was not widely used in food preparation, as people preferred cooking with oil, but was more appreciated for therapeutic reasons. Egyptians used it as a remedy for eye irritations. The Romans made butter…

Philippe Charmet07/12/2025

News

No more crutches

Today is a big day for me! After breaking my right leg night-skiing almost 6 months ago, X-rays are showing that the tibia is finally back into one piece. It was a very complex break. My surgeon had to implant a fair bit of metal to put the bone…

Philippe Charmet25/07/2025

Butter Butter history

Butter Blog E3

A few scientific facts about butter Butter is a water-in-oil emulsion Two brief examples to clarify the concept of emulsion: 1 – When you put water in your wine, they both mix without hesitation and become a new product without you having to mix them. Even if you let…

Philippe Charmet16/07/2024

Butter Butter history

Butter Blog E2

For much of the world, butter is so much part of our life that we can hardly imagine not having it. How is your relationship with butter? Most of us have grown up with butter at home and love to savor it in various ways: spread onto a…

Philippe Charmet04/06/2024

Wood

Sugar Maple / Acer Saccharum

Maple in Bancroft Ontario The tree The sugar maple is very common in North America where the soil is deep and well drained, particularly in the eastern regions ranging from Ontario to the Maritime provinces and all the way down to Georgia and Kansas. Not only does it…

Philippe Charmet14/04/2024

Furniture Table

My first table fresh off the shop floor!

I just finished adding a black cherry inlay (that is another first) on the first table that I made. I am very excited at the success of this first project. It is outstanding even before it is oiled and waxed. The feet of the table were custom forged…

Philippe Charmet11/04/2024

Butter Butter history

Butter Blog E1

My very first butterdish fresh out of production. Not even oiled yet! 10 years ago, I found myself in the company of some really beautiful wood. I could not help myself, and I collected a few cut-offs of cherry, maple, birch and walnut. It is from these first…

Philippe Charmet07/04/2024

Wood

Yellow birch / Betula alleghaniensis

The tree: Yellow birch Yellow birch is also known as the golden birch due to its bark which is a shiny yellow-bronze which flakes and peels in fine horizontal strips. Note that the famous birch bark used throughout pre-history and history to make canoes comes from the white…

Philippe Charmet29/03/2024

Bread Bread tools Bread making Butcher block Furniture

My kitchen island – 3 years later

In December 2020, I designed and built my kitchen island because I was making bread regularly, I had limited counter space and wanted the ability to move it when I was not using it. The island on day 1: “I used my island for the first-time last night;…

Justin21/03/2024