Sticks & Stones

Most pieces that have been worn for years don't look like they did on day one. The wood runs richer. The metal has warmed or darkened, or stayed just as bright as the day it was made, depending on what you chose. That's patina. It's not a warning sign. It's proof the piece has become yours. Patina Is Character, Not a Flaw Patina is the surface change a piece earns from being worn: light, air, skin, ordinary handling. Wood, metal, bone and antler, leather. Each one picks it up its own way. What they share is that the change comes...

Customers ask me all the time if a stone is going to scratch. Sapphire, topaz, turquoise, opal, it comes up with almost every gemstone I set. The Mohs hardness scale is the closest thing we have to a straight answer, and it's worth understanding on its own terms rather than picking up secondhand from a product description. What the Scale Actually Measures Hannes Grobe - CC BY 3.0 The test behind Mohs hardness is simple. If one mineral can scratch another, it's the harder of the two. Run that comparison against a set of ten reference minerals and you get...

Customers ask me all the time whether a wood is "hard enough" for a ring. The honest answer is that almost any hardwood is, but the Janka scale is the closest thing we have to a single number that captures durability. It's useful, with caveats. Here's how it works and where some of my favorite woods land on it. What the Janka Scale Measures The Janka test is simple. You take a steel ball, 11.28 mm across, and you press it halfway into a piece of wood. The amount of force it takes to do that, measured in pounds-force (lbf)...

There's a common assumption that harder wood is harder to work with. That's sometimes true, but hardness is only one piece of the puzzle. Some of the most challenging woods in my shop are actually quite soft. Others are dense enough to overheat my tools in seconds. Some have grain that changes direction so many times within a single piece that there's no safe angle to approach from. What's funny is that several of these difficult woods are also my favorites. The properties that make them a challenge are usually the same properties that make the finished piece extraordinary. Koa...

Every piece of wooden jewelry I make leaves the studio with a protective finish already applied. That means maintenance on your end is about as simple as it gets. In fact, most of the time you don't need to do anything at all. The natural oils from your skin help condition the wood as you wear it, keeping it looking great with zero effort. That said, there are moments when a piece could use a little refresh. Maybe it's been sitting in a drawer for a while, or the surface looks slightly dull. When that happens, the right oil makes...

You know figured wood when you see it. The grain stops you mid-scroll. The patterns pull your eye. Something about the wood just looks different. Figuring refers to the patterns, textures, and optical effects in wood grain. Growth irregularities cause it. Genetics play a role. Environmental factors contribute. The result is wood that looks like art instead of building material. For jewelry, figuring matters more than it does for furniture or flooring. A ring face might be half an inch wide. A pendant might be an inch tall. That small canvas concentrates the figure. Every pattern shows up prominently. You're...