French rolling pins are simple clean lined, beautiful kitchen tools! If you love to make pastries, bake bread, or craft cookies, then a tapered french rolling pin will be a pleasure for you to use! This rolling pin is made from an extremely beautiful wood called Zebrawood. A west/central African hardwood, zebrawood has long been prized for its stunning grain and density. Unfortunately Zebrawood is hard to find on order the west coast of British Columbia! We were lucky enough to find a small supplier who was able to get us a few pieces for a limited run of rolling pins! Aside from the stunning grain pattern and rarity, Zebrawood offers some unique challenges when working with it, its dense interlocking grain means that only the sharpest tool with work and the high silica content means it dulls all tools! This means that we have to take special care when working with it.
The process of making our rolling pins is actually quite complex! Unlike many of our rolling pins we produce these a bit differently. We start with several thinner boards and glue them together using a high strength, waterproof glue that is also food safe. Once we get the boards glued up the process of working them is similar to other rolling pins. We then cut these sections out into smaller slabs. These slabs are then run through a thickness planer to get the desired thickness and then we rip them into rolling pin blanks which are generally 2" by 2" by 23" long. This is where the fun begins! We mark the ends of the rolling pins so we know where the center is and then mount it on the lathe. We start on the lathe by knocking the corners down until it is round with a series of gouges. From there we use a very sharp skew chisel to remove fine cuts and shape the tapers. We then slice the ends off and sand them down so that there are no marks on the ends of the rolling pins. We then coat them with a foodsafe wax and oil mix, taking care to not add to much so the finish remains thin, but protective so it doesn't feel like a heavy finish is on it. We then buff the pin and get it ready to ship to your home for many years of use! Please note these are example photos only, you will receive a similar pin, please contact us if you would like to see a preview of your pin before shipping.
Dimensions (approximate dimensions) : W - 18" to 20" H - 1 1/2"
Product code: Handmade Zebrawood French Rolling Pin order