~ Company History ~
Handmade wooden
spoons, ladles, dippers, bowls, breadboards, trenchers,
mixing paddles and many other types of woodenware have
been made by craftsmen and used by cooks and bakers for
hundreds of years in all the nations of the world.
In 1978 my wife,
Debbie, asked me to make her a wooden spoon that wouldn't
break. With only a homemade band saw and an antique wood
lathe, I met her challenge and produced our first wooden
spoon. In 1984 I realized my dream of a full-time
woodworking business with The Carpenter Shop—
designing and constructing custom furniture, doing millwork,
and making wooden spoons. Being encouraged by the
enthusiastic response of those who purchased our
woodenware, in 1991 The Carpenter Shop was
retooled solely for the designing and making of Whetstone
Woodenware.™ At the present we are producing over
100 products that are sold in catalogs, kitchen stores,
hardware stores, museum stores, and in our own 2 retail
stores. We also enjoy the privilege of working with some
of the largest living history museums in the USA;
crafting historical reproductions from their archives
which are then sold in their museum gift stores.
Our skilled
craftsmen make Whetstone Woodenware™ from kiln dried hard maple. And after 17 hand
operations and a final polishing, the products are
treated with mineral oil. The hard maple tree is grown
and milled in the USA; our main lumber source is only 10
miles away from our shop. In 1999 total production at our
Silver Lake facility was just over 37,300 pieces.
Thank
you, for purchasing our genuine Whetstone
Woodenware.™
John B. Whetstone
|
The
Media
In 1996 we
participated in The QVC Quest for the Best 50/50
Local Tour. Appearing live to potentially 40 million
viewers, we sold 840 three-piece sets
of our Tapered Wooden Spoons.
In 1997, WFYI
- PBS Channel 20 of Indianapolis, featured us on
their award winning program, Across Indiana.
The segment was also incorporated into their cook
book The Best from Across Indiana.
Our
Woodenware has been sold in Early American
Homes magazine, promoted in Country Living
magazine, and in the following catalogs: Lehman’s Hardware, Cumberland General Store, King Arthur Baker’s, and The Wooden Spoon.
Outlets
Our product
is sold in the following museum gift shops: The
Henry Ford/Greenfield Village Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan; Old Sturbridge Museum in Massachusetts;
Old Salem Museum, at the J Blum Printer Merchant
Shop in Winston/Salem, North Carolina; American
Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia;
Mackinac State Historic Parks in Northern
Michigan; Sauder Farm and Craft Village in
Archbold, Ohio; Jamestown Settlement in
Williamsburg, Virginia; Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia; The New
Salem Lincoln League in Petersburg, Illinois; and The
Indiana Historical Society in the Historic Market
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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Making Fine Wooden Spoons Since 1991
