- making a very specialist piece of kitchen equipment - a ham stand for a Serrano ham
- a comparison of shop-bought versus hand-made carving knives
- scrounging pugs being made to leap for their supper (shamefully merely that I can have a laugh!)
Here is a preposterously large ham. I was given this on leaving a job recently - one of the most thoughtful presents I've ever had. It is HUGE and weighs 6.5 kilos.
These hams need support when carving and hilariously, there is a specific traditional ham-stand for them. This post shows how I made one and then testing out various knives to see which carves the best. Finally, the greedy pug is shown mid-air attempting to grab ham slices from my fingers.
Here is the finished board. Also shown is a 14" (35cm) carving knife I made especially for this ham. Just realised I haven't written that up yet. It's cobbled crafted from a saw blade and a log - but that is for another post...
Making the ham board
These are pretty simple things - a solid plank for the base and an upright for the hoof, with a few metal fittings to finish it off, and thus... to the shed!
Happily I keep scavenged stuff that contains good raw materials for unknown future use. And so it was, that in the shed I found an oak drawer-front that I'd long ago salvaged from a fucked old chest of drawers. Base plank solved.
While at it, I removed these two rather good old-style handles. They in turn will sit in a drawer for years waiting for their moment...
I had a good oak piece for the upright - a plank, which a few years ago I'd cut off an old fence post found in a hedge. This was even better wood than the drawer, though a little worse for wear, having been out in the elements for decades as a post, and having had nails hammered into it and so on. Super strong though.
Here it is in the vice. You can see the curve for the foot rest (so to speak) prior to cutting.
To fix the upright to the plank I went for a double mortice and tenon joint. Super strong and no wobble. Here are the mortices, routed out.
They needed cleaning up and squaring off...
with a more traditional mortice chisel (note, only one bevel) ...
Here is the joint being tested for fit. Needed a mallet to get this in, and thus rock-solid
The final fit. So tight, no glue was required. You can see the colour difference between a fairly recent oak (maybe 25 old) and a very old weathered piece (possibly a century old) - much darker...
Next up were the final metal fittings. By convenient chance, I had just skipped a piece of stainless steel from outside my local fireplace shop. Out with the long-handled tin snips...
This bit is the former, for the leg holder on the bottom plank after cutting and filing...
It was quite soft, and thus easy to file, drill and shape. Here it is, being hammered into a curve, on the horn of the anvil...
And a similar piece was cut for the hoof-end top bar. The rather crude nails hold the leg in place and prevent turning as you carve...
The finished ham board in the shed...
And in the kitchen, with ham in position, alongside the ham carving knife...
Carve-off!
Somewhat unnecessarily, I thought it would be good to see how well shop-bought and hand-made knives compare in effectiveness at carving. From top to bottom, here are:
- 14" (35cm) serrated ham carver I made from a saw and an ash log, especially for this ham
- 12" (30cm) Solingen-made carbon-steel specialist carver I bought decades ago
- 10" (25cm) ham carver I had made previously from a bike D-lock and an oak plank
- 10" (25cm) John Lewis serrated bread knife
...and the results were (drum roll)...
actually, pretty much the same. The longer blades edged it (sorry) over the shorter ones slightly - as they allow a much longer languorous cut, but the real result was that cutting thin slices is much more dependent on technique (assuming your knives are all equally sharp).
And finally...
This ham is so big, I'll be eating it for ages (a few days minimum - ha ha)
Someone else was interested in eating it too. I was touched by trusty pug Betty's willingness to help out. Her concern for objective comparison of ham slicers merited some offcuts.
Who am I to resist those eyes?
So, in the spirit of sharing, we shared the trimmings cut in the test
Still, I confess I did make her jump for her supper...
Go for it, bug-eyes...
she's keen...
expertly taken...
The eyes, so focussed...
In my defence, the exercise is good for her :)
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