A cut list is arithmetic that hasn’t happened to the wood yet.

The document a client actually gets

The shop drawing

Before a board is bought, Adaeze drafts a to-scale elevation of the piece — front and side, dimensioned, at a stated scale. This is the actual drawing for The Blue Ridge Dining Table, the commission demonstration this whole page is built around.

Download the drawing (SVG)

Every piece, its own numbers

Dimensions

Overall width × depth × height, plus seat height, apron clearance or leaf capacity where a piece actually has one — not every piece needs the same fields.

The document that doesn't exist until the drawing is approved

Cut list & bill of materials

A board foot is bought before the piece exists — (thickness in × width in × length ft) ÷ 12 — and this is the cut list for The Blue Ridge Dining Table, computed against the drawing above, not typed in from a guess.

Bill of materials

Furniture-grade projects add roughly 15% waste on top of the net cut list for sawing around checks, sapwood and grain runout — 20% on rough or lower-grade stock. No dollar figure is shown here on purpose: material cost is board feet × a lumber price that moves with the yard, and that multiplication only happens once, at ordering, against a real invoice.

Kiln-dried moisture-content record

Every board checked against the shop's 6–8% target the moment it comes off the truck — kiln-dried is a target a mill dries to, not a guaranteed state, so it gets verified before a joint is cut.

It never stops the way a fired pot does

Wood movement

Cellulose is hygroscopic: a board's width changes with the season, for the life of the piece — not once, like a kiln firing, but continuously.

The formula

width × (species shrinkage % ÷ fiber-saturation point) × Δ moisture content — tangential shrinkage (parallel to the growth rings, the wide face of most boards) runs roughly 6–10% green-to-oven-dry; radial shrinkage (through the rings) runs about half that. Longitudinal movement, along the grain, is under 0.1% and treated as zero.

Worked example: the tabletop

Run against The Blue Ridge Dining Table's widest panel — the 42″ top — using white oak's own published tangential-shrinkage coefficient, not a rounded-off "solid wood moves" shrug.

This is why breadboard ends, floating panels and elongated screw slots exist — see joinery below. Quartersawn boards move roughly half as much across their width as flatsawn boards from the same log, which is why the breadboard ends and legs above are quartersawn even though the top itself is flatsawn for figure.

Three species, one shop

Species & hardness

Black walnut, white oak and ash — every piece on this page is one of the three, chosen for working properties, not just colour.

Comparison

What holds, and why

Joinery

Five terms, what each does, and what fails without it.

Mortise & tenon

A tongue (tenon) cut on one part fits a matching slot (mortise) cut into another — the basic structural joint of almost every piece on this page. Fails without it: the joint relies on glue alone, and glue alone doesn’t survive a chair or table’s racking stress.

Breadboard end

A narrow strip capping the end grain of a wide panel, pinned (not glued) so the panel can move under it — the joint that lets a tabletop widen and narrow with the seasons without splitting. Fails without it: end grain left exposed checks and cups within a year or two.

Drawbore

A mortise-and-tenon pin hole bored slightly offset between the two parts, so driving the peg pulls the joint tight without clamps or glue. Fails without it: a glued-only tenon can creep loose over decades of seasonal movement; a drawbored one mechanically can’t.

Through-tenon

A tenon cut long enough to pass completely through the receiving part and show on the far face, often wedged there. Fails without it (i.e., a blind tenon in its place): less glue surface and less mechanical lock on a stretcher or leg that takes real load.

Dovetail

Interlocking trapezoidal pins and tails cut into two case corners, mechanically resisting the pulling-apart force a loaded drawer or case side puts on a joint. Fails without it: a butt-jointed or nailed case corner works loose exactly where the load is highest.

Hardwax oil vs. conversion varnish

Finish schedule

Two finish systems, stated with real dry and cure times — not "a few coats of finish."

Two finish systems

Applying the finish, in order

1. Sand through the grits Through 120, then 150, then 180 grit, raising the grain between the last two passes.
2. Tack off the dust Wipe down with a tack cloth — no sanding dust caught in the grain lines before the first coat.
3. Apply the first coat Work hardwax oil into the grain with a lint-free applicator, end grain last.
4. Buff off the excess After 15–20 minutes, buff off every trace of standing oil — what’s left on the surface is what streaks.
5. Let it dry 24 hours before recoating — see the finish schedule above.
6. Apply the second coat Same method, then buff again.
7. Full cure 7 days before the piece sees normal use — water and cleaning wait until then.

Caring for solid wood

1. Wipe spills immediately A soft, dry cloth — standing liquid is what actually damages a finish, not the spill itself.
2. Use coasters and trivets Under anything hot, wet or cold, every time.
3. Hold indoor humidity steady 35–55% relative humidity year-round where you can — this is what the wood-movement math above is computed against.
4. Dust dry or barely damp Skip silicone- or wax-based sprays; they build up and complicate a future re-coat.
5. Expect the breadboard ends to move A little seasonal give at the ends is the joint doing its job, not a defect — don’t clamp or glue it shut.
6. Re-oil worn areas yearly Hardwax oil only; conversion varnish doesn’t need this step. See the finish schedule above for which this piece has.

Lead time is a consequence, not an inconvenience

Commission process & lead time

How a commission moves

1. Inquiry Piece type, rough dimensions and timeline, shared through the form below.
2. Design & shop drawing Adaeze drafts the to-scale elevation you see above this page’s cut list, sized to your piece.
3. 50% deposit Due on approval of the drawing — this is what starts the clock on lead time, not the inquiry.
4. Material selection & cut list Species and sawing method confirmed per part; the cut list — and its board footage — comes from the approved drawing, not before.
5. Build Joinery cut, dry-fit, glued up, inside the lead-time band for your piece’s size.
6. Finish & cure Hardwax oil or conversion varnish applied per the finish schedule, then cured before delivery.
7. Delivery & install Balance due on delivery, within about a day’s drive of Asheville.

“The drawing Adaeze sent us before we’d paid a dollar for materials told us more about the table than any showroom floor model ever could — species, joinery, even how much the top would move in our house. My husband and I signed off on the drawing, not a guess.” — Marcus & Rebecca Coyle, commission clients, Asheville, NC

Lead time by size

Already built, already costed

Current stock

Fixed price, distinct from the commission section's withheld price — these pieces exist, so their cut lists already happened.

Sideboard · Black walnut

The Currituck Sideboard

64"W × 19"D × 32"H

$4,200

Credenza · White oak

The Pisgah Credenza

58"W × 18"D × 28"H

$3,850

Console table · Ash

The Watauga Console Table

48"W × 14"D × 30"H

$1,650

Bench · Black walnut

The Catawba Bench

58"W × 14"D × 18"H

$980

Asheville, on purpose

About the workshop

Training & background

Adaeze Okafor trained in fine woodworking before opening her own shop — the kind of program Asheville has room for because the city has quietly become a real craft-furniture hub, home to the Center for Craft and Warren Wilson College's fine woodworking program. That's not incidental to where the shop is — it's most of why it's here.

The shop

A small shop on 118 Depot St, Unit 6, Asheville — hand tools within reach of the bench, a moisture meter that gets used on every board before it's cut, and machines sized for one person running them.

Sourcing

Kiln-dried lumber bought from regional hardwood yards within a day's drive, checked against the 6–8% target on arrival — see the moisture-content record above for exactly what that check looks like on a real order.

Wholesale & press

LinkedIn is fastest, email works too — see contact below.

Start a commission

Commission inquiry

Piece type, rough dimensions and timeline — enough for Adaeze to reply with what happens next, not a price.

Full Shop Drawing Set →