Announcement   GRW is a small woodworking studio in Asheville, NC. We salvage interesting trees, finish large slabs, build bespoke furniture and strangely beautiful end grain butcher block islands, among other things. We are also the proud makers of Bee Good Wood Oil and Bee Good Wood Butter (wholesale orders available), a superior food safe oil & wax finish.

Items in the "Ready to Ship Now" section are limited and ephemeral; for everything else, current turnaround applies. Current turnaround is 3-4 weeks on all smaller items unless otherwise stated or arranged. We are typically booked 3-4 months out, at a minimum, for larger custom items.

Our furniture is in many local residences and businesses, including Foundation Woodworks Gallery. We deliver regionally and ship all over the country. Locally here in Asheville, our unique end grain blocks, pizza peels, Bee Good Wood Oil and Butter may be found at Foundation, Villagers, Asheville Hardware, Klingspor, Bee Charmer, and more. We build wood tops for local bars and restaurants, have butcher blocks in Etsy's own office kitchen, and island tops in the homes of Hollywood icons, politicians and thousands of hard-chopping, appreciative folks world-wide.

Please don't hesitate to ask about my sliding scale based on need, visit shop "policies" for much more information and stay in touch (yes, we're on facebook, twitter, instagram). Normal standard turnaround for medium-size items is 2-3 weeks unless otherwise arranged or noted.

When it comes to experiencing the warmth and elegance of functional woodwork, we all deserve better than the mass-produced and environmentally unsustainable. Take for instance the ubiquitous, knife-destroying so-called "green" bamboo (grass) cutting board, pressed full of untested chemical compounds and shipped halfway around the world to your local health-food supermarket, or the generic overpriced and poorly-made sweat shop IKEA widget.

Whether you desire an entire kitchen counter, island top, a custom-built chef quality butcher block, table top or floating mantel, set of specialty shelves or something entirely original in nearly any kind of wood, every piece I design & build is personally tailored, quality construction from start to finish with an equal eye to functionality and aesthetics.

In this day and age, the vast majority of us find it increasingly hard to actually get what we pay for. That is, to do a little research and invest more wisely, when the only options are between three versions of a piece of crap that breaks and something priced only for millionaires or fetishists. The great bulk of my material is reclaimed locally, or salvaged from local custom cabinet and furniture woodworking shops, including my own, and the rest is from sustainable and highly conscientious milling operations. Nearly every piece of wood that comes into my shop ends up being transformed and leaving in more enlightened form to serve someone with pride, somewhere.

While I work hard to keep my pieces affordable, end grain construction is quite more demanding and labor-intensive than your average face grain cutting board or serving platter. End grain does constitute a significant investment. The investment is worthy because of the unparalleled performance and endurance of the result (and accompanying beauty), and so despite the extra work and wear on my tools, I have very consciously decided to focus on making end grain boards that are genuine heirlooms, worthy tools and companions, uniquely beautiful but also built to perform.

Please don't hesitate to ask me about my sliding scale based on need. Discounts are regularly offered to teachers, public intellectuals and anyone who works hard for relatively small reward in positive service to others. But you have to speak up, first.

A large food preparing and chopping surface is truly one of the most rewarding and increasingly pleasurable investments for any kitchen: relatively non-scarring and self-healing, they are able to hold their beauty up to decades if not generations of hard work while keeping your good cutlery as sharp as possible. Life meets art in a tool for which our appreciation only deepens. Something we can depend on every day and also enjoy using and caring for. Just ask any of my thousands of grateful customers around the country and the world.

Raised in the post & beam Vermont home designed by my father, I unwittingly followed my great-great-grandfather's path and moved to the cradle of forestry around the turn of the century, and have been building new homes and remodeling, doing finish carpentry and custom cabinetry for over 18 years now; still learning all the time, with a singular focus since 2008 on my own business.


Matt Christie
West Asheville, North Carolina
GreenRiverWoods.Com
greenriverwoods [at] gmail.com
828-450-4535