On a roll!

My mother used to say, "It's a poor workman who blames his tools."  That's probably true, but the opposite is also true. You need good tools to do good work.

My brother just made me a really good tool. He's a woodworker. We share the creative gene. We just prefer different media.

The rolling pin he turned for me on his lathe is made from zirocote (the central dark brown part) and the handles are made from maple. The maple comes from a tree that we both know. How cool is that?

The centre part of the rolling pin has a special feature. It is recessed by 1/4 in. When you roll out your cookie dough, you can easily get it uniformly thick, just by rolling until the rings at the ends touch the counter top. Cool, or what?

Now, I have no excuse. All my cookies will be the same thickness. And I probably owe my brother a few dozen cookies.