Christopher Harth describes himself as an American multi-disciplinary visual artist and designer, specializing in custom work using wood, metals and stone.

Born and raised in  Minnesota, he lives in  New York City (Fort Green, Brooklyn), where after working as  a photographers' assistant and doing some modeling, he returned to an early love, woodworking.

He has launched NYCutlery, making wood cutting boards and knife blades from reclaimed rotary saw blades, and setting them in carefully crafted wood handles of maple, buckthorn and reclaimed walnut from discarded furniture.

What's intriguing about Harth is his immersion in the heady world of the fast-paced New York creative environment, and his antidote for it - getting his hands dirty making things of wood and steel.In fact, he tells me he is avoiding press interviews right now. "I have a very long list of clients and need to focus my time on maximum productivity and attention to detail on their orders," Harth says.

He writes in his blog of discovering Buckthorn wood when helping eradicate it as an invasive species in his native Duluth, MN:

Here is some of Christopher Harth's work.

"The first Buckthorn I cut was about 4 inches in diameter and when it fell the color and contrast of the wood attracted me. I saved a couple of nice 6" diameter logs from the Buckthorn, and after the branches were all burned I took them home to experiment with. The wood is incredibly strong, has bright patterns with beautiful colors, and a close, even grain. From the first time I sawed one of the logs into small boards my imagination ran wild with the possibilities.

"Within two weeks I had advertised in the local paper that I was providing a service I called the Buckthorn Project. For a small fee I would remove Buckthorn for private property owners that were plagued with the thorny pest. After the cleanup I would take the logs and mill them for later use. I always imagined making furniture with the wood, but it never reached a large enough diameter to get good boards from. Fast forward ten years... I found the perfect use: knife handles. I am finally able to put that effort to good use.

We have also covered wood knife handle making in Custom Woodworking Business.

.