Skip to content
Inkwell & Oak
Cart, 0 items

Engraved in Toronto · Proofed before we cut

Their initials, your words, cut to last

Walnut boards, leather wallets, star maps and hand-drawn pet portraits - each one made to order in our Junction workshop. Choose a font, add initials and a date, and we email a proof before the laser touches a thing.

Find a giftHow personalising works

Font stylesClassic serifFlowing scriptModern block

An engraved walnut serving board with a couple’s initials and wedding date

Proof № 0412Classic serif

A & R

14 · 02 · 2026

Approved - ready to engrave

  • Proof before productionA digital proof of every engraving within one business day. Nothing is cut until you approve it.
  • Remade free if we slipIf an engraving doesn’t match your approved proof, we remake it at no cost - no return needed.
  • Wrapped and taggedKraft paper, cotton ribbon and a handwritten gift tag on every order, at no extra charge.

Gift by recipient

Who’s it for?

Every collection

How personalisation works

Three steps, and nothing is cut until you say so

Every gift we make is a small commission. That’s why each one starts with a proof - the same way a printer or a sign-writer would work.

  1. 1

    Choose & personalise

    Pick the piece, a font style and the wording - initials, names, a date or a line of your own. Type it exactly as you’d like it cut.

    Font style
    Classic serif
    Initials
    A & R
    Date
    14 · 02 · 2026
  2. 2

    Approve your proof

    Within one business day we email a proof set at actual size. Change the spacing, the date format or the ampersand as often as you like.

    Proof № 0412 sentApproved the next morning, 08:41
  3. 3

    We engrave & wrap

    Only after you approve do we cut, stamp or print. It leaves the workshop in kraft paper with a handwritten tag, ready to give.

    Engraved, wrapped, on its wayKraft paper · handwritten tag

Most gifted this season

Ready for a name

All gifts
Engraved Walnut Serving Board - detail view 2

On the proofing bench

Engraved Walnut Serving Board

Ontario black walnut, initials and a date

CA$89Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 612 reviews

A single plank of Ontario black walnut, planed to 2 cm, edge-rounded by hand and finished with four coats of food-safe mineral oil and beeswax. We engrave your initials, names or a short line plus a date across the lower third, so the board still works hard on the counter and looks its best on the wall.

Font style

  • Classic serif
  • Flowing script
  • Modern block

Personalisation

  • Initials
  • Initials + date
  • Names + date
Timber
Ontario black walnut, single plank, 2 cm thick
Finish
Food-safe mineral oil and beeswax, four coats
Engraving
Laser-engraved to 0.6 mm; up to 3 lines of 24 characters
Sizes
Medium 40 × 22 cm · Large 50 × 26 cm, with a leather hanging loop
Personalise yoursHow proofs work

Notes from the workshop

Made slowly, checked twice

  1. A printed engraving proof pinned beside a walnut board on the workshop desk

    № 01

    From the proofing desk

    Why we send a proof for a two-letter monogram

    Because “A & R” and “R & A” are different marriages. Every order lands on Mira’s desk, gets set in your chosen font at actual size and comes back to you as a proof - usually within a working day. Change the spacing, swap the date format, move the ampersand. We only cut when you write back “approved”.

    Read how proofs work
  2. An oak family name sign leaning beside a front door

    № 02

    The new-home edit

    Gifts for the first night in a new place

    A family name sign for the front porch, a pair of engraved keyrings for the new keys, and a walnut board for the first dinner on boxes. Our new-home pieces are cut from Ontario-grown oak and walnut, oiled by hand and wrapped so they can go straight from the doorstep to the housewarming.

    Shop new-home gifts

Best loved

Kept in drawers for decades

Rated 4.8 out of 54.8 from 3,483 gift-givers

The Inkwell & Oak workshop bench with walnut boards waiting to be engraved

The Junction, Toronto · Since 2016

A sign-maker, an illustrator and one very old laser

Inkwell & Oak began in a shared studio off Dundas Street West, where a sign-maker with a second-hand laser and an illustrator who drew dogs for friends started making wedding gifts for people they knew - then for people those people knew.

We still work in the Junction, and we still treat every order as a commission. Wood comes from Ontario mills, leather from a family tannery in Québec, and every name, date and set of initials is set and proofed by a person before it is cut, stamped or printed.

Proofs sent and approved
61,000+
Typical time to your proof
1 day
Engraving line, on walnut
0.1 mm
Inside the workshop

Gift notes

What came back after the wrapping came off

  • “I typed our initials the wrong way round at 1 a.m. The proof caught it before anything was cut - and the board that arrived is now the best thing in our kitchen.”
    Priya RamanWalnut serving board, Leslieville
  • “They drew Biscuit from six blurry phone photos and somehow got the ear that never stands up properly. My mum cried, which was the plan.”
    Daniel OkaforPet portrait commission, Hamilton
  • “We ordered forty keyrings as wedding favours with every guest’s initial. Every single one was right, and each came in its own little tagged envelope.”
    Hannah & Luc BergeronWedding order, Montréal

Fresh off the bench

New Arrivals

The newest pieces from the Junction workshop: a stoneware mug glazed and monogrammed in three colours, a full-grain leather journal, a name-stamped collar for the dog of the house and a bowl to match.

Everything new

The Gift Ledger

Never miss a date worth engraving

One letter a month: new pieces, holiday order deadlines and a gentle nudge before the anniversaries and birthdays you tell us about. No countdown timers, and you can leave from any letter.

One letter a month, plus the date reminders you ask for.