A spooncarving day (very pic heavy)

[Harvestman]

I was invited by Dean of this parish to spend a day with him in order to further my spoon carving skills, his being significantly better than mine as anyone on here who has seen our respective work will agree. Naturally I agreed, so we fixed a day and today was it. I drove a few valleys west to his place, and was shown up through some pleasant countryside to a nice little sheltered spot.

First order of the day was a brew. First of many.

Then we acquired ourselves a bit of birch with which to create our masterpieces.

Dean set about splitting the wood, and we decided on our respective plans. I was initially a bit puzzled by what to do with mine it seems, but soon got going with the axe.

Dean preferred to use an old billhook, which he was very proficient with. His saw did seem to give up on us though

My roughed out shape. Anyone for lacrosse?

Then we settled down to the serious carving. Note the look of intense concentration my face . I may have been a bit ambitious - this spoon was at least twice the size of anything that I had tried previously.

Here's Dean's spoon, halfway through the day. I forgot to take one of how it looked at the end.

And here's mine at the end of the day.

Both spoons need to dry out a bit now before further work can be done on them for final refinement and finishing. Updates will be added in due course. It was an excellent day, and under Dean's patient guidance I learned several new cuts and some excellent tips, such that my future spoons should be an improvement on my previous efforts. My thanks to Dean for his generous offer, his time, his tea, the use of his knives, and for taking the pictures of me.

 

[Niels]

See what I mean? Right when I'm looking there's a new thread from you. Lovely work and nice photo's. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Clouston98]

Nice work. I like the shape of your spoon looks great for a soup or stew.

 

[Harvestman]

"Hello? Yes. I'd like to know how you take out a restraining order..."

 

[Kepis]

Looks like a quality day chaps - nice one

 

[HHazeldean]

Those are some great photos there, the spoon looks really good too, unusual shape imo but looks awesome

 

[Harvestman]

Those are some great photos there, the spoon looks really good too, unusual shape imo but looks awesome

Thanks. there was a natural kink in the log, which I used to get the angle for the bowl. I just saw it and thought "big ladle!"

When I took it home my wife was very impressed with the size of my implement

 

[ozzy1977]

Nice work, but I am a bit worried that you appear to be using the ground as a chopping block. interesting looking seat, is it made out of a hammock?

 

[HHazeldean]

Thanks. there was a natural kink in the log, which I used to get the angle for the bowl. I just saw it and thought "big ladle!"

When I took it home my wife was very impressed with the size of my implement

Well thats handy then! Its a cool shape, I like it.

Hahaha oh dear.........

 

[Harvestman]

Nice work, but I am a bit worried that you appear to be using the ground as a chopping block. interesting looking seat, is it made out of a hammock?

It isn't clear but there was a tree root there to give me a solid base. It just has a thin layer of moss over it.

The hammock chair is just a sheet of heavy blue cotton with channels sewn into it at each end. I use some hammock tape to secure it at the sitting end, and some paracord with an adjustable knot to tie it to another tree. I find it extremely comfortable, though perhaps it isn't ideal for carving in.

 

[copper_head]

Looks like a good day out and a nice spoon to boot.... But where's the Tilley ? I am shocked

 

[Harvestman]

Looks like a good day out and a nice spoon to boot.... But where's the Tilley ? I am shocked

I was taking the opportunity to demonstrate that I still have a full head of hair (and test the glue on the hairpiece).

The Tilley was there, never fear. I took it off when we arrived at the site because I was hot (a.k.a. unfit), and forgot to put it back on. Somehow I don't look right without it.

 

[copper_head]

I was taking the opportunity to demonstrate that I still have a full head of hair (and test the glue on the hairpiece).

The Tilley was there, never fear. I took it off when we arrived at the site because I was hot (a.k.a. unfit), and forgot to put it back on. Somehow I don't look right without it.

Good to hear, thought we had a doppelganger in our midst.

 

[Dean]

It was a good day with great company, lucky for us the weather stayed rather mild and the sun came out frequently. Mike is a very knowledgeable guy, during the day I picked up some useful titbits of infomation about bugs, plants and trees. Am glad that your wife was impressed with your implement as you call it and would like to thank you for coming over and cannot wait to see your next spoon.

Here is a picture of the spoon I was making after a slow start the spoon took on shape and form.
Mmmm time for a cuppa.

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[Dreadhead]

looks like a nice relaxing day, and certainly better spoons than any i have ever made!

 

[Big Stu 12]

Nice work , thank you for sharing

 

[Two Socks]

That looks like a good time! Nice work too.

 

[Harvestman]

Ok, my spoon is finished.

For scale, that's a 2 litre Dutch army water bottle. This is a big spoon.

A few detail shots. There's nothing like a big spoon to show the imperfections in your technique, and I'm not entirely happy with the bowl, but I'm pleased with the way the handle joins to the bowl. The birch wood doesn't show much grain, but there are sufficient dark flecks in the wood to add some interest. I've given it a coat of warm walnut oil, which picked out those flecks but didn't darken the wood.

This has been a great experience and I have learned lots. Many thanks to Dean for getting me onto this, as I would never have made a spoon of this size without his prompting.

 

[Eragon21]

Good work there HH - I do like the detail on the back of the spoon

 

[Dean]

Looks good Mike. I would'nt worry about the bowl it looks great. We as carvers tend to have a go at ourselves about imperfections we leave in our work, what you don't like about this one try to ammend in your next one and remember we're all still learning.