I have carved my first spoon!
On Friday, our neighbour had a crew in to trim their Locust tree. It is a huge tree and it overhangs my backyard, and keeps the summer sun from heating their house and in part our house and backyard. I have always found the leaf patterns of a Locust tree fascinating, and was very pleased to learn this was the type of tree beside me. I spoke to the neighbour the day before asking if I could keep some wood, and he was fine to have the crew leave a load of branches on my side of the fence. Early Friday morning, the tree surgeons hopped from limb to limb brandishing small saws and I asked them to leave the wood on a flagstone beside my potato patch.
The wood is surprisingly heavy, a hard wood surpassing the density and with a more compact grain of birch. I started on a small branch, and hacked away at the bark, trying to peel it off. My first efforts were disappointing, and I thought I would just give up - the debarking was initially messy and stubborn. It took a while for me to get down to the cambium and soon I was able to strip off the wood by using my Gransfors-Bruks Small Forest Axe, which I had stropped to razor-sharpness early last week.
You will see photos of my spoon along with more details at my blog! Look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
Cheers,
Mungo.
On Friday, our neighbour had a crew in to trim their Locust tree. It is a huge tree and it overhangs my backyard, and keeps the summer sun from heating their house and in part our house and backyard. I have always found the leaf patterns of a Locust tree fascinating, and was very pleased to learn this was the type of tree beside me. I spoke to the neighbour the day before asking if I could keep some wood, and he was fine to have the crew leave a load of branches on my side of the fence. Early Friday morning, the tree surgeons hopped from limb to limb brandishing small saws and I asked them to leave the wood on a flagstone beside my potato patch.
The wood is surprisingly heavy, a hard wood surpassing the density and with a more compact grain of birch. I started on a small branch, and hacked away at the bark, trying to peel it off. My first efforts were disappointing, and I thought I would just give up - the debarking was initially messy and stubborn. It took a while for me to get down to the cambium and soon I was able to strip off the wood by using my Gransfors-Bruks Small Forest Axe, which I had stropped to razor-sharpness early last week.
You will see photos of my spoon along with more details at my blog! Look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
Cheers,
Mungo.
