I was asked to make a couple of Cawl spoons - a traditional style spoon designed for eating Cawl, a Welsh traditional chunky soup ... google it!
In peaty areas the handle was often pointed but as we have no peat, only shale, in this area I gave them the wider handle - the point was to stick the spoon into a turf by the fire between uses.
Traditionally the bowl was deeper than a normal spoon, round to oval in shape and with a lip between bowl and handle. No two Cawl spoons were ever identical.
Woods that were traditionally used were ... what came to hand! Most common is Sycamore for its ease of carving and lack of its own flavour plus its anti-bacterial properties. These two are from a Sycamore we took down in my garden, carved green using saw, axe, Mora knives and spoon-knives by Dave Budd. The finish is sanded but showing the contours of some tool marks and oiled with Flaxseed oil.
In peaty areas the handle was often pointed but as we have no peat, only shale, in this area I gave them the wider handle - the point was to stick the spoon into a turf by the fire between uses.
Traditionally the bowl was deeper than a normal spoon, round to oval in shape and with a lip between bowl and handle. No two Cawl spoons were ever identical.
Woods that were traditionally used were ... what came to hand! Most common is Sycamore for its ease of carving and lack of its own flavour plus its anti-bacterial properties. These two are from a Sycamore we took down in my garden, carved green using saw, axe, Mora knives and spoon-knives by Dave Budd. The finish is sanded but showing the contours of some tool marks and oiled with Flaxseed oil.
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