Another beech spoon

[tombear]

Just walnut oiled this beech spoon

I thought about carving the handle, which is about a inch wide but it occurred to me to see if my father, who has to use those super chunky handled cutlery, would want it as a user. Carvings would make it harder to keep clean I reckon.

Clamped up in the background is a mini, 7.5inch dia, washing copper style lid I'm making for the replica brass trade kettle I got a while back. I was kindly given some 1/2 inch ash boards to make the liner for a longseax and there was one piece left. So I've spilt that with the lads shiny new bandsaw into 1/4 inch thick boards and one 1/2 inch strip I'm using to make a handle. I've glued it up with some model aircraft grade white glue and in a few hours i'll unclamp and drill holes for the pegs that will hold the strips on.

atb

Tom

 

[Fraxinus]

That bears the hallmark of being roughed out on the new toy........ looks very crisp, nice detail where the handle meets the bowl too.

Rob.

 

[tombear]

Sadly that one was half done before we put the saw together so it took ages to get into shape, if I'd waited a couple of days I could have whipped it into shape in minutes!.

The saw is proving a massive time saver, the guide thing isn't perfectly 90 degrees so ill have to get the square out and adjust it with a shim. It only showed up when I was splitting a 3 inch wide 1/2 inch board into 2 quarter inch ones. They've allowed for such adjustments.

ATB

Tom

 

[Tony]

Nice spoon mate,

 

[Robson Valley]

Have to admire the matching sweeps, the curves, in the bowl and the handle = great design concept.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Lovely spoon that.

 

[Fraxinus]

The saw is proving a massive time saver, the guide thing isn't perfectly 90 degrees so ill have to get the square out and adjust it with a shim. It only showed up when I was splitting a 3 inch wide 1/2 inch board into 2 quarter inch ones. They've allowed for such adjustments.

ATB

Tom

One workshop trick, from working in various woodshops with all kinds of bandsaw tat , is to mark a straight line on a piece of board and cut it freehand along the line, two thirds of the way hold it in position and switch off saw then set the guide fence to the angle of the board all further straight cuts should be parallel to the fence. Different blades may require you to do the process again as tooth set and size have an effect as does poor welding of the band often heard as a clicking type noise as the join goes through the guides or against the thrust wheel. Blade tension can also have an impact, I work on a good twaaang sound but being tone deaf I can't say if it is middle C or completely F#.....

Rob.

 

[OurAmericanCousin]

Now that is a fine spoon, right there.

 

[tombear]

Cheers !

One thing, suffering from wood poverty I've been using up a green beech log I was given. It's been a lovely wood to carve but on several occasions , even though there's a decent thickness of wood left it looks like I'm about to go though, having taken on board the bit about thin sections deforming not cracking and trying to get the bowls as thin as I can. It's most noticeable when you hold the job up to the light. Is this normal for beech?

atb

Tom

 

[humdrum_hostage]

That looks too good to use

 

[Wayne]

Nice spoon. As already said the union of bowl and handle is lovely.
Not sure I like the square edges on the handle they don't match the lovely sweep.

The joy of seeing other peoples work is getting to see different methods and designs.

 

[tombear]

Cheers! Yeah I may round the edges off, I see what you mean. Or curve top and bottom so they join in a blunt convex knife edge each side.

At one point I considered narrowing the vertical plan of the handle to a third of a inch but in a gentle S shape. The thing sort of evolved into the current shape.

Next ill get back to a set of spalted sycamore cawl spoons I started in Wales in August last. I still need to find a bigger bit to do the ladle.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Hi folks a while back I turned a nostpinne for a friend of herself and I showed it to my father. For various reasons he has
difficulty holding, well anything, cutlery and has to use the sort with super chunky handles. He commented that the handle I turned was easy to hold so I've decided to make him a set of KFS in the same style so I've been turning a few handles today, making them different so he can tell me which works best for him, then I can make him a best set.

Left to right, plum heart wood, spalted sycamore, unknown branch I found, same, bit of ash left over pick axe handle from which we hafted the middle sons replica saxon axe, spalted sycamore and beech. Tomorrow ill finish them on the belt sander, get and cut down to stick tangs some charity shop cutlery and mount them. Finnish will be yacht varnish to make them easy to keep clean.

atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

Finished the trial versions. We are taking them over today and after he's tried them for a few days ill. make up a best set with matching handles.

ATB

Tom

 

[Fraxinus]

Brilliant idea Tom, the spalted sycamore knife is my favourite one, it jumps out at me for some reason.

Rob.

 

[tombear]

Cheers! We're just back from seeing my folks and he likes them. The plum knife he's already rejected as too big to be comfortable ( no suprise, ill knock the blade off and use it as a tool handle, the woods too nice to waste ) and he will use the rest before deciding on the final shape.

i really like the spalted sycamore myself, that's about the last of the bits I have inside. I was originally given some logs to see if they were right to do a hat blank from but unfortunately they had too many splits. One I hacked up to make spoon blanks, which I kept inside and the others went on the wood pile. I think I better dig the others out and see if I can split off some good bits for turning between cracks.

atb

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

Great result. Did he happen to note which of the handles felt the most comfortable?
I know now that for me, a handle diameter of 7/8" is easy to hold. Less than 3/4" is uncomfortable.
My hands are slowly but surely becoming arthritic. Harder and harder to pinch a pencil.

 

[tombear]

Cheers! To make sure his going to use them for a few days but its looking like the narrower ones, at about a inch Dia are most comfortable. When we go over next I'll get his feedback, whether he wants the metal parts longer or bent to a certain angle on the spoons and fork etc. The bought invalid KFS he's had so far have been rather flimsy but thankfully good old heavy Sheffield cutlery is plentiful in charity shops for about 10 pence a pop and its easy enough to saw, grind and file the handles to shape and the polishing wheel brings them up almost as new. A simple drilled pilot hole and a few minutes work with my beloved Permagrit files to make the slots for the tangs means I just have to tap them together for a really tight fit. Naturally my heart was in my mouth incase they split in the process but none did I'm happy to say.

With my Dad its a case of bad arthritis, white finger from drilling underground and late onset type 2 diabetes.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Braving the last wisps of snow I retrieved the two least cracked scycamore logs ( mainly rejected as too narrow to turn into the hat block I wanted to do at the time) and attacked them with the good old electric saw.

Although they weren't long enough to do the handles I want to go I thought I'd have a go at turning the hollow part of the oatcake making ladles, just to get the hang of it.

The spalted sycamore isn't really suitable for turning at my level,even with very sharp tools and a relatively slow speed there's a tendency for the soft patches to tear. Still the bowl came out ok, still needs a lot of sanding to finish. It was a bit alarming watching the rough cut out handle spinning past, for the longer handled ones ill have to rig a temporary fixed rest across the bowl that doesn't interfere with the spin of the handle.

However its a joy to carve so I'm converting the rest of the logs into spoon blanks and what not.

ATB


Tom

 

[humdrum_hostage]

Looking good! that spalted sycamore looks fun to play with. I am scraping around for bits of wood at the moment. I serve tree surgeons all day long at work and can I get my hands on any wood!!! The best I got last week was a small piece of Cherry and I roughed a bowl out with my hatchet and adze friday and this morning it resembles a sieve more than a bowl. It literally looks like its exploded.