Another spoon, but this one is poorly made...

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tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
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51
Matlock
...it is however the first I have made that could actually function as a spoon. I am quite pleased!
Chunk of wood from what I am pretty sure were sycamores that were being pollarded in a park near the school I teach in. Begged a bunch of the wood to take to school to use with the kids and inevitably played with an axe for a bit splitting it. Before you know it the kids have got me attempting to go for it with a spoon. Time rapidly ran out and it was bundeled into my pack. Today however my own kids wanted entertaining, so back out it came. Still moist enough to be fairy easy going and soon enough the sandpaper was cracked out and the three of us were beavering away. The two girls on my first two, massively primitive, attempts and me defending what is turning out to be an actual spoon.
Followed no pattern, didn't draw on it, just kept picking it up and making indentations where my fingers were. Still needs to dry a little and get a final sanding, but I am pleasantly surprised. I might actually do something with this, maybe even eat something!
I'll try and add a picture or two but, what do I do now to make it a more durable thing? I have no oils or anything specific, are there any home-brew recipes to coat/protect it?
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humdrum_hostage

Full Member
Jul 19, 2014
771
2
Stradishall, Suffolk
Go and get some walnut oil from tesco coat it and the grain will look 100 times nicer! Thats the easiest option. Or you can heat it up to get it to draw oil in when it cools. Or one l have found recently is an oil/beeswax "balm" works great and done wonders for my dry hands :eek: (got to keep in touch with your feminine side!)

Nice attempt, what tools you got?

Hope that helps

Chris
 
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forginhill

Settler
Dec 3, 2006
678
74
51
The Desert
Nice! A self made spoon that works....that's what it's about! Makes the food taste better somehow too. It being your first, don't ever get rid of it.
 

tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
58
51
Matlock
Go and get some walnut oil from tesco coat it and the grain will look 100 times nicer! Thats the easiest option. Or you can heat it up to get it to draw oil in when it cools. Or one l have found recently is an oil/beeswax "balm" works great and done wonders for my dry hands :eek: (got to keep in touch with your feminine side!)

Nice attempt, what tools you got?

Hope that helps

Chris

Walnut oil? Sounds like a possibility, and easy enough to come by. As for tools, it was the £12 axe I got from Springfields to learn how to keep an axe sharp (after a couple of days with a file getting some kind of profile on it) and the Mora 511 that was on offer for something ridiculous like £3.50 at the same time. Then a Mora 164 crook knife that everyone and his dog has.
With all the time I spend outdoors and washing my hands I am getting more and more fanatical about greasing my hands up, just fed up of them constantly splitting open! And yes, it helps :)
 

tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
58
51
Matlock
Nice! A self made spoon that works....that's what it's about! Makes the food taste better somehow too. It being your first, don't ever get rid of it.
It started as just a thing to see what happened. It's going to be a keeper now though, still quite chuffed :) Even surprised at how light it feels.
 

humdrum_hostage

Full Member
Jul 19, 2014
771
2
Stradishall, Suffolk
With all the time I spend outdoors and washing my hands I am getting more and more fanatical about greasing my hands up, just fed up of them constantly splitting open! And yes, it helps :)

I have worked indoors for the last 17 years and suffered from cracked dry hands and this year I have been outside and using my walnut oil/beeswax mix on my hands when I coat the spoons and my hands are as they are in summer. Not sure if there is any other reason???

As for knives, if you get a chance get a mora 106 or 120. Great value for money IMHO.
 

tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
58
51
Matlock
I have worked indoors for the last 17 years and suffered from cracked dry hands and this year I have been outside and using my walnut oil/beeswax mix on my hands when I coat the spoons and my hands are as they are in summer. Not sure if there is any other reason???

As for knives, if you get a chance get a mora 106 or 120. Great value for money IMHO.
It's Body Shop hemp hand cream for me. Tried other stuff but nothing seems to help like their stuff. Then I just have to remember, once I can't type out undo buttons without bleeding is apparently too late!

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Muddypaws

Full Member
Jan 23, 2009
1,094
313
Southampton
That spoon has got loads of character! Plus the story attached to it makes it something to treasure. But soon you will have loads more spoons (I confidently predict), and with each you will refine your design and technique - it is addictive!
 

tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
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Matlock
That spoon has got loads of character! Plus the story attached to it makes it something to treasure. But soon you will have loads more spoons (I confidently predict), and with each you will refine your design and technique - it is addictive!
The wood I was lucky enough to pick up means there is plenty of scope for experimenting! I think you could be right Muddypaws :)
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Plus the flatbed Transit load they dropped off "just because"...

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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Absolutely nothing wrong with that result. You must keep it as you carve more, for history's sake.
Finish: lots of food-safe finishes.

I carved 70 spoons and 30 forks in birch and sold many of them. Did them up in batches of a dozen.
My finish uses Charles' Law in physics and a slathering of olive oil. That olive oil will go rancid in service is a myth.

Preheat your oven to 325F. Slather your spoon with any good vegetable oil. On a cake rack over a sheet pan,
into the oven for no more that 3 mins (for that size) by the clock. Out of the oven, you will see bubbles of heated
and expanded wood air in the oily surface. Let it cool, as the wood air cools and contracts, it sucks the oil into the wood.
Never to be disturbed again at any temp below 325F.
 

tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
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51
Matlock
Robson Valley, ah, so that's the reason for heating... After watching Sandy from Jacklore knives stabilising his scales with a vacuum I was idly thinking about a similar process to soak in oil more deeply. Not that I have any way of achieving a vacuum, but expanding warm air cooling makes perfect sense. Could just be a case of seeing what oil presents first.
Thanks all for the comments and advice.

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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Vacuum processing, several cycles of it, will do a more thorough job of impregnation.
Standard botany lab process for leaf, flower and wood samples which cannot be heated.
I was doing my spoons & forks a dozen at a time and never once did any of them crack from the brief heating.
I did a carved birch dish with bee's wax the same way. Really messy application process = never again!
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
When the bevel angles are changed from 25 degrees to 12 degrees, the Mora #171 (left and right) Equus farrier's knives carve very well. I have 2 pairs of those. With the single edge, you can turn them around and push on the blunt spine. Added to that, you get a scorp in the bargain. 7/32" chainsaw file is best to begin with, finish with 1500 then CrOx on a strop. You could have a go with the Mora #188 but that blade is best as a planer knife for smoothing surfaces. I have 2 of those. Diamond #271 & #272 (Taiwan) are OK but the steel is a little soft. Ukal/Supervet (France) is very hard steel.
Hall (Canada) are really tough steel. Great carvers.
Have you considered the Mora #162, #163 or #164? Pacific Northwest native style crooked knife blades are designed for carving spoons through feast bowls and masks to the details of totem/mortuary/story poles. Cariboo, Kestrel and North Bay are very reliable bladesmiths.
 

tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
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Matlock
Robson Valley, I've got a Mora 164 at the moment and I'm so far pretty happy with it. A full scorp might be a future upgrade but a small knife or two to facilitate some neater small work will probably be next. So far my knives have been Mora and so far they have surprised me with their quality of cutting edge. Decided to just get cheap carbon steel knives to learn how to look after a knife, keep it functioning and sharp. Just didn't expect them to be quite so impressive. That said, there are only 3 so far, plenty of time to fall out with them :)

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tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
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Matlock
Nice load of wood you got, Tracker! I'm "green" with envy.... Be looking for the next post...
Busy week ahead, but my patient, incremental, slow learning curve is whispering "kuksa, how hard can it be!" Failing is after all just part of learning, so we will see :)
Most of the wood will remain in school and get roughly chopped up with the kids and used as learning resources though.
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tracker1972

Forager
Jun 21, 2008
247
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Matlock
You're subversively planting a passion for greenwood in them while teaching them maths...I like it!
That's the subtle bit, the two afternoons a week I take them to the bottom of our school fields to explore our wilderness bit, make dens, maybe fire up the Kelly kettle for some hot chocolate, help me with the bow saw to prep some more wood, see what is sprouting up at this time of year etc. That's the more blatant bit!
Just received 165 native tree whips to plant. Reception isn't how I remember it, but I think it's improved :)

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