Carved my 2nd spoon tonight

[Mike313]

Hi Folks,
Having carved my first spoon (and a spatula) back in October, I decided to have a go at carving a second, smaller one. So tonight, while my other half was watching Masterchef, I spread out a groundsheet in the living room to catch the shavings, and started on my new project. To my surprise, after about an hour and a half I had my new spoon 95% completed. The tools used were - a homemade mallet (to batten out the wood for the spoon), my Mora and an old Victorinox penknife which has a broken blade that is actually very useful when it comes to carving the bowl of the spoon. I'm pleased with the results even though it still requires some work to smooth it down. The bowl of the spoon is deep enough and the rim is thin enough so it should be comfortable to eat with. I'm pleased with the handle as I wanted it to slope up from the bowl and to curve very slightly at the end.
Here it is!

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For reference, here's the new spoon in between the spoon and spatula I carved in October.
Mike.

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[humdrum_hostage]

Good job mate. I have just been flinging chips all over the floor and then sweeping the floor and worst case hoovering the rug at 2-3 am hoping not to wake my boy!

 

[Macaroon]

Very nice spoon mate, good work

 

[Gonzo]

Nice work!

 

[Fraxinus]

What they said You'll soon have a full kitchens worth.
I did not like struggling to carve out the bowl so got a Mora spoon knife and dug out an old small gouge to make life easier.
Rob.

 

[Mike313]

Thanks folks!
You're right Fraxinus, hollowing out the bowl was awkward with the Mora. I used the point of the blade to inscribe the inner oval shape for the bowl, then carved out a couple of millimetres of wood then did it again. The Victorinox was the right size for scraping and smoothing the inner surface of the bowl, but a curved spoon knife would have been much better.

 

[Clouston98]

Nice spoons mate .

 

[Mike313]

Thanks Cameron!

 

[Robson Valley]

I have some experience carving spoons and those are very well made.
The flat profile of the handle helps to define them as eating utensils,
not the sometimes massive, sturdy handles of kitchen prep tools.

I revise the bevels to 12 degrees on several brands of farrier's hoof-care knives.
15 or 16 at last count. The little scorp-like hook makes the delicate final shaping of bowl bottoms
much easier to do. Dragging, skew-like cuts generate the most amazing little shavings.

 

[Mike313]

Thanks Robson. Interesting insight into the use of those tools.

 

[Robson Valley]

You're most welcome
There are two common sources of those knives.
1. New, any shop which stocks horse care supplies should have one or more brands of hoof-trimming knives.
I have Mora (Sweden) #171, #188, Diamond (Taiwan) #271, Ukal/Supervet (France) and Hall (Canada) drop blades.
Ukal and Hall are the really hard steel which hold a carving edge for the longest.
2. Consult your local farrier. What do they do with knives so worn away by sharpening that they can't use them any more?
There is still plenty enough steel to be perfectly useful for wood carving. I bought 3 Hall for $5 each that way.
A Hall is 1/2" wide new and $50.00. About 1/4" wide when "worn out." Fantastic carving tools when revised to 12 degree bevels.

 

[Mike313]

Thanks for that

 

[Robbi]

that's a great thin handle, I'd break it if I tried to do one that thin.

 

[Mike313]

Thanks Robbi. Actually I learned a lesson doing that. I thinned out the handle before I had finished hollowing out the bowl. Then, as I was hollowing the bowl, I was worried I was going to snap the thin handle. If I was doing it again, I'd leave the handle fairly thick until I was just about finished the bowl and then pare down the handle last.