Not in the slightest, start with the littlest numbers and work through to the biggest.
Carving a Spoon (Novice)
- Thread starter THOaken
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Not in the slightest, start with the littlest numbers and work through to the biggest.
It kind of sounds counter intuitive to me to start with the finest, which for me would be 60, then use a coarser 100. Surely it should be the other way around in that you take more material off at the start with a coarser grade and then finish it with a lighter grade, no?
You're probably right anyway.
Sorry, my mistake... Yes you're right. Lower numbers are coarser and higher is finer. Just a wee muddle up.
Just to say how much I'm liking watching this thread unfold.
I did a lot of learning about spoon-making over about a month while working on set-up and tat-down of a festival. Not much to do in my spare time but make spoons. Ended up doing nearly twenty and the difference between the ones I did at the beginning of the month and those at the end was quite marked. I think you're doing well to just do what you can with with what skills you have and then move on and apply what you've learnt to a new spoon rather than spend a lot of time trying to correct mistakes.
on another note, I'd say 60grit is really quite coarse and using it might be a step backwards from what you can achieve with just your knife. Are you using your knife to scrape the wood smoother before sanding? I generally find this a quicker and more effective method than trying to rub down a coarse surface.
Cheers,
Leif
I did a lot of learning about spoon-making over about a month while working on set-up and tat-down of a festival. Not much to do in my spare time but make spoons. Ended up doing nearly twenty and the difference between the ones I did at the beginning of the month and those at the end was quite marked. I think you're doing well to just do what you can with with what skills you have and then move on and apply what you've learnt to a new spoon rather than spend a lot of time trying to correct mistakes.
on another note, I'd say 60grit is really quite coarse and using it might be a step backwards from what you can achieve with just your knife. Are you using your knife to scrape the wood smoother before sanding? I generally find this a quicker and more effective method than trying to rub down a coarse surface.
Cheers,
Leif
Just bought a wide range of paper and some walnut oil. Silly question, but how much time do you need to spend on each grade of sand paper?
You use the coarsest untill you have the shape you want and removed all the bumps etc you want to get rid of. Then you use each subsequent grid until you have removed all the scratches from the last grid. As you proceed the finer grids take less time, usually. Good luck, and show the progress again! 
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The honest answer to that would be "the correct amount of time", but that's not really all that helpful. It's impossible for any of us to sit here and give you times for woodworking, factors that would influence the time spend would include: area of wood, hardness of wood, moisture content of the wood, moisture content of the air, strength of your arms, size of your hands, number of tea breaks, frequency/prettiness of passing girls etc. etc. If you could answer all those questions (and probably quite a few more) then one of our resident scientists would probably be able to give you a working answer, in all honesty though I would expect that a much quicker way to get an answer would be to have a glance at the clock and then just crack on with it. It's an art mate, not a science
As Stu says plus also if you can still see the marks left by the first grit of paper you used after moving on then keep going.
Once they're all gone and you're on your final grade of paper quickly dunk the spoon in water, let it dry and run your finger over it. If the wood feels rough then back to the final grade of paper until it feels smooth again.
Keep doing the water process until it feels totally smooth after dunking then rub your chosen finish on to the spoon.
Once they're all gone and you're on your final grade of paper quickly dunk the spoon in water, let it dry and run your finger over it. If the wood feels rough then back to the final grade of paper until it feels smooth again.
Keep doing the water process until it feels totally smooth after dunking then rub your chosen finish on to the spoon.
Point taken, friend.The honest answer to that would be "the correct amount of time", but that's not really all that helpful. It's impossible for any of us to sit here and give you times for woodworking, factors that would influence the time spend would include: area of wood, hardness of wood, moisture content of the wood, moisture content of the air, strength of your arms, size of your hands, number of tea breaks, frequency/prettiness of passing girls etc. etc. If you could answer all those questions (and probably quite a few more) then one of our resident scientists would probably be able to give you a working answer, in all honesty though I would expect that a much quicker way to get an answer would be to have a glance at the clock and then just crack on with it. It's an art mate, not a science
Cheers.
Finished sanding the spoon. Here it is.
Unfortunately I couldn't get walnut oil but I've got raw linseed oil. I'll try it soon.
Unfortunately I couldn't get walnut oil but I've got raw linseed oil. I'll try it soon.
Finished sanding the spoon. Here it is.
Unfortunately I couldn't get walnut oil but I've got raw linseed oil. I'll try it soon.
As Stu said "It's an art mate, not a science
" and hey presto you've created a work of art! That looks terrific, I'm impressed.
Looking good there THOaken. One tip I picked up about final sanding is to let up on the pressure as you only want to remove the the rough that raised by the soaking, heavy sanding at this point will only make more rise.
Thanks everyone, much appreciated!
Now, do I just dab some linseed oil on to a bit of tissue and rub it in?
Now, do I just dab some linseed oil on to a bit of tissue and rub it in?
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