A good while ago i was gifted half a dozen Beech spoon blanks that came via Amazon, the blanks being those that are sent out of China by various internet sellers.
At the time i couldn't even begin to carve the blanks as they are like concrete and to be quite frank, dangerous, even my razor sharp tools wouldn't touch them, so i threw them in the odds and sods box to either be binned, burnt or given a second try at a later date when i was feeling a bit better and stronger.
Well, a few days back i thought id give them another go and yup, they are still nigh on impossible to carve dry, so i soaked a couple of blanks in hot water for a few hours to try and soften them up a bit, and it worked to a point, certainly they go to the point where i could carve them, so i axed out a rough shape and then set to whittling one down to see what i could make of it.
This is the result, a cute little eating spoon, the bowl is not my favoured shape, but it is what it is due to the limitations of the blank, its certainly better than having no blanks at all to carve.
The finished spoon alongside an unstarted/unsoaked blank
I didn't like the plain looking handle so i added two shallow hollows and then added the initial of my two year old Great Niece whom this spoon shall be gifted to the next time i see her, she can either use it for its intended purpose, or use it to play in the kitchen with.
At the time i couldn't even begin to carve the blanks as they are like concrete and to be quite frank, dangerous, even my razor sharp tools wouldn't touch them, so i threw them in the odds and sods box to either be binned, burnt or given a second try at a later date when i was feeling a bit better and stronger.
Well, a few days back i thought id give them another go and yup, they are still nigh on impossible to carve dry, so i soaked a couple of blanks in hot water for a few hours to try and soften them up a bit, and it worked to a point, certainly they go to the point where i could carve them, so i axed out a rough shape and then set to whittling one down to see what i could make of it.
This is the result, a cute little eating spoon, the bowl is not my favoured shape, but it is what it is due to the limitations of the blank, its certainly better than having no blanks at all to carve.
The finished spoon alongside an unstarted/unsoaked blank
I didn't like the plain looking handle so i added two shallow hollows and then added the initial of my two year old Great Niece whom this spoon shall be gifted to the next time i see her, she can either use it for its intended purpose, or use it to play in the kitchen with.
