Firewood to spoon - New knife.

[Brandon-C]

So I carved this spoon today just as a tester for a new spoon knife I got, a Ben Orford medium spoon knife. I had a Mora hook knife in the past but I got rid of it because I didn't get on with it. Anyway I found a perfect sized cut of wood on the firewood pile, not totally sure on the species but it has worked well and looks quite nice with the spalting. The design was just free handed as I was cutting it and I wanted to try something new as well so that's why it's a bit of an odd design but I kinda like the feel of it, also It has been finished with raw linseed oil. As for the knife it works really well, feels comfortable, edge is good and overall much better than the previous mora I had.

Cheers!

 

[Trotsky]

Very nice work there, the design gives it character. I'm no expert and I'm probably wrong but, that looks a bit like a piece of Beech to me.

 

[mikehill]

Looks like spalted beech to me too. Nice work !

 

[Robson Valley]

Clean and simple design. Lots of strength in the web that joins the handle to the bowl. How long is it?

I read nothing but good things about Orford knives.
Used farrier's hoof knives are usually very cheaply to be bought.
Revise one of those to 12 degrees. Common Pacific Northwest native carver's trick.

 

[Brandon-C]

Thanks a lot and I think you are right I just wasn't 100% sure

 

[Brandon-C]

Same as before I think you both are right the lines in the grain seem to match that of beech. Cheers.

 

[Brandon-C]

That's what I was going for something simple with the strength to hold up under use, thanks. Tip to tip is about 7 1/4 inches. I've seen that before but never had a go myself, but now I'm living far north in the Highlands I might be able to find some as there are a lot of stables around here and I did find some farrier's rasps recently but I didn't pick them up as I don't have a use yet. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Robson Valley]

I'd cook with your spoon. Much bigger ones for much bigger pots. So obviously hand carved when compared with any of the shop stuff.

I have no idea which brands of farrier's hoof knives you will run across. Of the 10 I've seen, I can buy 4 of them new here.
The useful item, besides the blade sweep, is the scorp-like tip. That gets you into small, tight, curved places (the frog of a horse's hoof.)

Mora (Sweden) #171 and #188, Diamond (Taiwan) #271 have comfortable factory handles and not too hard to revise, beginning with a chainsaw file.
Ukal (France) and Hall (Canada) have miserably hard steel. Very hard work to change but all worth it.
A new Hall knife costs me $50.00. The local farrier has a box of badly worn/resharpened ones. He's happy with the $5.00 that I offer him.
I have altered less than 20 farrier's blades and been happy with every one of them.

And please do use hot soapy water and scrub the horse ka-ka off the used ones.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

I'm a big fan of Ben's stuff and have a couple of his spoon knives.
Although I'm usually a fan of Mora I have never been able to get on with their spoon knives even after reprofiling the edge, Ben's on the other hand are a whole different level!


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[Robson Valley]

That's what I hear about the Orford knives. They are ready to go, the right shape, right out of the box.
Some look a little like the design sold as a Mocotaugan crooked blade by the Hudson's Bay Company, as early as 1760.
I've actually got a fairly new one, made in Sheffield as were the originals.

What do you think of the handle size and shape on the Orfords?

 

[crosslandkelly]

Very tidy work.

 

[Brandon-C]

I have made some other bigger spoons for cooking and it is definitely nice cooking with stuff that you made or was handmade, it adds an extra joy.

Not sure what brands are popular here either but if they are cheap enough I'll pick them up anyway and see what I can do with them. I'll definitely remember that advice

 

[Brandon-C]

I agree, could never give away my companion and used a small mora carver on this spoon which holds a great edge but is also super easy to sharpen. That being said I couldn't get on with the hook knife.

 

[Brandon-C]

I actually quite like the handle I had no hot spots and the faceted shape is very comfortable. As for size it's long enough for me to use it in all grips, reverse etc... So for me it's about perfect being fairly long but not as long as the Indian style crook knives but he does make them if that's what you want.

 

[Brandon-C]

Much thanks!

 

[Hammock Hamster]

That's what I hear about the Orford knives. They are ready to go, the right shape, right out of the box.
Some look a little like the design sold as a Mocotaugan crooked blade by the Hudson's Bay Company, as early as 1760.
I've actually got a fairly new one, made in Sheffield as were the originals.

What do you think of the handle size and shape on the Orfords?

As spoon knives the handles are great but a little too small for mocotaugan plus the blades aren't really big enough.
Funnily enough I actually have one of Bens mocotaugan which is a great tool, I don't have anything to compare it against but from videos I have seen if people using them it works really well for me.
It took me a fair while to wrap my mind around the very counterintuitive way of holding it and the fact you are pulling it towards yourself (a big no no for how I was taught) but I'm beginning to get a feel for it.
I mostly carve smallish items like spoons, spatulas etc... which I suspect takes more control than longer items.


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