First ever spoon carving

[zeBarOOn]

Howdy all, on Sunday I thought I might give spoon carving a try.
After reading up on some posts etc I just went for it.

Found a piece of Spruce(?) that was cut and left out in my local woodlands - debarked and kinda batoned:

After some rough shaping, tools used:

Finer whittling, touch of kolrosing (seriously basic) and some sanding:

Then finer sanding, filled with fine coffee and oil oiled up with olive oil (read it on Waylands Ravelore site!)

Some things I've learnt from my first attempt:
1. Try not to use wood with too many branches coming off
2. I think a hatchet would speed up the whole shaping process - but am open to suggestions!
3. My Frosts hook knife has too big a curve to make the 'bowl?' smaller if that makes sense..?
4. Mine ended slightly off center so I'll use a template or keep sketching out the shape is I whittle the pencil lines off
5. Don't 'gouge' too much when kolrosing
6. Wear a glove!
7. Don't do it in the kitchen! The wife wasn't too impressed about the amount of shavings!

All in all I really enjoyed my self - on to another spoon and maybe a kuksa...

Please let me know your spooney secrets!

Joel

 

[darrenh]

Fantastic pictures i got a set of mora knives at christmas and so far the only thing i have "shaped" are some stakes to put up the wooden garden border but seeing your first attempt has spurned me into getting out there this weekend.thank you

 

[Muddypaws]

Nice job.
Be warned! Spoon carving is addictive, and soon you will have more spoons than you know what to do with. You will get better after each one. If you have a manufactured spoon that you like the look of then try to copy its shape. My first spoons had very deep bowls, but my more recent attempts have a shallower bowl, better for a spoon that you might want to put in your mouth.

 

[Harvestman]

I've got into spoon carving too, and yes, it is addictive. Must put some photos up. Great effort for a first spoon.

 

[addo]

Great Spoon, a small axe does help a lot but make sure its sharp and watch ya fingers
I still make one now and then and they get used. Tea spoon for work, racing spoon for camping out and a huge serving spoon for stews ect at home, are current favs. Give spatulas a go too, great for saving the frying pan non stick layer and flipping those all important Staffordshire Oatcakes!

 

[SOAR]

Great looking spoon Joel, try different woods too Hazel and Birch are good and Lime is really easy to carve, try different hook knives also the one you are using might be ok for Kuksas.

Happy carving.

 

[TomBartlett]

That's a fine looking first spoon. Most of my first attempts weren't anything I'd actually use, but as Muddypaws said, you'll get better with each one. Keep us updated on your efforts!

 

[littlebiglane]

Nice work. I have just finished a wild crab apple spoon. The harder woods are more effort but seem to give a much finer finished...especially if you plan to put it in your mouth.....

My bowls are always too deep and always overestimate how deep they need to be.

Good stuff....happy carving.

 

[Toadflax]

A nice looking piece of work. I find hatchet carving fairly effective to start, though tiring, but then I've got old tired arms. Or it could be that I'm using too heavyweight a hatchet.

One comment that may help - my first spoon had a fairly deep bowl, which looks good but isn't terribly practical for actual use. Your bowl looks aesthetically very good, but perhaps a bit too deep...

Keep up the good work.

Geoff

 

[zeBarOOn]

Thanks all for the comments! I'm going to try and make a spatula too thanks for the idea Addo!

Great looking spoon Joel, try different woods too Hazel and Birch are good and Lime is really easy to carve, try different hook knives also the one you are using might be ok for Kuksas.

Happy carving.

Cheers Simon, just checked out your blog and am inspired to start using some other types of wood. Just a question regarding Linseed oil, is it ok to use on carvings that are used for food i.e. spoons & bowls etc? I read somewhere that it's chemically treated...

 

[zeBarOOn]

One comment that may help - my first spoon had a fairly deep bowl, which looks good but isn't terribly practical for actual use. Your bowl looks aesthetically very good, but perhaps a bit too deep...

Keep up the good work.

Geoff

Well Geoff, you're completely right! It's not a comfortable spoon to use whilst eating as you really have to open wide! Might use it for a measuring spoon at home....it's about a 1/2 a tblsp.

 

[mattburgess]

Dosn't look like you need other peoples 'spoony secrets' - great first spoon!

I've never used an axe on spoon carving but a few stop cuts with my folding saw and some splitting with teh knife gets a lot of teh waste off quickly - you probably did that anyway!

 

[Toadflax]

I've never used an axe on spoon carving but a few stop cuts with my folding saw and some splitting with teh knife gets a lot of teh waste off quickly

Now that's a useful tip.


Geoff

 

[Ogri the trog]

Thats great for a first effort, certainly better than mine.

Some nuggets that I learnt early on.....
You can use the offset that you mentioned to make your spoon more suited to left or right handed users.
After first sanding smoothe, dip it in water and let it dry off before sanding again to get an even better finish.
If you want a wood that carves like butter, try green willow.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Thoth]

To help get the bowl depth right actually put the spoon in your mouth as you work. For eating it doesn't actually need to be very deep.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

nucie first spoon need to get on with im in abit infact of to do it now drew

 

[caliban]

That's great mate! Really nice spoon, superb first spoon.

 

[SOAR]

Thanks all for the comments! I'm going to try and make a spatula too thanks for the idea Addo!




Cheers Simon, just checked out your blog and am inspired to start using some other types of wood. Just a question regarding Linseed oil, is it ok to use on carvings that are used for food i.e. spoons & bowls etc? I read somewhere that it's chemically treated...

You really want edible flax seed oil, which is linseed oil that is cold pressed, the stuff you get from hardware stores is boiled linseed oil that is parrafin bassed so thats a no no!, you can use walnut oil as long as you dont have a reaction to nut bassed products.

As mentioned before willow is really easy to carve, you might want to try your Kuksa with that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENNmUr4gZ5M
This is one I made, there is some Kolrosing on there aswell

 

[Biker]

Nice work mate!

I've never done a greenwood carving yet but I have all the tools and being a carpenter/joiner I suppose I ought to have some talent.

Most impressive!

Was that carved with one hand or both :yelrotflm See another posting for one-handed spoon carving.

 

[zeBarOOn]

You really want edible flax seed oil, which is linseed oil that is cold pressed, the stuff you get from hardware stores is boiled linseed oil that is parrafin bassed so thats a no no!, you can use walnut oil as long as you dont have a reaction to nut bassed products.

As mentioned before willow is really easy to carve, you might want to try your Kuksa with that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENNmUr4gZ5M
This is one I made, there is some Kolrosing on there aswell

Oh I see, flaxseed oil is what I need. I'm glad I didn't go ahead a put linseed on it!
I really like the Kuksa, I see that it wasn't sanded completely smooth. Is that because of personal preference or is that how they should be? I gotta take my hat off to you with regards to the finish, it's a real skill to not cut too deep etc.