First spoon and two carvings

[Tye Possum]

Ok so I've only done a couple carving type things but I figured I'd post pictures of them because I've finally figured out how to!

My first carving, I just used a swiss army knife and carved it while camping and then ruined it IMO by trying to do some woodburning on it. It's a wood spirit I guess.

Then I tried another one but I used a couple small gouges for the beard this time, I also didn't try out anymore woodburning on it. I think it looks like he's sleeping so he's a sleeping wood spirit I guess.

And here's the spoon I made recently that I've been bugging people about, nothing too special, it's my first try though and I like it. Haven't oiled it yet.

I tried using my new crook knife to carve the bowl but either I was being too cautious or I let the wood dry too much because I could barely make a dent in it. Luckily I have a small set of gouges and chisels (small ones) and so I used a... Well I guess it was a U gouge. The tree I used was just a sapling though so I didn't have a choice about leaving the middle of the tree in or not, so I guess I just wait and hope that it doesn't crack.
Thanks for looking.

 

[dwardo]

Really nice they are, good job.

 

[Sean Hellman]

Great to see your spoon and the lovely carvings, keep up the good work. When I start a spoon I make sure I do all the major carving when the wood is still very green, as it is still soft and easy to carve, as you found out wood can get really hard as it dries. Gouges are great when you do not have a hook knife or the wood is hard. If you carve the bowl out to near finished dimensions it is very unlikely to crack or split, if you leave the bowl unhollowed and the spoon dries out it can sometime split. This is because as wood dries it shrinks so the out side shrinks and dries faster than the inside causing tensions in the wood and something has to give and so the wood splits. If the bowl is hollowed the inside and out side dries out at the same time.

 

[Black Sheep]

Nice work, I really like the sleeping spirit

Cheers

Richard

 

[Tye Possum]

@dwardo: Thanks!

@Sean Hellman: Good to know, I thought I read somewhere that you're supposed to leave the bowl untill it's dry and then carve it, must not have remembered correctly.

@Black Sheep: Thanks, I was quite pleased with how it turned out too. I had thought about putting eyes in but then I thought it looked like it was sleeping so I left it alone. Maybe it's a wood spirit during winter.