Group of carved spoon's

[mr dazzler]

I made 1 of these on thursday afternoon and 3 last friday afternoon, my first real attempt to carve a spoon.I had some offcuts of 2-2 1/2 inch hazel and cherry branches from the chair making, someone on here said hazel was a good carving wood so I thought I'd have a go!! I used the sandvik axe mostly, then the gerber knife to refine it a bit. I did once have a mora hook but broke the damned thing a few month's back (too flimsy and brittle for me) I did the hollowing with a normal gouge but sharpened with a steep bevel (like a woodturning gouge) and with a "convex" bevel rather than flat, honed on emory and then diamond paste on leather. Slightly crude, but all I have at the mo. They are just rough spoon blanks at the mo, I left the handles a bit thick so I can thin them down later. I'll do some fine finishing cut's with the opinel NO SANDPAPER will be harmed in the finishing of these spoons I might make up a custom mini cabinet scraper to refine the bowl insides. That cherry is gonnacome up lovely I think. On my next attempt I will use thicker branches, and try to get a bent or crooked section to get a nicer angle between handle and bowl. I also got an idea to do a Kuksa type thing with a long handle like a ladle, so it ends up a bit like a cawl spoon, possibly steam bend a nice curve into it?
Cheers Jonathan

 

[SOAR]

Nice work, How did you find the Hazel to carve?. The Cherry ones look really nice indeed, Spoons look good when they are not sanded you can just go over them with lots of little cuts to finish them, they dont fur up when they are finished in this way as when you sand them you raise the grain.

 

[fishfish]

nice set of bobby dazlers!

 

[Earlyturtle]

Great spoons you got there, really like the lack of sanding, it's interesting.
Makes me want to jump back in to the spoon game (not that I ever jumped out of it, I just haven't found the wood for it recently).
Mike

 

[brancho]

Very nice Similiar to the ones they sell in Turkey

There really is no need to sand or oil a spoon.

Alf

 

[mr dazzler]

Thanks for your encouraging comments gent's
I found the hazel very even grained and soft to carve, the cherry almost as easy, only a bit more stringy grain wise. They dried out a fair bit already but no cracking as yet. I am seeing my firewood man tommorrow, he gets me ash logs from time to time, I'll see if he has any fresh birch to try a cawl spon form, or a ladle or handled kuksa type thing. I think the big tree in my garden (dawn redwood by common agreement-yes Soar it DOES drop its needles, they are all off now ) will also yield some useful spoon blanks, it has a fantastic pinkish/cream streaked figure and is very soft and buttery with no agressive grain (like what you get with ash say)
In fact earlier today I started to further refine one of the hazel spoons with a fine honed opinel knife, and now that the wood has lost a lot of moisture after the initial shaping, that grubby grimy outer surface has given way to an ivory like glassy finish. Havent done a cherry one yet, I suspect that will be even nicer!! Will post some update pics at a later stage
cheers Jonathan

 

[SOAR]

When you put them in oil its amazing how the grain in the wood comes out, they darken up nicely, I did a couple of walnut ones and they really transformed. Glad you have ID the tree in your garden you have a nice tree there.

Simon.

 

[mentalnurse]

hoping to try to carve my first spoon at middlewood next week cant wait just hope it looks half as good.

 

[John Fenna]

Dazzler - are you Welsh or just well educated? Do you eat cawl? Do you use a family recipe?
Have you carved any love spoons yet?

 

[Geuf]

nice spoons!
I usually carve them so that the bowl bit blends into the handle bit with a mild curve ( If you know what I mean, because I have no other way of saying it with my vocabulary! ). BUT, I absolutely love the fact that the bowl is carved as a seperate section of the handle. looks great! I'm gonna try them one some time

Cheers

 

[mr dazzler]

John, I am not welsh as it happens although got well oiled in a pub caled the sailor's safety somewhere in pembrokeshire on a visit, you could see the irish ferry coming and going, from the beach IIRC. Well educated, well I survived goldsmiths college art school with my sanity and integrity intact if that counts . Personally I think the welsh back stool's are among the finest indiginous vernacular chairs any where in the world. There individual and inventive character has greatly influenced my own approach to chairmaking, as has a book written by a certain Mr John Brown. The chinease scholar's chairs and ethiopian stools are as good, the irish gibson's and sugan's arent far behind, IMHO some of the more, shall we say ostentaiuos and extravagant mahogony cabriole pad feet type english windso'rs are pants. Trying to elevate a folk art form to a high culture status symbol, it just doesnt work The more primitive the better as I see it! The west country stick back chairs are much more varied and interesting.
I expect you have seen these item's
http://pilgrim.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2383
Absolutely top class cool, form following function, if it aint broke dont fix it
I must confess to never having eaten cawl do you have a favourite recpe? It sounds like a type of hot pot/cassoulet type thing?
Do you do any spoon's your self John?
Cheers Jonathan

 

[mr dazzler]

nice spoons!
I usually carve them so that the bowl bit blends into the handle bit with a mild curve ( If you know what I mean, because I have no other way of saying it with my vocabulary! ). BUT, I absolutely love the fact that the bowl is carved as a seperate section of the handle. looks great! I'm gonna try them one some time

Cheers

I think of the spoon bowl as just that-a miniature version of a bowl to transfer food from a bigger bowl to your mouth. The more you look at spoon form's the more interesting they are. Please post some photo's of your spoons geuf I think I know what you mean about a mild curve, is that easier to achieve with a angled log instead of a straight one? What woods do you use n Holland?
cheers Jonathan

 

[Geuf]

Hi Jonathan,

I haven't carved many spoons yet so I can't really tell you what I 'usually' use. Mostly I use what I have laying around the house. Once in a while I go to the woods to cut some nice pieces of wood to carve with, experiment or just for firewood. Our woods (you can't call it a forest) are mostly cultivated so spruce and pine is most common. there is however a resonable quantity of birch trees around. Since it's my favorite tree, I'm into carving birch lately. My last spoon is also from birch wood. I've posted some pictures, but I actually used it for breakfast and I haven't done the dishes yet, so it's still a bit dirty. took pictures of it anyway, so enjoy.

 

[john scrivy]

Thatis a nice spoon --------------------------