Indian Spoon

[Kepis]

Been hankering to have a go at one of these for ages, but A) didn't have any suitable wood B) quite simply i wasn't fit enough, however today was that day.

The spoon is based upon a drawing in Bernard S Masons book "Woodcraft & Camping" and was inspired by illustration B, spoon has been carved from Sycamore.

Indian Spoons Woodcraft Bernard S Mason drawing by Mark D Emery, on Flickr

20180525_172827 by Mark D Emery, on Flickr

20180525_172753 by Mark D Emery, on Flickr

20180525_172805 by Mark D Emery, on Flickr

20180525_172845 by Mark D Emery, on Flickr

 

[Robson Valley]

That looks paleo. Did Mason offer any thoughts on finish?
I really like the angular transition from stem to bowl.
Very nice rendering in 3D from the drawing.
Rice, bulgur, quinoa, cous-cous.

If you're up to it, do the other 4 as a reference collection.
Google UBC/MOA and scroll through the online collection for spoons.
I saw some which were made from hot-oil bent Mountain Goat horn.

 

[Muddypaws]

Very interesting design, well executed. Does it have a specific use?

 

[Kepis]

That looks paleo. Did Mason offer any thoughts on finish?

.

Unfortunately not.

Very interesting design, well executed. Does it have a specific use?

Not sure tbh, going to try it with a few things to see how it fairs, first stop will be the flour bin.

 

[John Fenna]

I like it!
Lots!

 

[Robson Valley]

There's hundreds of spoons and ladles in the UBC/MOA online collection to look at.
I figure that we could slip Kepis' spoon into the 19th century Gitxsan collection and nobody would blink!

Now, I'm curious about the paleo tools to have carved spoons.

 

[Bionic]

That is a really lovely piece of work. Nice bit of craftsmanship and it’s great how you’ve worked the knot in to the finished piece. It’s certainly giving me inspiration to have a crack at something similar

 

[Kepis]

I like it!
Lots!

Cheers John

That is a really lovely piece of work. Nice bit of craftsmanship and it’s great how you’ve worked the knot in to the finished piece. It’s certainly giving me inspiration to have a crack at something similar

Cheers, the knot was a bit problematic at times, but i think it worked out ok, post it up if you make one too.

 

[Robson Valley]

Here in the Pacific Northwest, among the First Nations groups, the ladles are usually used in the preparation of
communal meals in the famous water-tight, kerf-bent boxes.
Some documents show the big spoons as personal eating instruments.

Sweat lodge ceremonial activities are as common today as they were, centuries ago.
Those ladles are much more of a "scoop" design (to hold more water, I suppose.)
All of those are more like a modern flour scoop and every one of them has been carved from spalted birch.

Without knowing for certain, I suspect that Kepis has both the tools and the experience
to carve both a sweat-lodge ladle and also the corners of a kerf bent box.

I have profile drawings for dozen different designs for the box corners.
Pick one. I can carve an undershot corner of 6" in about 20 minutes with a crooked knife.
Like everything else, just takes some practice.

 

[Tengu]

Well, says sycamore but the design looks like horn spoons to me....

Tinglit make good horn spoons, yes?

 

[Kepis]

Well, says sycamore but the design looks like horn spoons to me....

Tinglit make good horn spoons, yes?

Nope, Birch or Maple according to the text, Sycamore is the closest i have to Maple

IMG_0003 by Mark D Emery, on Flickr

 

[Robson Valley]

The multipurpose tree of the Pacific Northwest is the western red cedar. 1,001 uses.
On the east coast are the "birch building" First Nations. That's their multipurpose tree.
Not much serious maple here in the far west but several common species (sugar maple included)
all through out the Atlantic north-eastern part of this continent.

Kepis: Thanks for the screen shot from the book = sage wood carving advice.
Maple in the east and alder here in the west, they change from cheese to bone when the wood dries.

Tlingit horn spoons: I have examined several in the UBC/MOA. Hot oil formed in several steps from
Mountain Goat horn. I have never seen a horn spoon from bison in many years on the plains.
I'd imagine for the effort that such a spoon would be of ceremonial value.

 

[Tengu]

Yes, that is true.

I dont think anyone used bison horn much until farmed animals meant larger and more even horn. (It would be like buffalo horn which is like black plastic)

It looks a grand book, Kepis; what else is in it?

 

[Kepis]

It looks a grand book, Kepis; what else is in it?

all sorts of stuff, below copied and pasted from Amazon

"includes instructions on how to make an Indian tepee, and Indian willow bed, a Chippewa kitchen or Dakota moccasins. Apart from Indian crafts, Mason provides instructions on making knives, striking camp, caching, fire and ax safety—virtually everything you need to know about camping. Also contains instruction on birch basketry, wooden dishes, log benches, wooden furniture, peace pipes, feather headdresses, gourd dippers and much more."

 

[Robson Valley]

About the time of European contact, there was an estimated 60,000,000 bison (plains and woodland) in North America.
The most recent 7 generations of my family have lived since homesteading on the Canadian prairies. Bison.
I have eaten 6 or 7 of them since 2001.

Be fully assured that First Nations made many things from Bison horn.
I own sets of Bison horn mounted in deerskin that is decorated with fine silk thread embroidery.
I own less than 2,000 pages of photographs from the First Nations collections in several museums.

You can search UBC/MOA and lso the Smithsonian.
Kleptomaniacs came romworld wide to plunder FirstNations artifacts after the genocide of Smallpox.
The only placew with a complete set of monographs from the Jessup Expedition (circa1903)
is the University of Washington, Seattle. Franz Boas is always worth reading.

Kepis, I commend your efforts to replicate those recordings.

 

[zornt]

Amazing work as always.
Kind of reminds me of a Chinese doup spoon only with a rounder and deeper bowl.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tengu]

Well, thats an idea. Certainly people came from over the Pacific; maybe its a Chinese design?

I am an authority on Horn but there are holes in my knowlege that you could drive a herd of buffalo through.

(Sixty million? how did you get them all in?)

Schaverein, who wrote a seminal book had little to say about primitives use of horn.

Nor artefacts like the 20s jewelry from Paris!

Her knowlege is based almost soley upon the collection of the Worshipful Company of Horners, and so is incomplete.

Its a subject very little is written about.

Its hard to believe that any bright person would not make use of horn once they discovered its clever properties

 

[Broch]

all sorts of stuff, below copied and pasted from Amazon

"includes instructions on how to make an Indian tepee, and Indian willow bed, a Chippewa kitchen or Dakota moccasins. Apart from Indian crafts, Mason provides instructions on making knives, striking camp, caching, fire and ax safety—virtually everything you need to know about camping. Also contains instruction on birch basketry, wooden dishes, log benches, wooden furniture, peace pipes, feather headdresses, gourd dippers and much more."

Kepis, is your copy one of the old ones or the newly published version?

 

[Kepis]

Kepis, is your copy one of the old ones or the newly published version?

Ive one of the old ones with the orange & yellow cover

 

[Broch]

Ive one of the old ones with the orange & yellow cover

Ah, lucky man

I'd be interested to know the quality of the reproduction in the 2018 publication if anyone has a copy please. I've been disappointed in the quality of 'scanned' old books in the past; hence my question.