Matts first spoon :)

[Matt Weir]

The inevitable has happened and I finally got around to carving the obligatory MFS.

The story behind it is that it started life as the top of our Chrismas tree this year. It had quite a weird S shape that I had to do something with it. So I carved this 'jam' spoon which I treated by soaking in linseed oil overnight.

Some good friends of ours are leaving for the brave new world of Oz on Monday so I have given them this as a leaving gift.

Hope you like it.

 

[Toadflax]

Very elegant!

When my wife opened my MFS on Christmas day (my present to her), she looked at it, rather puzzled, and said "Is there anything special about this?"

I hope your friends appreciate it more that my wife did! (To be fair, when she knew I had made it for her, she was very touched.)


Geoff

 

[SOAR]

Nice spoon Matt, how did you get on with it?. You do know now that you will be on the look out for the next s shaped piece of wood.

Simon.

 

[andy_e]

Very nice Matt, got given a Crook knife for Xmas so will have to try to follow your example.

 

[Matt Weir]

Very elegant!

When my wife opened my MFS on Christmas day (my present to her), she looked at it, rather puzzled, and said "Is there anything special about this?"

I hope your friends appreciate it more that my wife did! (To be fair, when she knew I had made it for her, she was very touched.)


Geoff

Thanks Geoff,

They were really chuffed and I got big hugs

Nice spoon Matt, how did you get on with it?. You do know now that you will be on the look out for the next s shaped piece of wood.

Simon.

Thanks Simon,

I used a Frosts Mora and Frosts crook knife and it took me about two hours including sanding. I only chopped into my finger twice but the funny thing is if you look at the knife safety section in Mors' Bushcraft book and find the diagram where he shows you the most common cut sites when working with a knife it matches my hand exactly .

I have had my eye out for suitable spoon wood for ages but I think with this staring at me for weeks then I couldn't resist

Very nice Matt, got given a Crook knife for Xmas so will have to try to follow your example.

Cheers Andy

 

[firebreather]

nice spoon just gotta get some nice jam to go with it and all will be well in the world.

Greg

 

[Toadflax]

I used a Frosts Mora and Frosts crook knife and it took me about two hours including sanding.

That's not long. I used pretty much the same tools (£10 mora and a Frosts crook knife that I got for my birthday), though I did rough out the spoon shape from a piece of thick apple branch using my axe. I reckon I must have spent 5-6 hours altogether.


Geoff

 

[mr dazzler]

Nice work matt. I love seeing what folk's do, everyone's forms are unique. Thanks for posting your first spoon. Was your finger cut's on the top bit of your left index finger (if your right handed) I did mine once with the spoon hook and once when the tip of the opinel was sticking out too far and caught it when I did a "carefully controlled" slicing scissor's type cut good thing with sharp blades, cuts heal fast

Nice spoon Matt, how did you get on with it?. You do know now that you will be on the look out for the next s shaped piece of wood.

Simon.

Dont I know it!! I cringe when I think of all the "useless" branche's and thinnings I burnt over the year's that would of made ideal spoons ladles cup's etc. Still you live and learn
Cheers Jonathan

 

[Matt Weir]

Them's the one's Jonathan

 

[robin wood]

Nice one Matt, nothing like a hand made spoon for a present. Never thought of carving anything out of the Christmas tree but its a nice idea....maybe nice to carve some sort of tree decoration for next years tree...20 years down the line it would be a nice collection. One of the commonest things carved out of softwood trees traditionally was whisks, the top of the tree is the handle, cut just below the first whorl of branches and cut each branch to 1" long, peel the bark and you have a great whisk, spin it in your hand like friction firelighting and you can whisk up pancake batter in no time. These are very common finds at medieval archaeological sites in Scandinavia and Russia.

 

[Matt Weir]

That's a beltin' idea Robin. I'm sad that I just dumped the rest of the tree now but I intend to make something for the 2009 tree with this years tree but at least I made the jam spoon so that makes me smile

 

[Dr Onion]

Looks good and sturdy with a nice shape!

Dr O

 

[SOAR]

Nice idea about the decorations Robin and the wisk.

 

[rancid badger]

Well thats a good start, did you have any trouble with resin pockets or such like?
and what's next?

regards
R.B.

 

[Matt Weir]

Looks good and sturdy with a nice shape!

Dr O

Cheers O

Well thats a good start, did you have any trouble with resin pockets or such like?
and what's next?

regards
R.B.

No problems at all RB. Whatever is next depends on what I come across really, the wood dictates the result rather than me. I just feel like I'm bringing out what's there if you know what I mean.

 

[rancid badger]

That's exactly how I do it-anyway it's a good excuse for most of my spoons being odd shapes!
cheers
R.B.

 

[Pitkin]

THats better than my first spoon