First spoon
I have posted this in the british blades forum as well.
I have been making knives for a while know but I have not used them much. I have seen various threads about making a noggin or a carved spoon so I thought I would have a bash.
I chopped down a dead branch from a tree that was already down. I think it was a birch of some sort. The wood was already dry as its the summer the Gransfors axe made very short work of it as its got a great edge on it. a very fine convex edge its seems to be a half flat half convex axe.
I used the axe to strip off the outer layers of the wood that were a little soft and spalted. I then used the big knife (known as the rubbish knife) to do most of the shaping. I used the back of the axe to baton with while holding the rubbish knife to remove lots of material and to thin it down to start shaping the handle. The rubbish knife I could use like a yari plane. I could hold the wood down so an end was pushed against the ground and using the curved front of the blade, push down with it to take lots of material off. The wren was used for the making of the hole in the end and for final finishing. No other tools were used not even files or sand paper.
During this time my daughters were running about collecting autumn fruits. As we planned to make some windfall coolie. We collected some quince, wind fall apples, hips and some blackberries and chopped them up using the rubbish knife. We put them in the pot with some water and some sugar and they had it after lunch. This is why the spoon has a purple end as it was used to make and serve the coolie.
In the picture you can see the original branch, the axe, the wren and the rubbish knife. In hindsight I think I needed a bigger branch as the spoon is quite narrow and the bowl part is only about as wide as my thumb but I am quite happy for a first attempt.
Cheers.
I have posted this in the british blades forum as well.
I have been making knives for a while know but I have not used them much. I have seen various threads about making a noggin or a carved spoon so I thought I would have a bash.
I chopped down a dead branch from a tree that was already down. I think it was a birch of some sort. The wood was already dry as its the summer the Gransfors axe made very short work of it as its got a great edge on it. a very fine convex edge its seems to be a half flat half convex axe.
I used the axe to strip off the outer layers of the wood that were a little soft and spalted. I then used the big knife (known as the rubbish knife) to do most of the shaping. I used the back of the axe to baton with while holding the rubbish knife to remove lots of material and to thin it down to start shaping the handle. The rubbish knife I could use like a yari plane. I could hold the wood down so an end was pushed against the ground and using the curved front of the blade, push down with it to take lots of material off. The wren was used for the making of the hole in the end and for final finishing. No other tools were used not even files or sand paper.
During this time my daughters were running about collecting autumn fruits. As we planned to make some windfall coolie. We collected some quince, wind fall apples, hips and some blackberries and chopped them up using the rubbish knife. We put them in the pot with some water and some sugar and they had it after lunch. This is why the spoon has a purple end as it was used to make and serve the coolie.
In the picture you can see the original branch, the axe, the wren and the rubbish knife. In hindsight I think I needed a bigger branch as the spoon is quite narrow and the bowl part is only about as wide as my thumb but I am quite happy for a first attempt.
Cheers.
