random thoughts on spoon shapes

[John Fenna]

OK - I am no expert on spoon carving .... I find that compared to the real experts my spoons are crude and I take far too long to carve them ... but they give me great satisfaction and I love using them!
My subject for discussion here is the shape of the spoon - not how to achieve that shape
In general I was always taught to choose a piece of wood that had the natural curve you want in a spoon, grown into it or to carve the spoon to give the strength where it is needed - at the join between bowl or handle.
I see a lot of "bush carved" spoons that have no curve to them at all (not just bushcrafters spoons but also locally made spoons in the African spoons) and which have thick walled, deep bowls and thick handles - all of which add up (in my eyes at least) to an inelegant if usable spoon.

If you look at a standard dining table spoon you will see (usually!) a handle that not only is wider at the base compared to the neck but also of very thin profile and with a very obvious curve to the profile as well.
To mimic this in a spoon, where the woods grain does not follow the curve you want for an elegant wooden spoon, you will want to shape the neck to give strength and hopefully avoid the failure of the spoon due to the neck snapping where the integrety of the grain is compromised by the shaping.

To achieve this, I was taught to carve the neck of the bowl thin in plan view but deep in profile, tapering the shape in plan and profile to morph into the wide in plan view, thin in profile handle section.
neck to bowl transition involves an equally subtle continuation of the neck shape to the deepest part of the spoons bowl, forming a rib or keel effect to give strength to the neck as well as an attractive, elegant shape.

The shape of the bowl is fairly immaterial in itself, though traditionally a desert spoon is egg shaped, a soop spoon is round bowlled and some ancient spoons are even a flatened oval with the long axis at rightangles to the handle.
For me the walls of the bowl need to be as thin as is practicable without being week - the thickest section wants to be the end most used - the tip for a desert spoon, the sides for a soup spoon and so on - but carved at the edge to give the impression of thinness without the weakness.

The depth of the bowl wants to be no more than that which your upper lip can reach - if it is deeper then you will have trouble getting your spoon licked clean!
As to size of bowl - this relies on what the spoon is for!
If it is to be an eating spoon be sure it fits in your mouth
Small mouthfuls are easy to eat - struggling to nibble off a spoon you cannot get in your maw is frustrating! Smaller bowls make for easier eating.
The spoons illustrated are just a random selection of ones I have made over the years, from various woods, along with a spoon from my kitchen drawer for comparison.
I do not claim to have the most elegant, best carved spoons or that I have followed my own advice/thoughts on design in all the spoons I have ever made - they are all part of the journey of discovery which forms the practice of every craft and my ideas have formed as I go!
I hope folk find this collection of thoughs/ideas of interest
The

 

[dwardo]

To be honest John, most of the spoons i have made i wouldnt like to use regulaly due to the reasons you mentioned, too big in the bowl, too thick in the rim. But.. they are pretty much display things for firends and family anyway. I must make one to actually use! following your train of throught.

 

[Ogri the trog]

John,
A brilliant insight into one of the most difficult-to-put-across stages of spoon-carving.
Like you, I can fashion a spoon, but mine are not the display-case standard of some of our members (we don't need photo's thank you) - more function than form if you like.
I have a preference for a particular style of spoon but I rarely end up with the idea that I set off with - they'll morph into different shapes as the wood dictates, sometimes even with lateral bends or features to favour left / right handed users.

Cheers

Ogri the trog

 

[robin wood]

Good discussion there John and I would agree with all your points. I do think the bowl shape is important too though, both aesthetically and functionally. Aesthetically I find spoon bowls that are symmetrical top to bottom less apealing than an asymetrical egg shape with the widest point moved either up op down to around the 1/3 mark. Functionally it is much harder to make a good spoon that scoops from the leading edge. I made Swedish style, shovel shaped spoons for many years as my standard eating spoons. They are good but you are always fighting having short grain on the leading edge which will eventually chip out during use. The more pointy or egg shape encourages you to scrape the bowl with the sloping side of the spoon and there is less short grain here so they last longer.

There is a lot to be learned from looking at old spoons that have lived a long hard life and finally given up, that is the best way to find the weak points in designs.

 

[John Fenna]

The spoon illustrated - with the undecorated handle and pointiest bowl - is my fovourite one.
Made from Box, it is the thinnest in section and most egg shaped I have - and is a joy to eat.
The only thing is it is also the smallest capacity bowl so it takes only small mouthfuls!
As with many things though, I have found that the more the more elegant the design the more practical the function and the best spoons for eating with also look the best

 

[Bardster]

Here, here John, very well put. Though I do agree with robin in that a bowl shape can make or break a good spoon. I've discarded a couple latelty because I didnt get the bowl shape as I wanted and they just didnt look "right"

 

[John Fenna]

I agree - if it dont look right it probably aint right!

 

[BOD]

Interesting thoughts John.

Some of the metal spoons I see in shops annoy me. It's all form but not function. This is a problem that goes beyond spoons and cutlery and extends to tea and coffee pots and kitchen equipment generally.

My spoon is SS steel courtesy of Singapore Airlines. I burnt my spooons when the borers got to them

 

[John Fenna]

You got metal cutlery on an airline!
Think what terrorists could do with that!

 

[Kepis]

You got metal cutlery on an airline!
Think what terrorists could do with that!

yep, ive always thought it pretty ironic, no this and that when you fly, but if you fly Business or First you get given a metal KFS, proper wine and drinks glasses and proper crockery to eat from, oh yes and a glass bottle of wine, the list goes on.

If people look properly when they board a plane there are always a couple of fire axes on board as well, not to mention the chemical O2 generators mounted to the bulkhead wall immediately to your left/right when you board, remember the Valujet DC9 that crashed in the Everglades a long while back, well it was chemical O2 gen's that bought that down, in normal use the ones in the cabin are perfectly safe, just dont get them wet, oh yes, a seat belt makes a handy weapon too, the ends just unclip from the seat side.

Ive always figured if a nutter wants to take a plane down they will regardless of what safe guards are put in place.

Back to the spoons...............................

Ps i have metal spoons from British Airways, American, Ethiopian, Maersk, SAS and a few more besides

 

[Stringmaker]

I have only done a few spoons, coming as a complete beginner and there is a definite progression in their proportions, their shape and their final quality.

None of them began life as a plan in my head; they were what the wood offered me.

I have one with a lateral twist where the bowl and handle are not aligned but it doesn't bother me. When I split the original round, that's how it came out so that's what I worked with.

The biggest thing that helps me is to hollow the bowl out first, before even marking out stop cuts or anything else. I then make the rest of it compliment the bowl, and it is very easy to delicately carve the edge to the right proportions.

 

[Hugo]

Interesting thread John, thanks for posting.
I also like the undecorated spoon of yours best also.

 

[mbiraman]

I never thought there was so much to think about in spoons. Never really thought about making one until lately when i couldn't find what i needed which was a long handled spoon for freezer bag cooking. 11" to be exact . Nothing too fancy ,just needs to get food out of the bag and into my mouth . Having said that it didn't turn out too bad.

bill

 

[Wayne]

Interesting thoughts expressed by John. The spoons I carve tend to be users so I work on what's comfortable for me. I find that all my instructors have their own style. We can mix a box of spoons and quickly sort them by maker.

 

[nic.]

I like those shapes John, I have been experimenting recently with a curved vs flat top profile of the spoon bowl- I much prefer flat (as you seem to do) and have pretty much settled on it.

I think you can go much finer with the wood in the neck of the handle- epsecially in something like box, if you are not selling them then you have nothing to fear from breakage. I was unhappy with some of my profiles and tried steam bending them over the kettle. It didn't work, but taught me a lot about how strong short grain can be.

 

[redandshane]

I never thought there was so much to think about in spoons. Never really thought about making one until lately when i couldn't find what i needed which was a long handled spoon for freezer bag cooking. 11" to be exact . Nothing too fancy ,just needs to get food out of the bag and into my mouth . Having said that it didn't turn out too bad.

bill

Now thats quite a nice spoon
wood works well Thanks

 

[Whittler Kev]

Good thread dudes. Thanks for the tips

 

[Stringmaker]

As I posted earlier, I like to reduce the occasional piece of split wood to a pile of chippings.

Here are my early attempts:

My first ever spoon is the small one at the bottom.

Here are my more recent efforts including a needle I did out of a piece of split birch with a big knot hole:

The darker one is my on-site coffee spoon and is stained nicely.

I'm working on a larger peice from seasoned oak; that is a touch harder...