Spoon carving frustrations

[Tony]

This is for everyone that's carved a spoon and can remember their first attempts...

Can you tell me what difficulties or frustrations you had when you were carving your first spoons?

I've got hours of spoon carving video but I'd like to make a (or a few) basic help article/packages that will help people in their first steps into spoon carving.

If you can remember what you would have liked help with I'd love to know.

I imagine it's something like:
Wood selection
tool use
cutting with and against the grain (often when shaping that transition into the bowl from the handle)
shaving off too much wood
shaping the bowl

if you've got more specific things then let me know. I also think this will be a great thread for people starting out, especially if people share their experience of how they do things now etc.

Pics would be brill!

cheers

 

[John Fenna]

Oh!
I had issues with cutting too much off the thickness of the bowl - making transparent patches or holes, or bowls so thick they could be used as clubs!

 

[Tony]

Yeah, bowls seem to be problematic for many, there's definitely a feel for it that you develop, it's also useful - if it's going to be a eating spoon - to get it in your mouth and see how it feels

 

[Tony]

Oh!
I had issues with cutting too much off the thickness of the bowl - making transparent patches or holes, or bowls so thick they could be used as clubs!

How did you overcome the issues that you had?

 

[firedfromthecircus]

cutting with and against the grain (often when shaping that transition into the bowl from the handle)

This one for me.

 

[ScottE]

Getting longer smoother facets was and still is a difficulty for me, some ‘cure’ was gained by allowing the spoon to dry out a little more, the greener the work piece the more prone to ripping it can be.

 

[Tony]

When you say facets are you talking about those cuts that you want to leave a nice smooth finish. Is that with the straight knife or curved knife, or both?

 

[skidmk1983]

sharpening the spoon knife for me

 

[C_Claycomb]

Transition of the bowl to the stem, where you get a change of grain direction.

For correcting spoon-club syndrome, take a metal spoon of similar size and use it side by side as you work to remind you of the depth and size you are aiming for.

 

[Tiley]

I still have the first spoon that I made. I was incredibly proud of it at the time but now realise that, on the bowl of the spoon, it needs to be a good deal thinner/flatter than you might imagine. In truth, that first one is a pretty hideous club. Although I wish someone had told me earlier that the bowl needed to be thinner, I was lucky enough to work that out myself - eventually! I'll try and post a photo comparing that first one with a more recent creation, though embarrassment may cause some 'difficulties' with the technology....

Another thing that I still struggle with is spoon symmetry. When in the woods, or even at home, I don't take a blank with me as I prefer to draw out the shape freehand. Practice, however, does not make perfect and most of my efforts still have a slightly wonky appearance. It is a combination of both the drawing and the carving, I think, as one side is always easier to shape than the other. Any help to get a better symmetry would be really useful.

Finally, finishing the spoon. By that, I mean whether they should be sanded (arguably better 'mouth feel') or left with cut marks. If left with cut marks, how to get these consistent; if sanded, what oils or means of preservation are best?

 

[Broch]

sharpening the spoon knife for me

What he said

I now use the Victorinox Pocket Sharpener for the inside of the blade - it's curved.

 

[Woody girl]

How to make your own sharpening kit. Saw some for sale at wilderness and figured I could make my own with a dowel and sandpaper etc. Stupidly did not photograph the kit or take details on sandpaper grades etc and by the time I got home all details had fled my mind .

 

[bobnewboy]

Getting the floor of the bowl level, ending the battle between cuts from different directions. Getting a good finish 'off the knife'....particularly in different woods (hardness values) seems impossible to me. Knowing the proper order of attack - bowl interior first? - when to do bowl edges, handle refinement?

Cheers, Bob

 

[John Fenna]

How did you overcome the issues that you had?

Just practice and concentration - and to using my fingers as a pinch grip to keep checking the even-ness of the bowl thickness. Using an existing spoon as a comparison helped too.

 

[Fraxinus]

I think the biggest problem facing spoon carvers is the same as anyone who works with wood, just in a smaller work sample.
Learning to read the wood.
You can garner as many skills with tool handling as you like but if you can't preempt what the grain of the wood (or the stresses inherent due to growth conditions) is likely to do then life can get difficult.
It is something that can not be learnt by reading or watching vid's of people doing it but by having a go and learning along the way, when something goes other than hoped take a close look to see why.

 

[Tony]

Although I wish someone had told me earlier that the bowl needed to be thinner, I was lucky enough to work that out myself - eventually! I'll try and post a photo comparing that first one with a more recent creation, though embarrassment may cause some 'difficulties' with the technology....

I get told off for telling people to do thinner bowls, people observing think I'm being cruel or something but in reality there's not a lot of wood to them when they're shaped up and it's got to be comfortable to use.

I'm always telling people not to worry if they mess it up, a lot of the bulk that's left on spoons are because people are afraid they're going to remove too much wood and end up not removing enough

 

[ScottE]

When you say facets are you talking about those cuts that you want to leave a nice smooth finish. Is that with the straight knife or curved knife, or both?

Yes, long smooth knife finished pieces look great I think.
For me the long straight facets on the handle are the most difficult....I watch some people carve long facets where they get a curl that lasts from top to bottom....I’d love to be that proficient! Facets do apply around the bowl too but I find them easier to blend.

 

[Zingmo]

Firstly, thinking that a wooden spoon was a two dimensional shape like the ones I had used in the kitchen with a flat rim surrounding the bowl:
Handling spoons made by people who knew what they were doing was a revelation. Having the three dimensional thing in your hand to study and, if possible, copy, is better than dozens of YT videos. I bought one off Addo (Paul Adamson) and it really made a difference.

Secondly getting so stubborn about finishing a spoon (that was never going to be any thing other than ugly) when the wood was no longer green and the tools were getting blunt:
I learnt that, like a bad book, a bad spoon does not have to be finished and it is often better to chuck it on the fire and start afresh. (After a bit more sharpening).

Thirdly making wonky spoons (often with the claim "I just allowed the wood to tell me what shape it wanted to be".) or really left -handed spoons:
I got a flexible ruler to establish three points on the center line: The tip of the bowl, the middle of the neck, and the middle of the end of the handle. This helps make straight spoons. Symmetry is never accidental.

I could go on. Tool choice, sharpening, posture, wood selection, finishes and even mental health all come into play. Spoon carving is not popular because it is easy; it is trying to make one of the most complex shapes yet an everyday object. Wood is not a predictable medium to work, there are going to be surprises, good and bad.

Keep at it.

Z

 

[Tony]

Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming

 

[Robson Valley]

Learn freehand sharpening and what the term "carving sharp" really means.
Don't believe that shaving hair is carving sharp. It is far from it.

Learn some woods, how they change from fresh/wet to boney hard/seasoned.
Grain patterns, pore patterns, which woods are toxic. .. . . . .
Learn to use a stop cut in the bowl and carve back into that (standard wood carivng practice.)

Don't fall in love with every carving start.
I finished 70 spoons and 30 forks. Probably used 125 blanks. Some were 100% crap.

Never feel inhibited by convention to use the proscribed tools.
Spokeshaves are for spokes and for wooden handles, too.

Carve all sorts of other shapes (frogs, mushrooms, wood spirits, green men, etc) will improve every cut in every spoon.

This sliding device can be built in any size imaginable. It measures wood thickness. Just fact, no opinion.
I made it for all the bowls that I carved. I can't do the "finger p[inch" method and judge wall thickness.