Spoon carving timing

[bluey1610]

Hi, just on my third ever spoon, managed to get my hands on a little bit of applewood. The question I had is once I'm done, how long do I wait to sand and oil once I'm finished carving?

Any advice would be great!

Cheers

 

[TallTom]

I would sand green but do your final sand and oil a week or two after that.
It depends on the temperature I guess, but I did the same for my applewood spoons and im very happy with the way they turned out.

 

[bluey1610]

Cool, thank you!

 

[Baelfore]

I would sand green but do your final sand and oil a week or two after that.

+1 to this! I'd even give it a bit longer, applewood can take forever to dry.

Also, a few days after first oiling, give it another sand with a fine grit and oil again. brings up the lovely colours the grain.

I'm a huge fan of apple wood meself, particualrly brambley, lovely colours in the grain.

Hope this helps.

Ste

 

[Tiley]

Lucky you! Apple wood is lovely. Please make sure you post some photos of the finished article for us to admire! After your week or two, if you're after a really smooth finish, don't forget to raise the grain with some boiling water, wait for it to dry and then sand again.

 

[bluey1610]

:S I've never heard of raising the grain with boiling water?!

 

[Tiley]

:S I've never heard of raising the grain with boiling water?!

When you've reached a nearly final bit (i.e. the wood is dry and feels smooth, following sanding), if you pour boiling hot water on the object, it raises the grain of the wood. This stays raised when dry again, allowing you to sand it off. If you repeat this two or three times more, you'll find that the work becomes fully smooth - something worth doing if you're making a spoon that you intend to use as you won't get the rough feeling in your mouth when you use oil it or, crucially, when you use it. It's just a way of giving your work that extra finish - but please don't feel compelled in any way to do it!

 

[bluey1610]

Lower one is the latest applewood one. The one above it is the first spoon I ever carved. They're not big, teaspoon size really.

 

[jonny the monkey]

This information on finishing is priceless, I looked all over the net for how long you should wait until applying oil to green wood, couldn't turn up anything. In the end I found out for myself what works, but I certainly could have saved myself the hassle lol. Should have registered earlier

Nice job on the spoons by the way!

 

[bluey1610]

Sorry. Only just seen the thread. Thanks. Here's spoon 7! It started splitting as it was already dry when I started carving but it's holding together okay now.


Sent from my iPhone because I have an iPhone

 

[bluey1610]

Applewood finished with walnut oil. First attempt at spiral handle


Sent from my iPhone because I have an iPhone

 

[forginhill]

Looking good! I like the spiral effect on the handle. I've carved apple wood before and liked it.

 

[Nativewood]

You don't need boiling water to raise the grain, any temperature will do and boiling water may crack a spoon if it's not completely dry. If you were to leave a neat tooled finish on the spoon, you won't have to sand it and the grain won't raise either.

Like the spiral, by the way.

 

[Dean]

You don't need boiling water to raise the grain, any temperature will do and boiling water may crack a spoon if it's not completely dry. If you were to leave a neat tooled finish on the spoon, you won't have to sand it and the grain won't raise either.

Like the spiral, by the way.

I agree with Nativewood.

I prefer to use warm water to help raise the grain, allow it to dry then lightly sand, wet again and repeat until no grain is raising any more. Once it is fully dry place in the oven on a low temp for 5-10 minutes then submerge in oil, wipe of excess oil and use a oil covered abranet finishing grit give it one last going over.