Spoon knife recommendations....

[PhilParry]

Hi all,

I'm looking to carve my first spoon and was wondering what's the best knife to use to carve the bowl?

Any recommendations?

regards,

Phil

 

[Paganwolf]

Cost wise the Frosts one, many places sell them but i believe axminster tools is cheapest at just over a tenner i think.

 

[Paganwolf]

axminster tools Heres the link, do a search for Sloyd hook knife..

 

[Nod]

I got mine from Axminster and it's fine to get started with. I've carved a number of spoons with it and a small Noggin for drinking from........that did take a while though as it's quite deep.......many blisters on my thumb

It's reasonably easy to keep sharp with a bit of dowel and some wet and dry paper etc.....and at a tenner is excellent value.

Only thing I have found on the downside is that the curve of the blade is a bit too big, I could do with a slightly smaller version for the edges of the bowl etc.

 

[Paganwolf]

I tell you what i have got at home, its a place that sells the crook knives that RM sells on his site, small is 27 and large is 29quid, cheap as chips for a quality tool ill put it up tomorrow as im at work at the mo

 

[gregorach]

I've got the feeling I'm about to commit heresy...

You don't need one. There, I've said it.

I've been off work with the 'flu the last few days, and ended up carving the obligatory spoon out of boredom. I carved the bowl quite successfully just using my Baker "Graduate" and a mallet - you need to secure the spoon to something, but then you can use the tip of the knife like a gouge, working from the front / back of the bowl towards the centre. It gives you a pretty ragged bowl, but that can be sorted out by using that bow-drill set you've got kicking around and a handful of sharp sand. As it was a first attempt, I did end up with some scoring a little too deep to be bothered sanding out, but that's just laziness / carelessness on my part.

I'm not knocking you crook-knife owners, but it does occasionally smack of tools for the sake of tools. We all love tools, but having a special knife to carve spoons seems perhaps a wee bit OTT to me.

You can do a lot with that ordinary knife of yours!

 

[ilovemybed]

You can do a lot with that ordinary knife of yours!

Yeah but you need a vice, a bow drill, some sand and a mallet too!

 

[gregorach]

Well, you don't need a vice - just some means of securing the workpiece. Patrick's shown us some good tricks for that in some of his tutorials, and there are plenty of other options - I did mine with a couple of pegs in my workbench to butt it against and a cable tie to stop it all bouncing around. You could do it in the field with any number of arrangements.

The bow drill is only a couple of sticks and a bit of string (it doesn't need to be able to make fire), sand is easy to find, and the mallet is just the same as a batton. In other words, all the sorts of things you're going to have available in any bushcraft situation.

Improvise and adapt - isn't that the idea?

 

[Paganwolf]

You can also use an ember to burn the bowl out, costs nothing, but if it was as good and as efficient as a crook knife they wouldnt sell crook knives lol, theres always more way of doing anything in this game thats what makes it so interesting, if you was out in the field with only your knife it would be a good way of making the depression in your spoon, perhaps leave out the sand for a smoother finish, but 10/10 for ingenuity buddy! lets have a pic of the spoon too

 

[gregorach]

Well, the crook knife obviously has a lot of other uses too - it's an extremely versatile tool. But I'd say that unless you're doing a lot of that sort of work, it's not really necessary.

As for pics of the spoon, I'd kinda promised myself I wouldn't add to the "my first spoon" pile, but if I get enough requests...

 

[Paganwolf]

it's a good idea mate, theres always more than one way of skinning a rabbit eh

 

[ilovemybed]

Well, you don't need a vice - just some means of securing the workpiece. Patrick's shown us some good tricks for that in some of his tutorials, and there are plenty of other options - I did mine with a couple of pegs in my workbench to butt it against and a cable tie to stop it all bouncing around. You could do it in the field with any number of arrangements.

The bow drill is only a couple of sticks and a bit of string (it doesn't need to be able to make fire), sand is easy to find, and the mallet is just the same as a batton. In other words, all the sorts of things you're going to have available in any bushcraft situation.

Improvise and adapt - isn't that the idea?

Yeah, sorry, I was just being facetious. You're right - the idea should be do what you can with what you have.

 

[gregorach]

Sorry mate - I've got the flu, my irony detector isn't working properly...

 

[Paganwolf]

A bit late as i have a memory like a seive! but heres the site for the Svante Djarv Spoon knives at a good price, http://www.woodlandcraftsupplies.co.uk Handy if your a left hander as i am because the Owners a lefty too and always has left handed tools in stock..