its a knife im trialing for my trading post mate, carbon steel, convex and bloody good.
I'll stick a review on edged tools in a mo!
I'll stick a review on edged tools in a mo!
Spoons!!
- Thread starter Burnt Ash
- Start date
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Heres my first spoon,the piece of branch i started with was 3 feet long by 6 inches in diameter but i still managed to end up with a teaspoon
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Heres my first spoon,the branch i started with was 3 feet long and 6 inches in diameter and i still ended up with a teaspoon
.The heart in the front of the picture i carved from hazel and turned it into a necklace for my wife.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sorry to bring up such an old thread but it seemed relevant and interesting I found it in a search following Burnt Ash's comments on the kitchen spoon thread.
"What is it with this spoons business? I have NO intention of carving spoons just for the sake of it. I just don't see the point. Burnt Ash"
I guess there are different folk who are into bushcraft and hope we can all live happily together. Personally I don't think I am ever likely to be the sole survivor of a plane crash in a hostile environment though I can see the way that learning the skills to cope with that situation can be a good and empowering thing particularly since most of us live such dependant lives today.
Likewise spoons, I don't carve "for the sake of it". All my spoons go to homes where they are well used. I find that using tools and implements made by people I know greatly enriches my life experience, my life is full of objects and tools that have a meaning for me. From the feedback I get it sounds like many folk feel the same about my bowls and spoons. There really is nothing quite like giving someone a gift you have made yourself....if it is functional and beautiful so much the better. A well designed wooden eating spoon is a joy, it should fit the hand and the bowl as well as being pleasing to the eye and using the natural strengths of the material, it is far harder to get good than most forms of sculpture.
Spoon carving is the most commonly practised green wood craft in Scandinavia for many reasons, it requires only a few tools, no dedicated workspace and the raw material is free everywhere. It is quick and easy to pick up the basics but you can still be learning and improving after a lifetimes carving. Like knifemaking the best examples are works of functional art
This is not the only reason I do it though, as others have said it hones the skills, develops hand and eye and can be a delightfully social experience. We often carve with friends round a camp fire. here is a picture of a group of our friends carving at a campsite at Hells Mouth in Wales. I carved a spoon to flip eggs as we had nothing with us to do the job, we still have the spoon and it reminds me of the time we spent there.
"What is it with this spoons business? I just don't see the point. Burnt Ash"
Does that answer your question Burnt Ash? I am not suggesting everyone should do it just trying to show what I get out of it.
"What is it with this spoons business? I have NO intention of carving spoons just for the sake of it. I just don't see the point. Burnt Ash"
I guess there are different folk who are into bushcraft and hope we can all live happily together. Personally I don't think I am ever likely to be the sole survivor of a plane crash in a hostile environment though I can see the way that learning the skills to cope with that situation can be a good and empowering thing particularly since most of us live such dependant lives today.
Likewise spoons, I don't carve "for the sake of it". All my spoons go to homes where they are well used. I find that using tools and implements made by people I know greatly enriches my life experience, my life is full of objects and tools that have a meaning for me. From the feedback I get it sounds like many folk feel the same about my bowls and spoons. There really is nothing quite like giving someone a gift you have made yourself....if it is functional and beautiful so much the better. A well designed wooden eating spoon is a joy, it should fit the hand and the bowl as well as being pleasing to the eye and using the natural strengths of the material, it is far harder to get good than most forms of sculpture.
Spoon carving is the most commonly practised green wood craft in Scandinavia for many reasons, it requires only a few tools, no dedicated workspace and the raw material is free everywhere. It is quick and easy to pick up the basics but you can still be learning and improving after a lifetimes carving. Like knifemaking the best examples are works of functional art
This is not the only reason I do it though, as others have said it hones the skills, develops hand and eye and can be a delightfully social experience. We often carve with friends round a camp fire. here is a picture of a group of our friends carving at a campsite at Hells Mouth in Wales. I carved a spoon to flip eggs as we had nothing with us to do the job, we still have the spoon and it reminds me of the time we spent there.
"What is it with this spoons business? I just don't see the point. Burnt Ash"
Does that answer your question Burnt Ash? I am not suggesting everyone should do it just trying to show what I get out of it.
The whole ‘spoon carving argument’ still amazes me, when people ask the point of carving spoons. I say to them, the object is not only to have a spoon at the end of it, it is to learn how to carve.
Mors Kochansky, talks about practicing carving and making a ‘try sticks’ which is a stick carved in such a way you get to practice all the traditional carving skills and needs, like a half round notch, a dovetail notch, a square hole etc. Now what is the point of that stick, as anything other than a decorative piece, well to me there is none, other than a way of showing others that you can carve set notches and joints.
Which in itself is a good thing, but most of the basic skills can be learnt from simply carving camp tools, a stool, a pot hanger, a spoon, and in the end that is what it is about. I know from my own experience that I tend not to practice things that I feel are pointless, practice carving a dovetail notch over and over again is boring, but making things that use a dovetail notch is not boring. Trimming a piece of wood so it is square, over and over again is boring, but making something that requires square wood is not. Whittling a branch to a point and then throwing it away and whittling another to a point is, pardon the pun, pointless at least in my eyes. Making a spoon rack, pot stand, or a spoon set teaches the hands and the eyes to behave, leaving the mind to concentrate on other things.
The point to spoon carving is not only the end product, however useful that may be, it is the journey from fire wood to utensil. It is what you make of it, what you put into it, it’s what you learn from the act of learning how to carve.
Mors Kochansky, talks about practicing carving and making a ‘try sticks’ which is a stick carved in such a way you get to practice all the traditional carving skills and needs, like a half round notch, a dovetail notch, a square hole etc. Now what is the point of that stick, as anything other than a decorative piece, well to me there is none, other than a way of showing others that you can carve set notches and joints.
Which in itself is a good thing, but most of the basic skills can be learnt from simply carving camp tools, a stool, a pot hanger, a spoon, and in the end that is what it is about. I know from my own experience that I tend not to practice things that I feel are pointless, practice carving a dovetail notch over and over again is boring, but making things that use a dovetail notch is not boring. Trimming a piece of wood so it is square, over and over again is boring, but making something that requires square wood is not. Whittling a branch to a point and then throwing it away and whittling another to a point is, pardon the pun, pointless at least in my eyes. Making a spoon rack, pot stand, or a spoon set teaches the hands and the eyes to behave, leaving the mind to concentrate on other things.
The point to spoon carving is not only the end product, however useful that may be, it is the journey from fire wood to utensil. It is what you make of it, what you put into it, it’s what you learn from the act of learning how to carve.
I like that
It's like going for a walk. I don't just walk to get somewhere or see something, although they are pleasurable by-products. When the body is engaged in physical activity, the mind does it's own work. I would never have got my PhD thesis written if it weren't for such activities!
not really, although it was relevant. My PhD is in design and my research is about using multimedia to help the teaching and learning of craft skills. Whilst it hasn't directly helped my spoon carving, I've been using the outcomes of my research to become a better spoon carving teacher (I hope).Similar threads
