spoons

[spoony]

Ok got a big lump of birch drying for a bowl, (cheers Razorstropp)
but want to have a go at a spoon, got a nice bit of birch for that, can i start craving or do i have to dry that to?? if so how long,?? TIA

 

[Paganwolf]

spoons can be carved green mate go for it

 

[spoony]

do i then leave it to dry naturally?? or an airing cupboard??

 

[Marts]

Generally trying to speed up the drying process unless you know what you are doing can lead to more chance of a split. I would just dry it naturally - shouldn't take very long for something roughly spoon shaped.

 

[snake|UK|]

Ok got a big lump of birch drying for a bowl, (cheers Razorstropp)
but want to have a go at a spoon, got a nice bit of birch for that, can i start craving or do i have to dry that to?? if so how long,?? TIA

when the birch wood is dry, sand it down smooth then wet it, this will open the grain, and sand repeat until you have the worlds smoothest spoon

 

[shadow57]

I read somewhere that seasoning wood was a lot of rubbish and that if you wanted to ensure that the wood was dry enough to work with , do the following,,,,,

(This is for bow making)

Get your green wood and cut it near to the dimension of the bow and leave it to dry. Use an accurated set of scales and weigh the wood. The wood should lose weight each day as it dries out. When the wood stops losing weight after 3 or 4 consecutive days its dry and ready to work .

It worked for me on a Ash bow and pulls great.

Now....this friday I thought about making a spoon ..It so happens that my school has some nice cherry trees . So at the end of the day zzzzzzzzzzzzzz one piece of fresh cherry wood appeared in my hand. b I have shaped it into a rough spoon yesterday and at the moment it seems fine.

Then again what I have said may be a lot of

John

 

[Stew]

You're right Shadow, once it stops getting lighter, it's seasoned

but

while it's drying it my split and check, making it useless for what you want.

You can either have the piece of wood oversized so that you have room to remove any faults or slow the drying process down so no checks form. I do the latter, generally by leaving the piece of wood in a plastic bag with some wood shavings when it's not being worked.
By the time the spoon is finished, it's generally thin enough to dry without checks.

 

[shadow57]

That,s interesting info Stew. I will keep that in mind. I'm having go at my 1st spoon at the moment. I have without thinking cut it well oversize so this should help the problem. I am trying to do it using only my "ebay" £5 Moura knife and sandpaper as a test of endurance....but I keep looking at the large belt sander in the school workshop and other tools ....

Stuck for some carving type shape ideas but its coming on.

The cherry is a very hard wood. Nice to work with.

Some kids at school have noticed a bit of branch missing from the cherry tree

Nothing to do with me of course