The more I carve the more I love it

[mr dazzler]

I did these yesterday, all large 12 to 14 inches long, made from willow and alder. Some are pith up, some are pith down, split out of 4 to 5 inch diameter logs.

I am still trying to "get" this form, havent quite resolved it just yet. I have left quite a bit of meat on the handles, not 100% sure exactly how to form them-any sudgestions? But I love carving. This is what I should of been doing when I left school. Some other spoons (not in the photos) were rejects at an early stage. The magic time saving ingredient was using the adze to do most of the hollowing in the bowls. I tried this after seeing the old boy on the swedish videos. It saves SO much time and effort. I could however do with a smaller sweep adze, as I can only use it on quite wide and shallowish bowl shapes otherwise it digs in to the sides of the bowl and risks splitting it apart. I think I have done about 400 spoons up to now, (vast majority of them poor to V poor in quality) but all of a sudden just recently it has become intuitive, the interplay of hands, wood and knife edges. I love it. It now takes me about 5 ins to axe the blank, then 1 minute to adze out the bowl, then probably 1/2 hour to do the rest (up to the ready to dry stage).....these will probaly be left now to dry out, then re-look closely to decide what next...
cheers jonathan

 

[Zingmo]

I couldn't organise a pith-up in a brewery (sorry it's been a long week!)

Any chance of a link to the videoo of the old guy with the adze?

Z

 

[bushwacker bob]

Very productive, you have developed an instanty recognisable style of spoon!
looks like your going to spend today sanding and developing the handle shape. I prefer elegant thinnish handles but you need to asses the amount of weight your going to lift or the pressure of stirring you want to exert on them and guesstimate how thick you want them. If they are just going to be decorative, you can make them as elegant as you feel comfortable with.

 

[Melonfish]

got to say that after making 2 spoons and a spatula this weekend i'm in the same boat as you, i'm dying to get cracking on with my own stuff and i'm waiting with baited breath for my carver and spoon knife to arrive. then i'm off out to find some decent wood and i'm going to make a nice mess on the floor

the shavings once dry also make the most amazing tinder i've noticed.

 

[addo]

They look great and your speed sounds good, important if you want to sell them.

Yes the shavings are very handy for lighting my stove, saves on chopping so much stick.

 

[Tengu]

I bet Grinling Gibbons never carved spoons like that.

 

[Tjurved]

You are a real spooner for sure! Keep making spoons!

 

[Hoodoo]

Some real nice work there.

 

[badgeringtim]

Im impressed by the speed!
I think i mess around to much and should just get a form to replicate and get at it!

How do you adze such a small bowl - think i might have the use of that tool all wrong...

 

[mr dazzler]

Thanks for looking guys
It seems a little daunting at first, the thought of swinging an adze to chop out the bowl of the spoons :togo:.
I use a high trimming block nowadays not a crude choping block It is solid and immovable, a big beech log on 3 x 3 inch diameter legs. It wont budge even if you walk into it (ouch) so it a good solid base to work on, the top is about an inch or 2 above the height of my belt, so the work is slightly more in your face.
Basically to hollow the spoons, I made 2 or 3 stop cuts close to the handle end of the bowl, then turned the blank round and made shallower slicing cuts downward to meet the stop cuts. With a smaller radius adze it would be even easier. It was surprising how neat and clean a result was possible.....

I think this is a link to the old swedish boy, the one wearing the totally cool wool trousers
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37973&highlight=clog+carving

 

[badgeringtim]

hmm maybe its a case of confidence need to sort out my adzing - it took me the best part of a day to hollow out, what is a relatively large bowl but still....
Have to look at the links when im not on a snail connection.. sigh