Using and cleaning spoons and other questions

[THOaken]

Truth be told I haven't actually used my spoons until now. I've just finished a bowl of Bran Flakes with my crudest spoon to test it out for the first time, and it wasn't a bad experience. I feel like they are aesthetic objects and that they shouldn't really be plunged into food and used for a utilitarian purpose. Having used metal spoons my entire life, I felt a bit strange dipping a spoon made of Hazel and linseed oil into a bowl. My spoons are all incredibly smooth and light weight, almost like they are plastic toys. They don't feel like sturdy wooden eating tools... I know it's silly but did anyone else feel like that? I've just washed it in some soapy water and dried it with a towel, but it seems that the areas that were cleaned have gone a bit dry and rough all of a sudden. I don't really want that to happen to my other, better spoons. Is it normal? What is the proper procedure for cleaning utensils?

I have a few more miscellaneous questions:

For those of you who use linseed oil, do you find it still smells of it after weeks? Compared to the walnut oil there is still a strong scent of linseed oil on my first two spoons.


Thanks.

 

[Two Socks]

Spoons are for using! The roughness you experience after washing is a result of the sanding. When you sand you disrupt the fibers of the toplayer of the wood and these will raise after getting wet. You can fix this by making your spoon wet after your final sanding stage, and let it dry. Then take the finest grid of sandpaper and lightly sanding the raised fibers off while not disrupting new ones. That will give you a finish that stays smooth. A tooled finish doesn`t have this problem and will stay as smooth as it is carved.

I clean my woodenwear with mildly soapy hot water. I also have a cooking spoon I made a long time ago that is in the dishwasher daily. It has warped and discoloured, but it still does its job. I don`t recommend it for spoons that you want to look nice though. Just washing by hand is fine.

 

[Mesquite]

Don't know about linseed oil as if I oil spoons I use sunflower, olive or walnut oil (basically whatever's to hand).

As for the rough feeling that's normal if you've not dampened the spoon during sanding and let it dry again before sanding.

It's the fibers on the wood swelling up with the moisture. Just let it dry out, sand the roughness off with your finest glasspaper, dampen again, dry out and repat the sanding. Keep doing that until you don't feel anymore roughness after drying it out then repeat the oiling.

 

[THOaken]

So all of the spoons I've currently made will get rough with water, but if I wet my next spoon at the final sanding stage, dry, then sand again with finest grit it'll stay smooth permanently, even after washing?

 

[Two Socks]

yep, that`s it. As mesquite said: you might have to repeat the process a few times. You can also do it to the spoons you already carved. The oil will clog up the sandpaper but you will end up with smooth spoons.

 

[THOaken]

yep, that`s it. As mesquite said: you might have to repeat the process a few times. You can also do it to the spoons you already carved. The oil will clog up the sandpaper but you will end up with smooth spoons.

I'm having trouble understanding how your process works, Two Socks. Surely after washing, even if you sand, wet and then sand again, you'll still have raised fibers? You sand off the fibers that were raised after washing so that you're left with a layer that's not disrupted. But wouldn't water just raise the fibers underneath the fibers that you just sanded off? I'm sure it works... I just can't imagine how.

 

[Mesquite]

There's only so many fibers that will raise up which is why you have to repeat the process of dampening then lightly sanding until smooth again several times before they stop raising up.

 

[Two Socks]

When you sand with pressure you cut the fibers. These fibers raise when they get wet/dry. If you manage to sand off these fibers without cutting new ones your surface will remain smooth. The sanding also has a tendency to push the fibers down again, so to get a good result you`ll do it a couple of times. In the end you`ll have removed the standing fibers and no new ones should raise. It is difficult for me to explain without making a drawing I`m afraid.

 

[mr dazzler]

I Never oiled any spoon I made, dont see any real need for it. They are mostly carved out of alder or willow, and get pressed into service straight away and are left in the white, no oil or any other finish or treatment although I tried a water/wax based color once or twice. They seem ok, 2 in particular have been in daily use for at least 2 years. By now they are glazed and burnished with a brown patina. They actually seem tougher now, work hardened. We do not own a dishwasher, they just get washed in soapy water then rinsed and left to air dry. None of the spoons have split or cracked or even warped, they arent mouldy rancid or smelly. I'd say dont worry about spoons, they are utilitariian objects, functional, not art pieces.

 

[Stew]

I have a Birch stirrer/spoon that I carved years ago that gets chucked in the dishwasher after use - maybe two or three times a week. It's still fine now and we've had the dishwasher about two years and it was hand washed for don't know how many years before that.

 

[rik_uk3]

Why seal a spoon? I don't carve spoons (I could if I had to) but the five for a quid ones I buy are untreated wood and after you've stirred a couple of stews, curries, gravies etc seem fine so why mess about with oil? If its the likes of a nice carved Welsh Love Spoon you hang on the wall I can see the sense but don't see why you need to if your actually using the spoon when cooking/eating.

'Stew' and others have it right IMHO, just use it and wash it, bit of Fairy Liquid won't harm it I'd have thought.

 

[THOaken]

I've had two meals with two different spoons then washed. Sanding the raised fibres down seems to work but sanding a spoon after every meal and cleaning seems a bit strange... I'll try to keep the surface smooth using the procedure above for my next spoon, but does anyone just leave the raised fibres and therefore the rough feeling on?

 

[Clouston98]

I've had two meals with two different spoons then washed. Sanding the raised fibres down seems to work but sanding a spoon after every meal and cleaning seems a bit strange... I'll try to keep the surface smooth using the procedure above for my next spoon, but does anyone just leave the raised fibres and therefore the rough feeling on?

Sounds fine to me . Why don't you dedicate one spoon for eating and the others as ornamental?

 

[mr dazzler]

I've had two meals with two different spoons then washed. Sanding the raised fibres down seems to work but sanding a spoon after every meal and cleaning seems a bit strange... I'll try to keep the surface smooth using the procedure above for my next spoon, but does anyone just leave the raised fibres and therefore the rough feeling on?

It would appear you arent fully grasping the nature of wood as a structural material. If you sand agressively, you sever tha fibres, they are flapping about like tiny woodshavings, but still one end still connected to the rest of the wood. It needs only a very LIGHT touch with very FINE abrasive to remove those disrupted wispy bits that got "raised" with the application of moisture-without severing another layer of fibres. Depending on the species of wood you may need to do this 3 or 4 times-dampen, wait for the raised grain to dry, then LIGHTLY sand with FINE abrasive. Thats what I did with my knife handle, it took 3 or 4 phases to complete but now its smooth and shiny like marble.
Its like when your using a knife. Sometimes a series of extremely light, delicate skewed passes will successfully deal with a patch of awkward or reversing grain, whereas a single direct and hefty cut would of dug in and caused tearout.

 

[THOaken]

This might sound rather silly, but I was eating with one of my spoons, the special kolrosed one, and I cleaned it in soapy water. Then I took out and realised that I has washed away or faded a great deal of the kolrosing! I'm saddened by this as I thought the powder would somehow stay inside the cuts, but it's just faded now as some of the powder was washed away. How do you prevent this?

 

[mountainm]

This might sound rather silly, but I was eating with one of my spoons, the special kolrosed one, and I cleaned it in soapy water. Then I took out and realised that I has washed away or faded a great deal of the kolrosing! I'm saddened by this as I thought the powder would somehow stay inside the cuts, but it's just faded now as some of the powder was washed away. How do you prevent this?

Things change with use. I'd accept it and enjoy the fact it'll look well loved.

 

[THOaken]

Things change with use. I'd accept it and enjoy the fact it'll look well loved.

I don't quite understand what you mean. Surely there are kolrosers here who can tell me some preventative measures? I thought kolrosing was a lasting effect, not something to be washed out after one use...

 

[mountainm]

I don't quite understand what you mean. Surely there are kolrosers here who can tell me some preventative measures? I thought kolrosing was a lasting effect, not something to be washed out after one use...

You could use a more permanent medium like oil paint or acrylic then seal it with a varnish and be more careful when washing it.

 

[THOaken]

You could use a more permanent medium like oil paint or acrylic then seal it with a varnish and be more careful when washing it.

The thing I don't quite understand though is how the work of Wayland with his fully kolrosed kuksa, for example, can manage. How could that be washed and yet still have the kolrosing effect. I don't know if he used varnish, but I know he kolroses. And what about other woodwork that is fully kolrosed from other people on BCUK? I really did think that kolrosing was a method of wood decoration that was safe to wash because the cuts were so thin the powder or bark wouldn't wash out... That apparently is not the case. Disappointing... What's the point in kolrosing then if it washed way in one wash?

 

[mountainm]

The thing I don't quite understand thought is how the work of Wayland with his fully kolrosed kuksa, for example, can manage. How could that be washed and yet still have the kolrosing effect. I don't know if he used varnish, but I know he kolroses. And what about other woodwork that is fully kolrosed from other people on BCUK? I really did think that kolrosing was a method of wood decoration that was safe to wash because the cuts were so thin it the powder or bark wouldn't wash out...

Maybe he just wipes it out rather than immersing it in water?