Hi all
Put the saw on my SAK to good use a few weekends ago while out for a weekend stroll, salvaged a piece of fallen birch branch. Really wanted to share what I've turned it into - Spoons! These are only my second and third attempts, so I'm very pleased.
(This is my first time uploading images on this forum also, so apologies if anything has gone wrong...)
The branch after cutting away all the bark.
I decided for some insane reason that I wanted to make the bowl of my spoon out of the section where the branch forks out into a smaller one. I wanted to keep all those interesting colours you can see, and while it paid off in the end it made things very difficult at times.
Removing the waste and roughing out a shape
Refining things a little
Now we're getting somewhere. The big knot in the grain on the backside of the bowl came from my choice to use that forking section of branch. I like how it looks though.
The current situation
The spoon as it stands now. When I started, I didn't have a crook knife so I had to order one, wait for it to be delivered before I could continue. I'm very pleased with the bowl although I am tempted to try and make it a lot deeper.
The spoon itself is far from finished. Need to smooth out all those angles, sand it down, and finally put a finish on it (something I've not done before so that will be good to learn).
Bonus level unlocked!
As I chose to make the bowl from the middle of the branch, I had a small piece of wood leftover, so I decided to make a smaller "teaspoon" as well. This I'm not as pleased with overall, but I learnt even more from it as well as getting two spoons from one hunk of wood. Bonus!
I really like the green vein running through this one. Like a go-faster stripe!
I got a lot out of these two in terms of experience and satisfaction. All comments/critique welcome!
I also have a few questions of the community...
Firstly is, what is the green stuff? The branch had been down on the ground for some time, so the bark was a little mouldy and fuzzy in places, so is the green stuff rot/mould in the grain? If so, would that make it unsafe for eating with?
Secondly, on the main spoon there were two spots where the wood was very soft, soft enough to make accidental imprints and marks with fingernails etc very easily. It felt more like working with balsawood or something. Again, was this rot? Or just a natural occurance within some wood?
Oh and finally, the crook knife I ordered is very odd. It's just a mora 164, but well for starters it's completely different to the one in the picture on amazon. The one they advertise has that stupid pointy end - now, I'm actually glad the one that came didn't have that, but still puzzled. Also, you can't see too clearly on my photos but the metal is a very dark, dull colour, almost purple. What's with that? Has the metal reacted badly to something?
Cheers!
Put the saw on my SAK to good use a few weekends ago while out for a weekend stroll, salvaged a piece of fallen birch branch. Really wanted to share what I've turned it into - Spoons! These are only my second and third attempts, so I'm very pleased.
(This is my first time uploading images on this forum also, so apologies if anything has gone wrong...)
The branch after cutting away all the bark.
I decided for some insane reason that I wanted to make the bowl of my spoon out of the section where the branch forks out into a smaller one. I wanted to keep all those interesting colours you can see, and while it paid off in the end it made things very difficult at times.
Removing the waste and roughing out a shape
Refining things a little
Now we're getting somewhere. The big knot in the grain on the backside of the bowl came from my choice to use that forking section of branch. I like how it looks though.
The current situation
The spoon as it stands now. When I started, I didn't have a crook knife so I had to order one, wait for it to be delivered before I could continue. I'm very pleased with the bowl although I am tempted to try and make it a lot deeper.
The spoon itself is far from finished. Need to smooth out all those angles, sand it down, and finally put a finish on it (something I've not done before so that will be good to learn).
Bonus level unlocked!
As I chose to make the bowl from the middle of the branch, I had a small piece of wood leftover, so I decided to make a smaller "teaspoon" as well. This I'm not as pleased with overall, but I learnt even more from it as well as getting two spoons from one hunk of wood. Bonus!
I really like the green vein running through this one. Like a go-faster stripe!
I got a lot out of these two in terms of experience and satisfaction. All comments/critique welcome!
I also have a few questions of the community...
Firstly is, what is the green stuff? The branch had been down on the ground for some time, so the bark was a little mouldy and fuzzy in places, so is the green stuff rot/mould in the grain? If so, would that make it unsafe for eating with?
Secondly, on the main spoon there were two spots where the wood was very soft, soft enough to make accidental imprints and marks with fingernails etc very easily. It felt more like working with balsawood or something. Again, was this rot? Or just a natural occurance within some wood?
Oh and finally, the crook knife I ordered is very odd. It's just a mora 164, but well for starters it's completely different to the one in the picture on amazon. The one they advertise has that stupid pointy end - now, I'm actually glad the one that came didn't have that, but still puzzled. Also, you can't see too clearly on my photos but the metal is a very dark, dull colour, almost purple. What's with that? Has the metal reacted badly to something?
Cheers!