Saturday 28 September 2013

SPOON # 38 - Saturday 28th September

This spoon is a bit of a cheat, I guess, since I didn't actually carve it this week. That is to say, I carved some of it this week, but had actually started it back in April. It's sycamore heart-wood, hence the lovely grain colouration (it's practically purple), and when I posted about this spoon back in April it was to complain about how it had split - look closely at the bowl and you can see the splits.




Anyway, I kept the spoon and over the months, as it dried out, the splits closed up so I thought I'd see if I could finish it off, and here are the results.



I'm kind of glad I didn't throw it on the fire pile now.
Julian is right, this isn't sycamore at all - far too colourful - but some lilac he gave me ages ago. When it was green it carved beautifully but was so wet that it dried too quickly and split each time. I guess next time I get some lilac I'll know to leave it a few months to stabilized a bit.

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful colors, especially those purple veins !!
    Good job, man!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful. I dream of getting to carve such great wood as that. And wonderful design. Glad you kept it too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks great Rich, but I think you meant Lilac, not Sycamore.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi,
    I agree with all the comments, do you put any finish on the spoon, it has a lovely lustre to it,
    Rob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rob - sorry, I thought I'd replied to this comment but blogger doesn't seem to have published it.
      I have a tub of walnut oil and I try to soak my spoons for a couple of weeks, though I'm rarely that patient, so they might get a day or so. It gives a nice finish - not as good as raw linseed oil, but I find that can give spoons and bowl something of a rancid taste, if you are actually going to use them.

      Delete
  5. Thanks for the reply. I use walnut also but not for that long so I'll try your idea. It looks like I'm going to have to chop down the cherry tree in our back garden soon, wife's getting fed up with the neighbours complaints, so if we do meet up I can bring some. It might be better to try and organise via email, but not sure how to share addresses without everyone seeing, any ideas? I'm sure our Midlands Meet won't be gate crashed, though the thought of 1000s of greenwood carvers causing mayhem in Leicestershire is rather amusing, but I suppose it's good to be prudent. Enjoy your weekend, and try and get some carving in, Rob

    ReplyDelete