SPOON # 24 - Sunday 16th June

Father's Day, and what could be more pleasurable than sitting in the garden at the end of the day, listening to the birds singing in the trees and doing a bit of spoon carving? Not a lot.

This week is another rowan spoon. One of my favourite carvers, not to mention an amazing woodworker generally and impressive photographer (check out his blog if you haven't come across it before: http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/ ) is Peter Follansbee - resident 17th century woodworker and carver at the Plimoth Plantation where he domonstrates the work methods and styles of furniture that came across to America from Europe with the pilgrim fathers. It is one of my greatest wishes to visit the Plimoth Plantation and to take one of Peter's jointed stool workshops at Country Workshops (Drew Langsner's place - another hero of mine).

Anyway, I really admire Peter's work and his style of spoons, so this is my tribute a la Peter Follonsbee.

A little chip carving



A crazy, curvy profile

SPOON(S) # 23 - Sunday 9th June 2013

Usually, I cut a piece of wood and set about carving a single spoon. Today I thought I'd have a go at carving four spoons the same. Of course, I've made matching spoons before, but never all at the same time, working on one, then moving on to the next and then the next, each time repeating the same part of the spoon (hope that makes sense). My plan today was to see if it's any easier or quicker to make spoons this way, by repeating the same action or cut on each spoon.

I picked up a nice, green branch of what I think is Rowan, that someone had cut and left lying on the path, so I thought I'd put it to good use. I cut a short, straight grained section, halved it, quatered it and set about my project.

First, axe a flat face and stensil on the outline

Next, rough out the outline with the axe

Then, crank the front of the spoons

Then, shape the back of the spoon a bit - again with the axe

Re-draw the outline and then, with a knife, cut to the line

Then a bit of shaping, decoration and, of course, hollow out the bowl

These condiment spoons are far from perfect and will need drying and finishing - maybe sanding - but the point of the exercise was to see if it made any difference carving four spoons at a time. Despite having to stop and start more times than I'd anticipated, I think the experiment was successful. Perhaps next time, a little more care.

SPOON # 22 - Sunday 2nd June

It was a lovely day yesterday and my family and I went over to visit my brother Julian and while we sat and chatted in the sun in his back garden, he and I did a little spoon carving together - something we haven't managed to do for about 6 months.

I chose to use a fairly basic design, one I have carved many times before but that I think is quite nice to look at, but used a wood I have never tried before. It was a piece of Laburnum which I really enjoyed as it had some colour to it right away. Not that I don't like the lighter, blonder woods, I just like the character of a darker wood.

It had a lovely close grain, which when the sun caught it looked almost like lace wood. I think I might finish and sand this one as I think it would probably look really nice polished and oiled.

SPOON # 21 - Sunday 26th May

Sorry it's taken me a week to finally get this spoon posted, but it's school holidays and so a busy week with the family - not to mention my birthday.

On that note, as it was my birthday this past week, I wanted to carve something a little more decorative and celebratory. I copied a design that was one of the first spoons I carved in recent years. It was a spoon from a section of birch from a tree that my mother-in-law had planted when her father unexpectedly died. It was a tree with great sentimental value, but had simply overgrown its spot in the garden had had to come down. So, as I was just beginning to show an interest in whitling, I thought I'd have a go at a spoon that she could keep to remember this special tree. I was, and still am, quite pleased with the results. There's something about the spoon that I still like.

Sorry about the dreadful quality of this picture, it was off of a text on my phone

So, having a piece of birch knocking around, I thought I'd have a go at replicating it for myself.

The newer version of my mother-in-law's spoon

I painted and decorated it a little (I'd like to say it was organic, milk paint or something of that nature, but it's actually just Barnes and Noble or some other DIY paint) and then gold leafed the orb with some 24 carat gold leaf left over from my sign writing days.

SPOON # 20 - Sunday 19th May

I was surfing my regular favourite blogs this week when I came across this on Paul Adamson's blog 'woodsmancrafts': http://woodsmancrafts.blogspot.co.uk/


























If you read Paul's blog he explains that they are plans for The Finnish Defence Forces who were encouraged to carve and sell wooden spoons in order to support the war effort. I love the idea of making something with a bit of history behind it so had a go at making the smaller of the spoons (far left) out of a nice piece of sycamore.

I was fairly pleased with the results, with one small exception - no sooner had I finished carving the bowl but about ten splits appeared on the bowl and handle. I've wrapped it to dry anyway (I can't ever seem to be able to throw a spoon away) and when it's dry, they may close up and I can finish it up.

One thing is for sure, I know I'll come back to those finnish designs many times in the future.

SPOON # 19 - Sunday 12th May

I've ended up doing something very different this week - something not really me, but I don't actually mind it too much.

I set out in the rain this afternoon in the hope of finding a branch that might offer me some good carving and maybe an interesting spoon or two. After a couple of hours scouring the woods, however, I came home empty handed (except for an old fence post that I found moss-covered in the undergrowth and thought I might be able to use on my summer project - a little summer house).

So, without any new wood to carve, I got my wedges out and set about splitting a chunck of very twisted and gnarly lilac. Having created some very irregular and odd shaped (and very fragrant)sections of lilac, I decided to try something I've really not done for a couple of years - to carve an irregular shaped spoon, the shape of which was dictated by the natural shape and grain of the wood. And this serving spoon is what I ended up with:

A look at some of the lovely purple grain pattern

A very 'organic' profile - despite how it looks, it feels surprisingly good in hand

More curly grain...

...and still more.

The spoon is still fairly green, and I've had some disasters with lilac as it dries and splits along the grain of the purple heart wood, so I'll wrap it in paper for a month or so to let it dry slowly and then perhaps I'll add some detail to the handle and maybe a little carved decoration.

And on a different note - I was up in the loft this week looking for some lost paperwork, and found this spoon in a box of old keepsakes. Whilst this is not the first spoon I ever carved (my first was a tiny love spoon a friend helped me carve from a piece of silver for a girlfriend when I was 16) it was the first wooden spoon that I ever attempted. It was done whilst I was a student working on an American summer camp in New York when I was in my early twenties. I made it during my free time over a couple of days with a blunt craft knife (hence the rather ragged bowl) and when finished I had sent it home to my then girlfriend, who is now my wife. It just shows that I have had this fascination with carving spoons for some years now.

SPOON # 18 - Saturday 4th May

A couple of new spoons for a new month. These eating spoons are based on a design I saw at Spoonfest last year - a really nice little spoon by Barn Carder. I've made a couple before but not been entirely happy with the shape so thought I'd try again.

Two spoons; two varieties of wood and two very different experiences.

The larger of the spoons, the one on the right, is green apple. Easy to carve but wet and now needs a couple of weeks of drying out before finishing (the sides on the bulb of the handle need straightening - they're too curved for my liking at the moment) and oiling. It looks very blonde at the moment but should take on some nice colour with age.

The spoon on the left is probably the hardest spoon I've ever done. Before I discovered a bag of green off-cuts in the garage (hence the green apple wood) I carved the smaller one from the nicest bit of fire wood I had on the log pile - a bent piece of seasoned ash. And boy was it hard work. My thumb feels like it's been tenderised with a meat mallet. Having said that, it carved so clean - no tear-out and no real need for finishing (unless I decide to sand it).