forgeblast
Elite Member
I like to keep busy, not in a manic way, but just active. I find woodcarving keeps me busy and relaxed at the same time. Helps having a blade whisking around.
(FIY all the spoons are carved green, from tree to blank to most of the time carved in a day or at most a week.)
We had one snowstorm in October last year that caused a birch tree to be bowled over.
It was right in front of our bridge and it was a pain to walk through. So when I cut it down I wanted to use it for something.
I made these fairy garden houses with my daughter (she painted them, and glued everything up).
I also wanted to try to make a few spoons.
These are the spoons in birch with a spatula.
I found that I needed to work on my spoon bowls. I liked some of the shapes but I was not getting a consistent shape. So I sketched out designs I liked from a google image search and then made templates, basically top templates to bandsaw a rough blank.
Then I use a spoon gouge to clean out the spoon bowl, hook knife, and then sand the bowl before starting on the handle.
(spoon gouge, hook knife, and sloyd knife)
(this pic shows a spoon that has been gouged and I would then next go to the hook knife)
Easy sanding jig for a spoon bowl
It痴 a cheap wooden cabinet pull that came with our bar cabinets. I drilled a hole, put a long pan head screw in there and then cut a square of sandpaper and spray it with tack adhesive. I wait a min and then put it on and rubber band it. (In these pics I have zip ties because for some reason I could not find one rubber band in the barn).
The following are cherry after they have been sanded but before oiling. The cherry came from a branch of a tree that was too close to the house.
Two in cherry love the long crazy one
A lot of cherry spreaders(butter knives)
Two cherry spatulas
Here they are oiled. This is by far the most magical time of the whole process. The grain pops and all the hard work is worth it. I use hazelnut oil. It was an oil I had on hand and is lighter in color then the walnut. I have a bottle of mineral oil, but could not find it. I have heard of people using linseed oil(the health food store not hardware store kind, sesame oil etc.)
Cherry group
Spatulas
Spoons (the curved one is based on the golden mean and I used some visual thirds references to make the curve.
Same spoons shows the longer one a bit better washed out a bit with the flash
I found that you tube has some great sloyd carving tutorials (how to hold the knife, the different cuts, etc?
One great resource is the Home
and if you have not see robin woods website here it is. Robin Wood :: wooden bowls & plates :: traditional turning :: spoon carving :: countryside furniture
turning a bowl on a foot-powered lathe - YouTube His tube video showing foot powered lathe
I have one built, I have been working on forging out the hook tools, and its something I want to work on this winter.
My process in a nutshell is find a branch cut it to lenght on a chop saw.
then I use a template and sharpie the spoon design.
Then i cut the sides with a bandsaw and then cut it in half if its thick enough giveing me two for one blanks.
I then do the bowl (more then likely the place I will mess it up and its putting a lot of stress on the blank if you carve the handle first(I have snapped a few)).
then sand the bowl. Then I carve the handle until it fits my hand, and let it dry out and sand, from 80 to 320. I then oil them until they stop soaking up oil (a few days) and then you can use them.
(FIY all the spoons are carved green, from tree to blank to most of the time carved in a day or at most a week.)
We had one snowstorm in October last year that caused a birch tree to be bowled over.
It was right in front of our bridge and it was a pain to walk through. So when I cut it down I wanted to use it for something.
I made these fairy garden houses with my daughter (she painted them, and glued everything up).
I also wanted to try to make a few spoons.
These are the spoons in birch with a spatula.
I found that I needed to work on my spoon bowls. I liked some of the shapes but I was not getting a consistent shape. So I sketched out designs I liked from a google image search and then made templates, basically top templates to bandsaw a rough blank.
Then I use a spoon gouge to clean out the spoon bowl, hook knife, and then sand the bowl before starting on the handle.
(spoon gouge, hook knife, and sloyd knife)
(this pic shows a spoon that has been gouged and I would then next go to the hook knife)
Easy sanding jig for a spoon bowl
It痴 a cheap wooden cabinet pull that came with our bar cabinets. I drilled a hole, put a long pan head screw in there and then cut a square of sandpaper and spray it with tack adhesive. I wait a min and then put it on and rubber band it. (In these pics I have zip ties because for some reason I could not find one rubber band in the barn).
The following are cherry after they have been sanded but before oiling. The cherry came from a branch of a tree that was too close to the house.
Two in cherry love the long crazy one
A lot of cherry spreaders(butter knives)
Two cherry spatulas
Here they are oiled. This is by far the most magical time of the whole process. The grain pops and all the hard work is worth it. I use hazelnut oil. It was an oil I had on hand and is lighter in color then the walnut. I have a bottle of mineral oil, but could not find it. I have heard of people using linseed oil(the health food store not hardware store kind, sesame oil etc.)
Cherry group
Spatulas
Spoons (the curved one is based on the golden mean and I used some visual thirds references to make the curve.
Same spoons shows the longer one a bit better washed out a bit with the flash
I found that you tube has some great sloyd carving tutorials (how to hold the knife, the different cuts, etc?
One great resource is the Home
and if you have not see robin woods website here it is. Robin Wood :: wooden bowls & plates :: traditional turning :: spoon carving :: countryside furniture
turning a bowl on a foot-powered lathe - YouTube His tube video showing foot powered lathe
I have one built, I have been working on forging out the hook tools, and its something I want to work on this winter.
My process in a nutshell is find a branch cut it to lenght on a chop saw.
then I use a template and sharpie the spoon design.
Then i cut the sides with a bandsaw and then cut it in half if its thick enough giveing me two for one blanks.
I then do the bowl (more then likely the place I will mess it up and its putting a lot of stress on the blank if you carve the handle first(I have snapped a few)).
then sand the bowl. Then I carve the handle until it fits my hand, and let it dry out and sand, from 80 to 320. I then oil them until they stop soaking up oil (a few days) and then you can use them.
