[Scotty Dog]

I'm gonna be carving a spoon in few days and was wondering if anyone had any advice.
I'm also gonna post a photo of it when it is finished.
Scott

[squbrigg]

Wear a leather apron and carving glove! Take your time and don't take big chunks out with your tools, keep them small and just shave off the wood. Keep your tools sharp, and strop often.

Otherwise.....carve away and have fun!

Bob

[Thor]

I have carved a few spoons with pleasing results. The only thing that I've seen people have problems with is carving through the bottom accidentally. I usually leave mine pretty thick, but they still work fine.
I like using basswood, or poplar. I've also used butternut, cedar, and pine. The detail is easier to achieve with basswood for me.

Another thing, and you might get more suggestions on this, I use mineral oil for the finish. It is an oil that is easy to come by from your pharamacy department, and will never go rancid. Some folks recommend walnut oil or peanut oil, but they aren't inert oils. All are non-toxic and can be used with food impliments.

You may consider your spoon purely decorative for a wall ornament, but it sure is nice to take it off the wall for a special occassion and use it as a serving utensil.

Let us see the photos of the spoon in progress and finished. We can all learn from others doing a new project.

Thor

[Scotty Dog]

What kind of wood is good for spoon making ? But it can't be pine.
maybe cherry

[Claude]

Many types of wood work great for spoons, particularly if you're making the spoon to be used in cooking. I've made cooking spoons out of walnut, cherry, maple, purpleheart, olive, and paduak (sp). The cherry and maple were both relatively easy to carve. The olive and the purpleheart are tied for really hard wood - had to use Dremel and drum sander on these.

Claude

[whitecree]

For a wall decoration, any kind of wood will do. If you plan on using it, some woods are better than others. Some woods are resinous, such as many species of pine or yellow cedar. Some others will absorb odours and tastes from foods they are in contact with, which may spoil that bowl of ice cream someday.

Here on the Wet Coast, I like using Alder, Birch and red cedar for spoons that will get used. They are non-resinous, and don't absorb food odours.

[Scotty Dog]

Does cherry or walnut absorb odors or flavors ?

[whitecree]

Cherry won't, or at least it hasn't with the cherry spoons I've made. I don't think walnut will either, but have never carved it.

Come to think of it, I think I read somewhere that all fruit and nut woods are good for eating implements such as bowls, spoons, forks and so forth.

[Claude]

I haven't noticed any retention of food taste or aroma in my maple, cherry, walnut, or purpleheart wooden spoons.

Helpful hint #1: When you finish and have sanded it using first 80 grit, then 220 grit, then 320 or 400 grit to finish, take it over to the sink and run water all over it. Pat it with a towel to get the drips off, then turn a hair dryer on it until the moisture is all gone. Feel the wood: it's rough again, right? Sand it again with the 320 or 400 grit to get the rough fibers off. When you're done, wet it again and dry it again. Repeat this 3 or 4 times, until the wood fibers no longer raise up and it stays smooth when dried. Now you can put the mineral oil or whatever on it. I personally usually use olive oil, and I haven't had a problem with it getting rancid as I use them fairly frequently and they get washed with soap and water. Keep them out of the dishwasher - that high temp is very hard on wood.

Helpful hint #2: After using your spoon for some time, if you notice it feeling a little rough in places because the wood fibers have raised up again, don't panic. Pick up that little scrubbie (cleaniing thing with a sponge on one side and a plastic scrubber on the other) by the kitchen sink and rub the spoon with the scrubbie for a minute or two under the running water. The plastic scrubber will take off the raised fibers without hurting the rest of the wooden spoon and it'll be smooth again once it drys.

Helpful hint #3: take a look at my website, in the Miscelaneous page, and about half way down is a photo of five spoons. Make one like the middle one. It's really almost more of a spatula than a spoon, as it has not bowl, but for cooking, it's an order of magnitude more useful. Notice the two corners, one is barely rounded at all, and the other is rounded with a 1/2 inch radius. This is because some pans are almost square sided, and others have quite a curve where the bottom of the pan meets the side. Two different corners on the spatula lets you use it effectively in almost any shape of pan. Oh, and make the handle about 3/4 inch thick instead of those wimpy 1/4 inch thick commercial spoons you can buy at the Dollar Store.

Claude

[Scotty Dog]

Do you make coffee scoops the same as spoons but with a smaller handle and a deeper well ?