spoon carving tooling question

[Dennis Taylor]

Being very novice to carving, I recently attended a craft show that had a fellow carving wooden spoons, with a spoke shave & knife, the knife he used was like the Hook knife on page 74 of the Lee Valley catalog....I would like to purchase this knife in order to help in hollowing of the bowl in the spoon, but am curious on how to sharpen it?..

I don't have any experience in carving, I do turn and scroll, but carving is very new..any help is appreicated...Dennis Taylor

[AlArchie]

Dennis, I checked the Lee Valley catalog, and if the knife you are thinking of ordering is the one with the wide, almost circular blade, it looks very similar to the converted farriers hook I use. As for sharpening, the bevel is on the inside of the radius, so you will need two types of sharpening devices. First, go to your sporting goods store to get them....I know, you're a carver, not a fisherman, but the place to get the devices at the most reasonable price is still the sporting goods store. You'll need a small flat diamond faced steel sharpening stone and a half round diamond hook sharpener. Both can be picked up for under 6 bucks a piece.

The flat diamond stone is held flat to the outside curve of the blade and rubbed along the lenght in continuous strokes. Then take the rod and use it like a file (the half round part) to maintain the inside bevel, stroking in toward the edge. Go back and hit the outside flat again very lightly. I also found a 1/4" dia ceramic rod with a wooden handle (about 6 inches long) in the sporting goods knife section, and I use this to finish up the inside bevel. The outside flat will not need any final honing. This method has put and kept a razor edge on my hook knives. should work for you, too.

Al

[mdallensr]

You can carve the spoon bowls with regular gouges. I rough with a #7 x 3/8", then blend and smooth with a #5 x 1/2", then finish with a #5 x 5/8". You'll need some help on the bottom and sides when you get on-grain, and for that I bought a bent knife from John Dunkle, the son of the "inventor" of Yellowstone stropping compound. He now promotes his own, Blue Velvet Compound, and sells the knives and strops. He's in Archbold, Ohio and goes to a lot of carving shows to sell his products. He probably advertizes in WCI and Chip Chats. His phone #419-494-5948.