the thickness and different kinds of wood to use.

[DAdams]

Hi I'm wanting to know what is a good thickness of wood to use to carve wooden spoons out of and what other kinds of wood can i use to carve the spoons out of? I'm using Walnut wood right not But it is 3/4 in. thick so after I scroll saw the the spoon patterns out I then scroll saw the thick spoon in half length wise to make them not as thick and i get two spoons.

[RUssL.]

Green, that is to say non-seasoned, non-dried, Yellow birch is often used for carving spoons.
See Pinewoodforge.com for lots of spoon carving stuff.

RussL.

[DAdams]

Thank you for this info.

[vacation212]

Hi,if your carving walnut now you can almost carve and use any wood,when I do a spoon I usually add one half inch of wood to the spoon part and the spoon handle would be an inch hope this helps.Good luck.

[mdallensr]

I've used basswood, cherry, walnut, cypress, mahogany, lacewood, Alaskan yellow cedar, butternut, and elm. I no longer select the wood for its "carvability", but for its beauty when finished. If you want to carve spoons for utility, that are easy to carve, I'd use basswood. Most of my spoons are carved from 3/4" to 1" stock, but some curved spoons require 1 1/2" stock. I keep the waste attached to the back of my spoons until I finish carving, to keep the spoon stable, strong, and easy to hold. Mike

[Claude]

I've done similar to Mike: used walnut, cherry, maple, padauk, olive, purpleheart...and probably others I can't think of right now. When I carve a spoon that has a bowl, I carve the inside of the bowl first, then the outside, then the handle. That way, I can clamp the square handle to the bench top while cutting the bowl. I do the inside first, as the flat bottom gives me a good stable platform...

Do check the toxic wood charts Wood Toxicity Resources - The American Association of Woodturners before using some of the the woods. All woods are toxic to someone somewhere, so it's best when carving for a gift to try to find out if the person is allergic to any woods.

Claude