Spoon carvers part 2

[cats pa]

Okay, instead of hijacking Schwing's thread about spoons, I'm going to start another one of my own. Here's what I want to know: those of you who make all these cool-looking spoons, how many actually use them? For eating, I mean.

I've given away wooden spoons that people use for cooking, and a cute little one that my sister uses for salt, but my silverware drawer is full of metal ones and that's what I eat with. They're not even silver anymore, they're stainless steel, which arguably makes a more durable spoon, and I've never heard of one wearing out through normal use.

Is there any reason why eating spoons have to be made of metal? Of course not. Go to any picnic and you'll see plastic utensils galore, many of them flimsy and brittle and sharp in your mouth. Why couldn't we eat with wooden spoons of our own making?

So here's the deal: turkey day is coming up soon. I am going to carve a spoon and use it at Thanksgiving supper, and announce that I'm thankful for the ability to carve useful items. I think I'll use madrona, a fairly hard local wood, and I think I'll put an epoxy finish on it, to keep any bacteria or etc. from soaking in.

If you think this idea has merit, I invite you to do the same. Then we can all tell our funny stories like Lori. (Well, okay, not just like Lori, but we can do our best...)

Parker

[kitaye]

None of the ones I have carved are for eating with. They are for looking at. The exception is the most recent one which if it goes to the person it was carved for, it will be used for measuring salt or some other dry mixture.

In most cases limited by the sizes of my wood pieces since I buy mostly at the craft stores. The larger pieces I've ordered online are sitting on the shelf waiting to be used for something big and hopefully beautiful. I'm also rather intimidated by larger pieces of wood.

I did see a fancy stick called a Spurtle in the most recent Lee Valley catalogue that looked interesting. I've given some thought to carving one or two for use in the kitchen. If I can get past that project then maybe I can add wooden sauce spoons to the drawers too.

[Claude]

Parker:
None of the spoons I have carved have been for hanging on the wall; all have been for cooking. I've made quite a few cooking spoons and spatulas from woods as various as maple, purple heart, cherry, paduak (sp?), walnut, olive... One of my favorites is a scrap piece of tiger-stripe maple that I made into a butter/jelly spreader. When I finish carving, I sand using various grits up to 400, then put the spoon under the faucet, get it good and wet, then use my wife's hair dryer to dry the spoon. This raises the little wood fibers which I sand off and then rewet and redry. After 3 or 4 iterations, no more raised fibers, so it's really smooth. Since these are for cooking, I then coat with olive oil, re-coating every few hours for a day or so to allow the oil to soak in. After that, I rub off the excess with a paper towel and present to someone.

I tell them to use it, don't display it. If a few wood fibers raise, a little scrubbing with one of the little plastic scrubbie things under running water will usually smooth it back down - then another coat of olive oil and continue to use. The one warning I give is to not put the spoon in the dishwater - the heat and moisture is liable to cause the wood to crack/split.

Haven't carved anything to eat with, although my wife says that with my eating habits, I ought to just use the big cooking spoon...

There are a couple of photos of several of my spoons on my web site under "Miscelaneous"

Claude

[Schwingding]

Mrs. Schwingding uses my rejects in the kitchen, but mostly when I carve a spoon I'm not happy with I snap it in half. Often with new designs it takes me a few generations to make one I'm happy enough with to let out the door.

My mother will be using this set to serve her Thanksgiving meal. Other than that, my spoons are all for display only.

[Robert Cahill]

Years ago I used to bake a lot of bread but could never find a spoon I liked so I carved one out of maple. Some friends that did a lot of butchering liked it so I carved one to use in a large cast iron pot for them . They were ugly but had a stout handle and did the job. I ended up carving quite a few for neighbors, Now I just do them for decoration and give them to the wife she seems to like them.

[macktruck]

Mine are all for use. There are ones that we use daily as serving spoons and then the ones we only bring out for holidays. I put some photos in the gallery.
Macktruck

[Robert Cahill]

Macktruck,
Your spoons are really great I am certain I would not be able to carve grapes like that. I really liked the cane also, you did a awesome job on that.