wood for spoons

[chuckbolton]

im sure its in this board some where, however i cant find it. i want to carve measuring spoons from an apple tree on my parents home yard-- i need to know how large (diameter) piece i need-- do i need to have a piece large enough that none of the spoon is in the heart wood? if this works- i may try to make several sets-- one spoon from each different tree in the yard. good idea? im also going to do one set from osage orange from my farm-- i know thats going to be hard-- i purchased 6-8 yrs ago several kitchen utensils (0sage Orange) that get used daily so i have them for patterns for future projects--

any information i can get regarding this is greatly appreciated

[Donna_T]

Hey Chuck,
Do you mean measuring spoons (like a teaspoon and tablespoon) or kitchen spoons to use for cooking and serving?

I've only carved one spoon, started another, and bought one at our carving auction, so I'm certainly no expert. The size of wood you need depends on the depth and width of the bowl--and whether or not you want to curve the handle.

I don't know that I've seen a thread on this topic (spoons) in the past, but I do know there was a thread some time ago about the toxicity of various woods as it dealt with their use with food.

Personally, I think it would be cool to have a set of spoons made from different woods from my farm. Sounds like a neat idea.

Donna T

[chuckbolton]

thats the idea- make several sets using wood from the trees at my parents home- maple-- redbud- apple- lilac- willow and a couple im not sure of-- make 1/4. 1/2. 1 tsp and 1 tablespoon and coffee scoop one from each type of wood. i just dont know if i use the heartwood also or need a piece of wood large enough to take the whole spoon out of the outer layers. im still looking for help.

[Sharon of the Dell]

I've used limbs from about 2'' and larger in diameter. The size just depends on how big or small a spoon you want. Most of the bowls on my spoons and scoops are kind of oblong.Thats because so far the limbs have been on the small side, so to make the size I needed (coffee scoop), I kind of carved them oblong, but they hold 1/8th of a cup.Hope I'm explaining myself ok. I think it's a great idea wanting to use your folks limbs for spoons, measuring devices,etc.I've even made little tiny spoons out of 1'' diameter pieces of limbs. You will have fun doing this I think.

[buckcrazy]

hi chuck,,just a note ,,donna makes a very important point,,i too seem to remember a post just not to long ago that stated osage orange could be toxic,,i dont know for sure myself but it might be good to check before using it for spoons,,unless of course it will be for decorative purpose only.

[Claude]

Back at the end of March, I put some formulas into one of Cliff's threads on how to know how big to make the spoon. Scroll down to #18 My First Spoon Ever

Those numbers are good for 1/8 cup and 1/4 cup scoops, but I'll save you the math and give you the ones from measuring spoons. Assume the spoon bowl is exactly a half of a sphere (ball) - same width and length, inside the rim, and the depth is 1/2 of the width.

Tablespoon: 1.51 inch wide or 1 1/2 inches
Teaspoon: 1.047 inch wide or 1 1/32 inches
1/2 Teaspoon: .8315 inch wide or 13/16 inch
1/4 Teaspoon: .7000 inch wide or 11/16 inch
1/8 Teaspoon: .5238 inch wide or 17/32 inch (This is a Dash...)
1/16 Teaspoon: .4157 inch wide or 13/32 inch (This is a Pinch...)
1/32 Teaspoon: .3300 inch wide or 5/16 inch (This is a Smidgen)

Also, here's one of the sites that has iinfo about wood toxicity.

Wood Toxicity Resources - The American Association of Woodturners

Claude

[chuckbolton]

claude-- thank you ever so much-- i knew someone here would be able to link me to the right information-- and the added bonus was that you figured out the deminsions for me-- were you an engineer, or a math teacher before u joined this wild group?

[Claude]

I'm an engineer - still employed...

Claude

[tucker1931]

Holy Mackerel Claude, them's some fine measurments, I guess I'll have to stick to the big boys, WOW, thanks for a very interesting post. In my opinion, those would be very difficult to make such small sizes.
Cliff