About Love Spoons

[wildthang2@verizon.net]

Any one out there
I need help
First time spoon carver doing the spoon in issue 45 of the Illustrated there is no side view of the pattern
Wonder what thickness the finished spoon should be or if it is a matter of choice to the carver.
Appriciate any input.
Thanks

[mdallensr]

The handle of the spoon could be as thin as 3/8", so the overall thickness of the blank depends more on how deep you want the bowl to be. You could carve it from 3/4" stock; I like to make the bowls a little deeper so I would probably go closer to 1" thick. If you want to curve the handle, you'll need to make the blank at least 1" thick. If you want to carve the back of the handle as well as the front, add a little thickness to keep it from getting too fragile. Shirley Adler's book on love spoons has similar Cletic patterns, and she shows side views for many of her spoon patterns. Good luck. Mike

[Donald Smalley]

you can make a spoon to the shape you want. look at any spoons you may use, use the same type of shape. keep them thick enough for how you want to use them, I make thicker spoons for use in the kitchen, a little thinner for a love spoon, if you make a celtic knot, don't make it to thick, you can't carve the knot to look good if its to thick, practice practice, remember use sharp tools, and a carvers glove to hold them, good luck

[mdallensr]

Nancy, before you carve that spoon, take a close look at the pattern. In the middle of the handle, the only thing holding the handle together is two point-contacts on curved sufaces. This is going to be a very fragile spoon if you do the normal pierced relief style. Mike