PEP BB roundwood.straw.lightspoon - Make a Lightweight Spoon You Can Eat With

Here is my submission for the Roundwood Woodworking - Straw - Make a Lightweight Spoon You Can Eat With BB.

UPDATE: added a final product picture showing the bowl shape of the spoon.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following:
- my chunk of wood
- progress about halfway through (about finished with the hatchet)
- more progress photos with the hand tools I used
- final product (a lightweight spoon you can eat with)

Not sure if this BB requires hand tools only, but here is my list of hand tools used:
- hatchet
- sledgehammer (to pound on hatchet - early on in the hatchet work)
- two knives from a spoon carving knife set
- a spoon knife from the same spoon carving knife set

This BB is similar to the my sand-level wooden spoon BB, made from the same initial piece of wood (the other half of the round), and constructed to a higher quality (including sanding the finished spoon).  I did use the same tablespoon as the template for both my spoon but the wood dictated different spoons.  I'm going to let it dry out a bit more then oil it before I use it but it does fit nicely in my mouth.  :)

Finally got around to finishing this one.

After deciding to not use the peach wood spoons I made, I made a third spoon from Japanese maple. The tools picture shows a different spoon, but the tools are the same.

I use a nata (axe/machete) for splitting and rough work, a shave horse for work holding, a kogatana knife for carving, and a gouge for cutting out the bowl.

I realized I didn't include sandpaper in the picture, but I sanded 60, 120, 240, and 400. Then wet the spoon to raise the grain and repeated sanding until it was smooth even after soaking in water. Finally I oiled it with perilla seed oil, a culinary/drying oil. I highly recommend perilla seed oil. It's a delicious salad oil and also polymerizes like linseed oil.

I made one of these yesterday from a conifer branch out here at Wheaton Lab.  I used a draw knife, carving knife, spoon knife, rock and sandpaper to make it

I pruned my fig tree, and read that fig has historically been used for figural carvings, and panels for painting, as it has low shrinkage and is not prone to checking. Seeing as those are both good signs for spon carving, I decided to give it a go. It is great for carving, though harder to finish as the wood is a bit fibrous. Got there in the end, though! The cabinet scraper helped a lot.

EDIT: added image of the spoon in a hand for scale!

I'm a bit apprehensive about submitting my spoon for this BB - the quality of the other entrants is amazing (and quite daunting!). However, this is a spoon that I have just finished and that I will gladly use to eat from - it's lightweight, as specified, smooth and (I hope) of high enough quality to make the grade!

As with a recent Oddball BB, I used a piece of Prunus (a wild plum such as blackthorn or bullace, I'm not sure exactly what) that I gleaned from a local park. It had been cut to clear the path.

I used a saw to cut a piece to length, split it with a billhook and then used an axe, a hook knife and a sloyd knife to shape the spoon. I finished it with sandpaper (150, 240, 600) and coated it with Tung oil to protect and seal it.

Edit: I've added a shot with some dessert spoons for scale. It's quite large but I can fit the hole thing in my mouth. I would be happy (and will be happy) eating with it.

I can't show myself actually eating with it until the tung oil has fully polymerized. I hope that the evidence that I've provided is sufficient

To get certified for this BB, post three pictures:

- Your chunks of wood that you are starting with
- Progress about half way through, with the hand tools you have decided to use for this
- Final product (a lightweight spoon you can eat with)

I used the other half of the piece of wood I used for the sand badge.
I modelled it on a regular household spoon I use for soup, cereals etc.
I used a saw initially to cut the log to size, then an axe to remove the bulk of the wood before moving on to a whittling knife. I used a spoon knife to make the bowl. I finished with 240 sand paper. I'll get some finer paper before treating with tung oil.

Here are my pictures.

Rather than ‘fix’ my last attempt, I decided to start again.

1) Start with a piece of cherry wood



2) Cut to size



3) Gather tools - axe for splitting the wood



4) Get to work.





5) Finishing the spoon end first



6) Shaping the handle



7) Sanded with 240 then 320 grit

8) Finished

Can anyone help me with a splitting problem? I'm working on my 3rd spoon that has split down the middle as I carve it. Is my wood too green? Am I using strokes that push the grains open? I'm getting better at carving, but my spoons still don't hold water :-/ Help please!

My guess is that you're taking too long to do the carving?  If you go from fresh stick to spoon in more than 12 hours? I think it tends to split/crack since it's drying out.

I doubt it is your carving technique unless you are putting a blade into the end grain and wedging it somehow.

Mike pointed out one likely problem. If you can start with as small a piece of wood as possible and carve it safely but swiftly to the rough spoon shape, it will be unlikely to crack.

Also if you were storing the green wood in a humid place and then carving in a dry place the difference in humidity might be enough to dry it too fast.

Another factor might be the particular wood you're using could be prone to cracking. What kind of wood is it?

For what it's worth I recommend carving spoons from green maple (though I've heard people say it is prone to splitting).

Carved a compact stubby-handled eating spoon from a dogwood log from my neighbor.

Used hatchet, saw, wooden wedge, sloyd knife and hook knife.

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I'll make another one in a daintier form and re-submit soon.