Spoon Carving

I began spoon carving at a Whole Thinking Leadership Retreat in 2005 sponsored by the Center for Whole Communities. The spoon served to develop a stronger bond between a person and a place by hand carving a piece of wood that grew on that property. The first spoon made from local Gray Birch (mildly hard wood) I accomplished under the instruction of Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow with the tools they supplied on site. The second spoon came from the Allegheny National Forest, made from Black Cherry (a very hard wood) with mostly different and available tools and without guidance. The third spoon (spatula actually) was also Black Cherry (2006). The fourth spoon was from some kind of oak from my father’s wood pile in southern New Hampshire (2006-07).

Second spoon made from Black Cherry
(right column)

At Knoll farm, Peter used a hand axe to shape down the block (see below). At home, I still hadn't learned to use a hand axe and I needed to cut across the grain so I borrowed a saw from a neighbor (right). In both cases, I stenciled the spoon first.

At Knoll Farm, I used a draw knife to shave the block down to the stencil (above). At home, while I had a draw knife, I did not have a wood vice, so I used the hand axe (upper right).

At Knoll Farm I used a normal knife to do most of the carving (above). Because Gray Birch is somewhat soft, this didn't present a problem. At home, because black cherry is much harder, I tried a variety of knives (most not too sharp)

In both cases, I used two different grades to sandpaper the spoons. For the Black Cherry, I used a metal wood file before applying the sandpaper.

In both cases, I used walnut oil to finish the spoon. Black Cherry looks MUCH better with this oil than does Gray Birch which lost most of its grain lines in the final product. The Black Cherry spoon has fine coloration and striations throughout.

The Black Cherry spoon (above) is actually designed to Marisol's specifications with one large bowl and one small one for adding spices to the mix. The curve has an intentional curve that fits the hand which the Gray Birch spoon is straight and whose backside reminded observers of a Viking ship.

See my birthday spoon carvings.