A spoon without a spoon knife.

[Zingmo]

I recently found myself in a real life survival situation - standing in the woods with a yoghurt and no spoon. No problem, I thought. I will whittle myself a spoon from yonder birch sapling. So I drank the yoghurt and selected a suitable branch.
The only tool I had with me was my SAK hiker which is equipped with a saw but...no spoon knife!
Not to be easily put off I whittled a spoon shaped object hoping to come up with a plan to form the bowl. When it came to it, I just carved what was possible with the blade I had.
This is the result:




Before someone says that it is wonky, it is meant to be like that: my mouth is significantly off centre!

Z

 

[Robson Valley]

No reason on earth not to be proud of that one.
For me? Obviously not cranked out by machine.

Since it's birch, let it dry thoroughly. Preheat your kitchen oven to 325F.
Slather the spoon with any food safe oil. On a rack, on a pan, into the oven
for 3 minutes by the clock (or it will cook!). Charles' Law in gas physics
dictates that the heated air will expand, out of the oven, cooling, the contracting
wood air will suck the oil down into the wood much further than any room temperature application.
Not even hot soup can make the oil move again. I did about 100 that way.

 

[rorymax]

I would be very happy with that, given you used your SAK I would say well done, how long did it take you?

 

[crosslandkelly]

Very nice spoon, well made.

 

[Zingmo]

Thanks Rory & Brian. It was produced in an afternoon, but I was working so I had to keep putting it down.
I'm going to remember this shape - I think of it like a small fire shovel - as it produces a functioning spoon without special tools.
I have seen people struggling to hollow a spoon by balancing hot charcoal on them or the less than satisfactory method suggested in the whittling book I have and still not coming out with a spoon you would eat with.

Z

 

[bikebum1975]

That looks really good. I have done a good number of spoons with no spoon knife over the years. I actually started with an old Swiss Army knife it's still something I do now and then just for old times sake

 

[Tom Gold]

I recently found myself in a real life survival situation - standing in the woods with a yoghurt and no spoon.

Heh heh brilliant! Nice looker. Have had to do this myself in a similarly precarious scenario involving a packet of Ainslie Harriot couscous (superb trail snack btw)

Thanks for sharing, T

 

[Macaroon]

That's great, puts me in mind of the old "neccessity is the mother............." Some of the best things I have came from those moments of "how can I.......?"

 

[humdrum_hostage]

Im glad your survival skills kicked in and hope you have recovered from your ordeal?

Looks good mate and well done for what you did with the tools you had.

 

[Gary Elson]

Hi Zingmo
Good job you found yourself in a wood with your yoghurt
Imagine how limited your options would have been had you been in Tesco's car park
Lucky escape well executed I guess

Gary

 

[Dean]

Great job on surviving your ordeal. A real nice profile on that bowl, a good job with only a SAK.

 

[BigMonster]

While we are on the subject. Any ideas on carving a wpoon without a spoon knife?

One idea that came to my head but have not been tested yet, was to carve a cone shaped depression in the wood, or even chisel out something squareish. And then finding a round stone to smooth it out with a drilling motion.

Any other ideas?

 

[Robson Valley]

One technique here in the Pacific Northwest was to burn the spoon bowl with smallish heated rocks from the fire.
The char was scraped out with abalone shell.
I've found lots of tumbled/oval river stones which should work well.