View Full Version : Spoons
OK showing my ignorance here, but I can't help but notice a lot of "Spoon" talk on the forum. Would someone care to enlighten me :shock: Do you make them as some sort of dark initiation into bushcraft, or is the pecking order decided on by the quality and functionality of your spoon?.
Show me your spoons so I may be enlightened !! (or at least tell me what the hell's going on with em') :-D
Yours (spoonless)
Mad Dave
Spoons are fun, eh?
Here's one I'm working on with my new whittlin' demon, the Carvin' Jack. Almost makes it too easy. :-D
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images5/carvinjack1b.jpg
It's one of those things that pass the time, give you something to eat with, helps hone your carving/knife/Axe skills etc I rarely carve spoons, I often carve flat bits of wood to shove stuff in my mouth :-D But now and then I see a bit of wood that shouts "I'm a spoon, let me out” and who am I to argue? If you're into it at all it can be very satisfying, especially when you realise you have created something very functional and beautiful at the same time. If you're not into it, no worries, although I would say that knowing how to make one could be useful
:soapbox: I will get off now!
Hoodoo
Is the carving Jack any good? I presume you like it :-D I could occupy myself if I used that as my EDC :o):
The reason why spoon carving is so popular is because it uses nearly every knife cut to make one, its very good practice if you want to master your knife ;-)
Ed
The Carvin' Jack is outstanding. The only "bad" thing is that there is a little wobble in the blade lock up but you really don't notice it while carving. The tools themselves are of the highest quality and devour wood. And because of the right angle mounting, they are extremely handy when carving spoons and whittling doodads. You can get very precise control. I've been whittling for 40 years and I've never had as much fun as I've had with this little tool. It won't do everything but what it won't do is probably beyond my skill level anyway.
Hoodoo.
where can we get one?
I second that - now Mel has her whittling jack set, I could do with some assistance :-D
Not that I dont enjoy using my knife :-D
Treebeard
06-01-2004, 21:46
Hi gang,
Second post on the site, I hope this helps.
I followed the URL to the website, http://www.flexcut.com/shop/customer/home.php for this niffty looking tool and there is a distributor in the UK. It doesn't say how much it costs, but a phone call tomorrow should clear that up.
Treebeard
06-01-2004, 21:51
Jeepers! I've just had a closer look at the website and it costs $130!
I think a crook knife from Axminster Tools is a lot cheaper.
Yup, but if you had to purchase those carving tools individually, they would cost more. Plus you get the hone and the convenience of everything being right there.
I bought mine here:
www.mhc-online.com
This is a super duper company, i.e., nice people. There's been one heck of a waiting list for these. Don't know if there still is. Probably easier to get than a woodlore. :o): And a LOT cheaper. :o):
No denying it's a nice bit of kit that HooDoo. Dinky too :wink:
Yeah I like the look of it too.
The hone is a good idea.
I'm glad my Dad has just made me a pair of crook knives or I would end up spending money on one and I really can't afford it at the moment!
:-)
Treebeard
07-01-2004, 19:41
I rang the UK distributor named on the Flexcut website today. They haven't got any at the moment and the next delivery will be in the Spring. So if we want one we need to order from the States.
Hoodoo put up a link to a website where the Carvin' Jack is a lot cheaper. I'm very tempted!
I got a crook knife from Axminster for Xmas. Only about a tenner and quite good, needs a sharpen now though as it was a bit rough round the edges when it came, and I neatly carved a bowl into the edge of my finger when it slipped.
As for spoons, I'd been using a really bad effort I'd done as a tea and yoghurt spoon at work. One of the "girls" spotted and it and liked it's rustic charm and requested one for herself, her friend saw it and wanted one too......and so it continues.... It's given me plenty of practice at carving, and the recipient will always think of you when they use it...ahhh, ain't that nice.
I even cut out a nice little diamond pattern and inlay the end with birch bark now as my trade mark. If only I wasn't married it would be an excellent way to meet ladies.."....get your coat love, I made you a spoon!!"
:lol:
Very true - why do you think Welsh love spoon came about.
In finland the tradition was to carve a spoon to prove to the fair maidens parents you were actually good for something!
Spoons and ladies go way back.
yep works here in wales!! and in finland too
I shows your prospective female that you are an able man who can craft the nessary objects of life with his knife, its a demonstration of your ability to provide
as Gary will attest the first spoon i ever made I carved the end of the handle into the shape of a heart and gave it to my wife
My wife is Mauritian and by tradition when we married she has to give me mats and baskets woven from grass and curtains which she hand made etc to decorate the home and show her skill at weaving and sewing
you will find traditions like this all over the world
Jeepers! I've just had a closer look at the website and it costs $130!
I think a crook knife from Axminster Tools is a lot cheaper.
$110 here http://www.cybercarving.com/carvinjack.htm
Although 'homemade' looking sites make me a tad wary.
My first spoons - the one at the top is my first the lower one my second. Both carved with my Bison Bushcraft (with a Frost hook knife for the bowls). Made from a couple of bits of kindling wood - don't know what the woods is, just the general firelighting stuff you buy in the petrol station.
(I showed practically everyone at the nec these already so apologies ... :-P)
http://
Those are pretty cool Kath. Interesting sculpture!
Here's one I did a few weeks ago:
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images5/smallspoon2.jpg
That's a lovely spoon, Hoodoo!
Those are pretty cool Kath. Interesting sculpture! Actually it's not sculpture so much as the bits where it went wrong! :oops: :lol:
steven andrews
09-04-2004, 22:13
Spoon?.........
Not quite the done-thing here I know, but I use a ..........
http://www.tadgear.com/images%20for%20pages/ti-spork.jpg
by Snowpeak
Please don't banish me..............
Spoon?.........
Not quite the done-thing here I know, but I use a ..........
http://www.tadgear.com/images%20for%20pages/ti-spork.jpg
by Snowpeak
Please don't banish me..............Wow! What'd you carve that with??? :lol:
the naughty boy
09-04-2004, 22:23
http://img44.photobucket.com/albums/v135/thenaughtyboy/knife_015.jpg
nice bit of cherry tree and lots of time to break in your sak champ.
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VADZAhAa91chjDDBESEiBeKVpocEb JN4SaXp66iJEwRIvScdkda9w6yXhfO 7fY7*66lxmR9fE3RRqOnyRaQ8VI4Wy X3TJGLoW7GLLg7togvznLAR7Co*2li BgnCXgomG/carvings%20%202.JPG?dc=4675467 397011533598
The spoons are made of oak, the canoe and wee snake are made from corner shop kindling.
Please excuse the blurry photo my Digi Cam does like close-ups. :-D :-D
Beautiful work Martin and Naughty Boy! I'm jealous! :-D
Cool stuff! Except for the dork--I mean spork. :-D
Any excuse to show off me spoons...
http://www.jasonbhall.freeserve.co.uk/spoons.jpg
C_Claycomb
20-04-2004, 20:11
I had a request from a Chinese friend to make a spoon that wouldn't fall into the noodle bowl. Didn't quite work out right, it works okay as a spoon, but could do with being more stable and the hook needs to be further down. :roll:
:banghead: Boxwood is hard work!!!
http://uk.geocities.com/c.claycomb@btinternet.com/soupspoon.jpg
I have another box wood spoon along more traditional lines, just no picture.
Jason, that spoon at the bottom is great, what does the other side look like?
Chris that is really beautiful work, specially in boxwood, stunning!
The grain in that bottom one still blows me away, the other side is cool too but not as cool, I'll take a pic of the otherside in the daylight.
Jason
CHRIS!!!!! :evil:
After seeing your beautiful hand made knives and bows at the NEC and now you show your skill with spoons, your making me insainly jealous!!!!!
Heres the other side of the spoon, as we all know Yew is poisonous and not good for spoons or spreaders, these trinkets of mine are NOT for food use.
http://www.jasonbhall.freeserve.co.uk/yew4.jpg
Jason
That knife handle looks really nice!!!
C_Claycomb
21-04-2004, 17:15
:shock: :yikes: :biggthump :ekt:
Speechless!!
Jason, those are seriously cool! Is that a blade you made youself? It looks Woodlore-ish, but more curvy. A word of warning, keep your location secret!!! You'll have people knocking on your door asking to be shown how you do work like that otherwise :-D
I think I am going to have to go looking for the yew I have buried in the garage! :lol:
Chris
Chris
The blade is my first successful forging from 1/2" silver steel rod, my 2 previous attempts cracked in a water quench, I learned my lesson and oil quenched this one, I based it on the woodlore but slightly reduced the size (assuming the pic in Ray Mears book is 1:1?). My grinding doesnt look too hot close up, certainly not up to your standards but its a start :)
A word of warning, I havent used Yew extensively but I believe it is quite liable to shrinking and cracking, maybe it could be stabilised, these are just oiled so time will tell how they stand up. It is a great characterful wood though, and its mystic history adds to the fascination for me!
Cheers :d
Jason
I really like the piece of yew you used for the butter paddle. It show's the characther of yew perfectly.
It's just so frustrating that it's poisonous! :-(
They are realy nice jason. What did you use to finish?
:-)
Ed
Ed
Theyre finished with a concoction comprising mostly of linseed oil, they look a bit glossy because I'd just given them an oiling.
Best
Jason
ah.... I thought they had been waxed, then polished to a high sheen ;-)
Just out of interest, what concoction do you use?
:-)
Ed
It's just so frustrating that it's poisonous! :-(
Just a thought, but are we still at risk from yew even after the oil has oxidized? Don't they use rhododendron wood for spoons in scandinavia - they must lock away its toxicity somehow.
I would have thought that once the linseed oil in your polish turns to linoxin it should be ok to use, although it will probably take about six weeks; then again i'm not sure i'd like to try :wink:
Beautiful work though... :-D
I would have thought that once the linseed oil in your polish turns to linoxin it should be ok to use, although it will probably take about six weeks; then again i'm not sure i'd like to try :wink:
Absolutely! Do we have any volunteers to try it out?
:twisted:
Personally I think I'll just play safe and not stick any in my gob!
:-)
I was recommended a while back something called Liberon Finishing Oil for treating wood that really did the trick a treat , pretty sure it said that it can be used for bowls and spoons etc , i'll have a rummage about and see if i still have the tin lying around to see what it says
Nope it wisnae the Finishing oil after all, its their Tung Oil , bit of a drying time though
My oil was made up of whatever I had in the cupboard at the time ;) which happened to be some beeswax dissolved into the linseed oil together with some teak oil! I got the beesway to dissolve by heating the oil up and the spoon had its first soak while the oil was hot. The spoon also gets a wipe with this oil whenever I think to do it and its now starting to take on a really smooth hard glossy finish. The knife just gets the same stuff applied cold and Ive just made it so it hasnt soaked up much oil yet.
Theres really no method to my formula though!
I also suspect that the wood might be safe to use, how much could be ingested from a spoon, unless you chew your spoon ;) and historically Yew has been used to make spoons and even cups, but then the ancients might have been seeking to get "high" from the poisons :) For safety sake probably best to avoid using it for food.
The Yew was certainly linked to Shamans historically and allegedly if you sit under a Yew on a hot day the evaporating toxins can produce hallucinations!
Jason
Here is my as yet unfinished spoon in Alder. Actually this shot was taken to showcase the carving crooked knives from Kestrel Tool, but I thought this was a great thread.... :roll:
http://outdoors.free.fr/images/Schwert_KestrelSpoon.jpg
somehow i can't carve out a spoon, i start out with something that looks like a big spoon, than it just shrinks in size everytime i cut something of it, since i can't seam to cut out the exact shape i just keep cutting and cutting, untill i got pencil sized stick...
Tonyjames7070
11-05-2004, 13:08
Some excellent work from the pics.
I purchased a decent knife and had a bash. I have now made loads of things from found bits of wood. Very enjoyable.
I have made dragons, Japenese warriors, Egyptian Gods, envelope openers and loads of spoons. I will have to get some pics and post them on the site so everyone can have a laugh/look
somehow i can't carve out a spoon, i start out with something that looks like a big spoon, than it just shrinks in size everytime i cut something of it, since i can't seam to cut out the exact shape i just keep cutting and cutting, untill i got pencil sized stick...
yep, it's very easily done. here's a slightly daft but simple trick, next time you try to carve a spoon, have a spoon handy, like from the kitchen drawer. as you carve, stop every once in a while and compare the two.
don't be too critical, if you have something that looks like a medium sized spoon, stop carving!
cheers, and.
They look like great knives Schwert and thats going to be a cool spoon! Ive just sorted out a couple of likely pieces of wood today, one of English oak from a sapling I planted as an acorn and another from Willow. I think they need to dry indoors for a while, but Im itching to get carving, I keep picking the oak up and roughing it into shape a bit more!
I must admit I cheat and use a small curved wood carvers gouge for spoon bowls if I'm at home.
PC2K thats a good tip to have a spoon handy as a gauge, a sketch is also good and it can help to draw the outline on your blank if you can.
Jason
I must admit I cheat and use a small curved wood carvers gouge for spoon bowls if I'm at home.
Wille Sundqvist, the author of Swedish Carving Techniques, also uses a gouge as well as a crook knife for carving spoons.
His technique for using one is slightly different from the normal technique. He holds the gouge so the handle comes out of the top of the fist, and the cutting end coming out the bottom. He chokes his hand up close to the cutting edge so there's only about an inch of gouge visible from the bottom of his hand.
C_Claycomb
12-05-2004, 11:36
I used that gouge technique, or something like it, before I got a crook knife.
I second Sargey, have a spoon handy for comparison. It is too easy to think about individual parts of the carving, the bowl, the handle and so on, and lose sight of the whole. At the end of the day you want something that you can fit in your mouth. I go so far as testing a spoon's fit as I near final size. It is too easy to make something that is awkward to eat from :roll:
Any suggestions for carrying a crook knife with you in the outdoors? Had some nasty cuts from rummaging in my backpack ... :roll:
I asked the same thing in this (http://www.bushcraftuk.co.uk/community/viewtopic.php?t=806) thread and got some good answers - see towards the bottom of the thread
So far I've gone with the two plastic bottle tops to mask the knife, but am working on my super-duper deluxe pouch sheath (very slowly...)
kath , 35mm film case is good :-D
Cheers Boaty. At least one of those suggestions came from my other half, I note. (Perhaps I should ask closer to home before posting next time) :lol:
I like the shotgun cartridges idea best ... I'll give that a try, while I still have some fingers left. (Being a bushcrafter I tend to carry all my kit with me, being a female that means I carry it in my handbag and so it's rather alarming when you're rummaging for your hankie and come out with your crook knife embedded in your finger!! :oops: )
My crooked knives are covered with automobile heater hose. This is tough stuff and if pressed a bit flat slip on easily, but when released they squeeze into the edges and stay on well without causing any damage to the edge. Cheap to replace to.
I also used a scorp for the top of the bowl...it is in the picture background. My spoon narrows too much to use it towards the bottom of the bowl though.
I hacked out the spoon with a GB carving ax and used another fixed blade to clean it up before going to the crooked knives.
http://outdoors.free.fr/images/Schwert_PPSpoon.jpg
That is an Allan Blade large PackPal.
There is just something "productive" about making a spoon, when really the whole point was to be using the sharp tools.... :lol:
I just finished these about a week ago. The ladle is maple and the spoon is mahogany.
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images6/ladleandspoon1b.jpg
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images6/ladleandspoon3b.jpg
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images6/ladleandspoon4b.jpg
hi guys and girls
I bought a crook knife from Axminster which is great but it was a little on the large side (dont know the diameter off the top of my head) so was wondering if anyone knew anywhere I can get smaller crooks?
I am only just getting into whittling and really enjoy it and was also wondering what other tools I might need?
and I have to say that I am in awe of the pics of the spoons up in this thread.....something to aspire to!
cheers
Mate, you can get tighter curves but the price shoots up. It might be worth looking into getting a bulk order from the states or some such?
Hoodoo, the ladle is great :wink:
Hmm. These crook knives - thin steel? Like about 1/16"?
Not exactly a tricky grind, and people could fit their own handles? And overall finish could be pretty much straight out of the forge?
Hmm.... (Wanders off muttering)
Added - http://www.gibbinsaprons.co.uk do some interesting knives... Have a look at the straight & offset knives.
Yep - seriously impressed with the ladle Hoodoo - it's the design as well as the workmanship.
Has me waiting eagerly for my first hook knife from Pinewood Forge (www.pinewoodforge.com) - their blades look very nicely made and Del happily offered to make one up specially when I commented on a particularly nice piece of wood in one of his website photos.
Cheers,
Added - http://www.gibbinsaprons.co.uk do some interesting knives... Have a look at the straight & offset knives.
anyone used the loop kives?
Added - http://www.gibbinsaprons.co.uk do some interesting knives... Have a look at the straight & offset knives.
anyone used the loop kives?
Do you need one??
At some stage I will post my first spoon, but having never put pictures on here I am not sure how to do it.
anyone used the loop knives?
No, but they do look good. Both a left and right hook knife in one. Unfortunately I couldn't see any prices on the site.
...Don't they use rhododendron wood for spoons in scandinavia ....
Never seen that. The majority of carved spoons that I have seen in Norway and Sweden, or those made by myself have been in juniper (Juniperus communis). Easy carving and got a very nice natural smell too.
Carved spoons or spreaders in curly grained birch are nice too !