New website

I have moved the blog to www.rodtermaat.com.  I was unable to keep the blogger format and moved to wordpress.  I have several new posts and pictures of spoons and some hook knifes that I have made.


I will not longer be updating this blog, but rather continue to expand www.rodtermaat.com.

enjoy, rod

2011 17 and 18 are Crab Apple Tulip Salad Tongs.

Another staple carving that just never gets old. At the spoon gathering I saw my first clones. Someone had carved a set just like mine. I was pleased that someone liked them enough to emulate. Ok maybe that is a bit vain since they naturally want to be tulips, but I take the little bit of pleasure anyway.
The ones with the balls on the end are 17 just for the record; which this blog is.

2011 13 - Spatula in Mulberry - I love carving spatulas more then any other spoon variety. This one has a simple chipped carved pattern on the handle.

Here are 3 Buckthorn eating spoons I carved at the gathering in Milan, MN.

2011 14 - My new favorite and my personal eating spoon. Carved like a small spatula it handles food effortlessly. I highly suggest carving one in this style. I added a small chip carved detail to complete the look.

2011 15 - Another Buckthorn spoon with more brown then orange. A bit of random design gives it more pizazz then it probably deserves, but I like it.

2011 16 - Small spatula in Buckthorn The knot in the handle called out for a sun and I superimposed a moon along side.

Finally, some new pictures of my carvings. I am doing a art showing in July and working to get my inventory organized and labeled.

2011 10 - Boxelder paster fork. Too short, but turned out pretty cool anyhow.

2011 11 - Boxelder spatula. The knot was removed in the middle and makes a great sun burst.

2011 12 - Walnut coffee scoop. Carved with a turtle on the handle just because I like too.

some cool 'how to' pics from a block and a tree limb

Almost done posting pictures from the 5th annual spoon gathering. Here are the spoons Ben brought to share.

Vance and his wife from KS drove up to Milan for the first time. His style really caught me and I admired them greatly. Not to mention they were both great people. His wife spent the hours knitting and he carved. I hope they come again next year.

And more

More great spoons from several carvers at the gathering in Milan Mn.

Here are pictures of Rita's spoons. She carves all kinds of wood including some exotic varieties. She also gave a nice talk on spoon carving and her technique.

Another nice collection brought to share with others. I am a walnut fan and that spoon 5th from the right is a keeper.

A set of fine tea spoons. The notches next to the bowl are very original. I liked these a lot.

Here are some very cool spoons from a fella named Gordon. I am not sure I meet him, but cool none the less. I am definitely going to try and carve one of these.

Here are Tom's spoons. I really like is style of carving. I have tried to emulate a few spoons, but they just do not measure up. He follows a more pure form of Scandanavian design and is another great knowledge base of green wood carving.

Here are pictures of what Harley Refsal brought to the gathering. He is pretty well known in the carving world and a great person. The wooden cup in the bottom right was very nice. I hope I can carve something like that some day.

Here are spoons and bowls from Jarrod. He is a great guy and one of the friendly people I have meet in my short 40 years. I would like to call him a friend, but that may be a bit brave since we have only met twice. Jarrod turns bowls on a Spring Pole Lathe that he built himself. Turning bowls and carving spoons may be enought for some, but he also builds birch canoes. His wife April makes beautiful baskets. Someday I hope to own one for myself.

Jarrod and April help to organize the Traditional Ways Gathering happening in WI in August. I hope to teach there this year. I plan to focus on wooden spatulas as I think there are under represented. I took the time off from work, but now need to fill out the paper work - something I am not too good at....

I left this year with a bowl and a spoon from Jarrod. I will post a picture later.

Here is a link http://www.traditionalways.org/

Here is a link to Jarrod and Aprils site. http://www.woodspiritgallery.com/

Here are spoons from Yuri. I managed to get him to trade me the 4th spoon on the right (counting from the large center spoon) for some tools and misc carving gear. I also scored a few Buckthorn eating spoon blanks. Yuri's spoons are beautiful and some of my favorites.

Ok. Time to post some pictures. I was fortunate to attend the 5th Spoon Gathering in Milan Mn the first weekend of June. I think attendance was around 70. More carvers then last year which was great. It was also great to see some younger carvers and first timers in general. The event continues to grow each year.

Here is my set up. I photo'd all the spoons on display. I did not get to meet every carver, but there was some great variety and talent as always.

Annual Spoon Gathering

We have come to that point again in the year.  June 3rd and 4th in Milan MN people from all walks of life and locations will gather to share their love of spoon carving.  This will be the 5th gathering and my 4th.  It is one of the highlights of the year.  If you have not considered attending do so.  You will learn a ton about carving, and not just spoons.  I will take plenty of pictures to post when I get back.

I also have several almost finished spoons to post about and a review of a new sanding system I finally broke down and purchased.  Too much to get done in order to leave Thursday morning, but will make posting a priority when I get back.

http://www.milanvillageartsschool.org/spoon_gathering.html

Boxelder coffe scoop and spatula

Ok, not sure if this picture is going to come thru. Picasa is giving me problems. Been a couple of months since I posted, and it was a nice break. I needed to set the carving aside for a spell. Now, I am back and read to carve again. 2011 8 Boxelder Coffee Scoop with chip carved handle 2011 9 Boxelder spatula with kelrosing. I would have normally not carved such a thin spatula, but wanted to see just how it would hold up against other more substantial pieces. So far it is great and looks to be keeper.

Short Update

You may notice an update to the blog.  I just added the ability to buy a spoon from my site using the Google Store gadget.  How cool is that.  It needs a bit of work before prime time and better pictures.  I will work on that tonight after my other job.  This will be interesting to say the least.  rod

Boxedler and Oak

2011 6 Boxelder

2011 7 Red Oak

The boxedler spoon turned out very nice with a section of bark left on the bowl. I was able to keep a significant portion of the red grain typical in this wood. Sometimes I am forced to carve out the red while creating a spoon.

The red oak was tough as nails. It was old firewood that was dry and very hard. Even after soaking for several days it was like carving steel.

Both spoons turned out great. I decided to keep the boxelder one as part of my ever growing personal collection. Someday I hope to have enough to display them publicly somewhere.

Kitchen tools

Here are all of the wooden spoons used in our kitchen daily. We cook 90% of our meals at home. Some of these are many years old and to not get treated nicely. Even so a bit of oil and they pop like new. Yes, there are a few plastic tools off to the left. That is a goal for 2011 - to eliminate all the plasitc utinsels we have.

Alleywood Ladle - 2011 05

Here is the completed ladle. I not thinking this is maple any longer. The grain was every which way, the color is a mixture of white, green and various shades of black/brown. Not a fun carve. Irregardless, I continued until the end and decided this one was a keeper. Meaning too ugly to sell. I chipped carved my lastname into the handle. These are my first chip carved letters, and they turned out pretty well. In the end all is well. We do not have a carved ladle in our user collection and this one will do nicely. The first 2 pics are before oiling.

In process Ladle

Here is a new ladle I worked on today - my last day of vacation. It is maple and not nice at all. The grain goes everywhere and I can foresee much sand paper being used to smooth out the details. I planned a square handle, but later refined it into more of a blob. I think once it dries and I finish the process it will not be have bad.

On another note, I went thru my frozen wood reserve and am down to very slim pickings. I have dried out oak that makes my hands hurt just thinking about carving it and some 2nd tier blanks that have been there forever. I need to go a hunting.

First Spoons of 2011

I just completed my last batch of coffee scoops. They are not my favorites, they are fun enough to carve, but the finish work is tedious since they are small, but with large bowls. I think I will be done carving these for a while as this last batch should complete my obligations on already spoken for spoons

If we look at the top right picture for reference

2011 - 1 Mulberry with Kelrosing
2011 - 2 Alleywood with Kelrosing
2011 - 3 Maple with tiger stripes in the bowl
2011 - 4 Boxelder - not my favorite carving, but I decided to finish it anyway.

Next up is completing the ladle shown in the previous post. It is the work in progress shown on the work bench. After that my wood supplies are dangerously low so out in the snow I shall have to go...

Workbench

I decided to start off 2011 with a couple of pictures of my workspace. It is not large, but works great for spoon carving. I used to carve in the basement of the house in a typical shop space. It was cold and isolated. After seeing Robin Wood carving in the living room I knew I needed to make a change. I repurposed a rolltop desk of my sons into a carving bench. It continues to slowly evolve.

The top left is a nice overview of the space I work in. I do the rough out either outside on my chopping block or in the basement with my bandsaw.

Top right shows the tools I use most often. There are several knives from Dell  http://www.pinewoodforge.com  A Left handed Carving Jack from Flexcut, a couple of Japanese tools (plane and spokeshave), and a small drawknife.

The bottom left is another view and the middle picture is a ladle I am working on. I copied the desk vice from an article I found on Barry Gordon's site. http://www.barrygordon.com/
He is a master and I hope to one day meet him and maybe acquire a spoon of his.

Finally the bottom right shows a few accessories. There is a old leather strope, a couple of homemade scrapers, and new this years is a spoon scraper and marking gauge from Lee Valley - thanks to Santa....