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....