Happy Halloween

Here is a final festive picture. This particular spoon is maple. It turned out nice with a slightly curved handle. I added the chipped carved ribbon on the handle. One of the better spoons I have carved in some time.

61 - Maple with Chipped Carved Ribbon.

Trick or Treat

Here are the finished spoons. We have in no particular order.

56 Chestnut Burl - I carved this close to the surface. The back of the bowl is the natural shape of the wood. I saved a nice section of burl that forms a nice thumb rest on the top side. In all a pretty nice spoon.

57 - Walnut spoon. Just a nice user
58 - Alleywood - another user, but I like how th two spoons work together. If you try hard you can see a nice male and female form as they stand beside eachother.

59 - Oak - red oak spoon with an oversized bowl. I like the nice organic look.

60 - Small Redbud server. The last of the redbud. This is the last piece of my small collection of redbud.

In process

Here are a few spoons in the process. I am drying and finishing them. This means lots of scraping, and some sanding when needed. I am working to keep these more natural with only the bowls sanded and the rest scraped.

Not the best spoons I have ever carved, but my supply of materials is down to 3 pieces in the freezer. Getting nervous....I think I may have a problem.


Top to Bottom
redbud
alleywood (or rather unknown)
walnut
Chestnut

The Chestnut has a nice burl on the backside, so we will see if it becomes a gem or just another user...

Coffee Scoops

Here are 4 new little spoons to replace that little plastic coffee scoops I find being used.

On the top right picture they are

2010 55 - Redbud (top left)
2010 54 Alleywood (top right)
2010 53 - Cherry (bottom left)
2010 52 - Cherry (bottom right)

These are a fun way to use up scraps, and they always sell first. They are small, but still take awhile to finish. I think the small size slows me down.

2010 Chestnut teaspoon

I carved this as my contribution to Norman's spoon collection. You will find a smaller version I carved for my son somewhere in the blog. It is a tad over 7 inches long. Unfortunately, it needs to be closer to 9 inches. This has been a real struggle for me. I just carve and what gets created, just does. Trying to carve adhering to specific deminsions has not been easy.

Oh well, I carved 2 similar spoons and should be able to carve a third. Anyhow this one turned out pretty nice. I still like the little 4 inch one better, but I think is realted to the fact that it just appeared as I was carving and this one was planned.

I still plan to carve a spoon for the collection, but I am again almost out of wood. I need to go out and up my raw materials. I carve so many spoons that I find running out of wood to be my primary hurdle.

This one is not numbered.

Spoon Gathering

Here are the final pictures. These are from the 4th Spoon Gathering Spring of 2010. This was the largest event to date with about 50 carvers and at another 20 spectators. This has become an annual trip for me. Nebrasks to Milan, Mn in 7 hours. I only wish I could go more then once each year.

Spoon Gathering

Here are a few pictures of the Third Spoon Gathering. The weather was very bad. I only stayed the night and then ran home like a scared kitten. I am not a fan of cold weather. Not sure why I took so few pictures.

There is also a picture of me there, just for those who may be curious.