Carving down, into notches is more difficult and so I usually like to orient the wood to my knife so that I’m carving over the crest of a curve or along a straight line. You can’t go wrong by making your blank a bit larger and thicker then the intended finished spoon, you can always remove more material later. I tried to cut as close to my spoon sketch as possible http://woodcarvingonline.com/ since that’s less material to remove later. That being said, if you want to have more material to be creative with as you carve, give yourself a little more room when you cut. Look for short grain, not long grain patterns – long grain seems to chip away in big pieces, you want small pieces to chip off so you can carve with more precision and control.

Domestika’s courses also allow you to share your own projects with the instructor and other users, thus creating a dynamic course community. Spoon carving is a sensorial process that connects you with your hands while freeing you from your mind. Together with Andrea, in this course, you will learn about her working philosophy to create a unique object with your own hands.

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Serving spoons have wide, deep bowls but often have short handles. Mixing spoons require shallow bowls and stout handles. Click here to read about Kimberly McNeelan’s adventure at a weekend gathering dedicated to the craft of spoon carving. The hook knife was useful for shallow divots, but not very good at digging deep. On to the concave side of the spoon – use a rounded sweep gouge or hook knifeto start removing material from the face of the spoon.

• At this point, it is possible to make the handle too thin and delicate, but beginning spoon carvers are more likely to err on the fat side.
• Beyond the final object, carving wood is an almost meditative practice that will make you connect with your own hands while freeing your mind and learning something new.
• I begin the cut with my forearms held close to my body; the movement is fairly short.
• I was loving how that felt on the handles, so I decided to make a gooseneck card scraper to clean out the inside of the bowls.

Once your spoon is carved, wipe evenly with a tiny amount of oil and bake in the oven at 180 to 200 degrees celsius for up to an hour, checking regularly for the desired colour. When it comes out hot, put on a bit more oil and you can get a fantastic dark tone. Beech wood is a lovely word to carve as it’s very hard, and with spalted beech you get markings in the grain. These are caused by a fungus being present in the wood. This can be something that spoon carvers because you get these lovely patterns in your spoon.

Top Tips You Need To Know About Spoon Carving

Use a spokeshave to round over the edges of the facets. Start each cut at one side of the bowl and follow the edge of the stock up to the center. After a few strokes on one side, move to the opposite side. Good handles are usually no more than 3/4″ wide and are often thinner. The bowls of serving spoons are usually about 2″ wide and 3″ to 4″ long, while stirring spoons are smaller, having bowls about 11⁄2″ wide and no more than 3″ long. Some people like handles with parallel sides, while others like ones that swell at the end and taper toward the bowl.

Aim to remove wood from the shoulders without continuing to thin down the handle. It is easy to leave too much wood here, making for a heavy, bulky spoon in use. A half-round rasp is a good alternative to the spokeshave. It is best to shape the inside of the bowl first, then the handle, and finally the out- side of the bowl. That way, you will always have parallel surfaces to clamp securely in the vise as you shape the spoon. Secure your stock in the vise and hold your gouge in both hands.

When you work with straight-grained blanks, you have to compromise some to create the flowing shape of a graceful spoon. At some point, you’re cutting across the wood fibers. To hollow the spoon’s bowl, I use hook knives specifically made for carving spoons, but you can hollow your spoon with a carving gouge. Hewn makes beautiful handmade wooden spoons and utensils for everyday use. They are lovingly carved from trees found in the west of Ireland using traditional hand tools. A sharp gouge will cut well both with the grain and across it.