Woodlands.co.uk

Spoon Carving

Spoon Carving

What better way to while away a few hours on a sunny spring day than to carve yourself a spoon? For spoon carving, you will only need a good sharp knife, a small pruning saw and a crook or hooked knife to gouge out the bowl of the spoon. Birch and sycamore are both good woods to use and, as you become more practised, you will be able to experiment with many different species. 

Select a small pole about 2 to 3 inches in diameter that is growing.  It’s good to try and find one with a natural curve or slight dog leg that you can use as the curve of the spoon.  Start by cutting the pole to a little longer than you need for the finished spoon and split the pole in half, length ways.  To do this, place your knife with the edge across one end of the pole and carefully, using an off cut from your pole as a mallet, knock your knife into the pole. Allow it to split slowly as forcing it at this stage may make the split run off centre.  Select the half or ‘cleft’ which curves the right way for the spoon you want to carve and whittle the split surface with your knife so that it is smooth.

Using a pencil, roughly draw a spoon shape on to the wood, you could use any spoon which you like the shape of as a template for this. Using the knife carefully, whittle and slice around the outline until you have completed shaping in that plane. The grain in the wood may run in different directions and dictate which way you can cut.  

Look at your spoon from the side and decide how you would like to shape the curve of the spoon handle. If you have managed to use a pole with a natural curve or dog-leg it may only need a little refining. Always use your knife carefully making sure that you are always cutting away from yourself.  If you have made the handle of your spoon wide in one plane, you can make it thin in the other plane and vice versa, shaping in this way will ensure that the spoon remains strong enough.  

When you are satisfied with the shape of your spoon you can turn your attention to shaping the inside of the bowl. With your hooked knife slowly start to remove all the unwanted wood, the grain of the wood will dictate which direction you will need to cut in but in general cutting across the grain works well. When this is finished you can start finishing the spoon.  

If you intend to sand the spoon to a smooth finish, store it at room temperature for a few days first, this will dry the wood out a little and make sanding easier. If you intend leaving you spoon with a tooled finish carefully go over the spoon with your knife fine-tuning any slightly rough or uneven areas (You may have to stop yourself!). Finally to treat your spoon use a little warmed sunflower oil, this will bring out the markings in the wood and also be safe for eating with. 

If you’re interested in learning more, Dan is running a Bowl and Spoon carving course in June please have a look at http://www.dwwp.co.uk/Carving.asp  for full details.        


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Discussion

where can i get a great carving hatchet like yours?
thanks for any help

josh branam

7 January, 2020

[…] of courses available for those who fancy having a go themselves.  See also the Woodlands blog on spoon carving.AKPC_IDS += […]

Hi Dan! I really like these simple instructions for carving your own spoon. Is it okay if I post your instructions in an email newsletter that I make, crediting you as the author and linking to this site? The newsletter is a publication of the Monadnock Localvore Project, which educates people in southwestern New Hampshire here in the States about consuming local products. Your instructions would be for our “Recipe of the Month” to inform people how to make a spoon from wood in their backyard. Please let me know ASAP if this is okay. Thank you!

Laura

2 May, 2011

After reading that I think I could with the right tools do myself a nice wooden spoon! I expect you could do a somewhat large one and ornament it with geometric patterns or celtic knots or other designs! I may well use your info here to give it a go! Thanks for the idea :).

Kirsten

13 October, 2009

[…] Spoon carving is an art in itself, but you need very little in the way of special equipment – a sharp knife and a hooked knife for gouging out the bowl – so it is a more “portable” form of woodcarving than some others.  There are plenty of courses available for those who fancy having a go themselves.  See also the Woodlands blog on spoon carving. […]

Hi Lilly, there are no rules but some species are more easy to work than others. birch and sycamore are good woods to carve and beach and oak are both quite hard woods which are prone to splitting. You can also experiment with dead wood. Using a pole about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diametre is good.

Dan Watson

17 April, 2008

Very good, could use descriptions of the wood needed
where you would find the trees necessary and how thick the branch would need to be.

lilly

11 April, 2008