A Busy Few Months

Here's most of what I carved while on the farm in Devon. I've been off it for a couple of months now. While I've got some sycamore and birch here I haven't managed to do anything with it yet. Still, I'm happy with this little collection at least.

A Set of Hazel Spoons

As a little challenge for myself, I wanted to see if I could carve a set of similar spoons. So far, most of my spoons have all been of different designs. Here I've managed to create a set of four spoons with a passable likeness to one-another.  

Pine work

Here a few more pieces I've churned out from the pine I've been working with. I'm much happier with this kuksa than the last one. For one, it's not splitting, which is always a bonus and I fine the shape to be better. If I were to do it again I would try to get the handle to slope down a little more steeply.

My Mora 120 is thrown in there for scale.

Spoons in Iraq

 

A sample from the past 6 months.

Pine

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus spork (my first!)

Not entirely sure what wood this is. It's pretty light and porous.

From pine root.

Eucalyptus

I'm pretty happy with the end of the handle here.

Eucalyptus

Pine kuksa

I'm fairly happy with the shape of this, except the front of this began to split. After soaking it in coffee I think I let it dry too quick. I had it in a plastic bag covered in wood-chips but I think desert conditions warrant a slightly different approach!

Gransfors Bruks

 Big hammers and hot metal!

 Not sure what these are for...

 Old Man's Beard?

Hand forged scissors

Sweden

I'll be heading off to Sweden for my spring vacation. I'll be spending six days there. The first two nights will be in Stockholm, which I've visited once before and found to be a delightful city. I'll then be heading north to Gransfors, the home town of Gransfors Bruks. I'm pretty excited about this part of the trip. The opportunity to see the place where the axes that so many bushcrafters drool over are made. I might also be picking up an unhealthy number of edged tools during this trip.
Another thing I'm tempted to try and do is smuggle some wood back with me. There's a bit of a lack of carving materials in my current location (northern Iraq) so I might see what I can get my grubby mitts on in Sweden and see if I can stash it in my checked luggage for the home leg!