Finished spoons

The spoons are a mix of Rowan, holly, birch and aspen, soaked in linseed (flaxseed) oil overnight to seal them. Sealing spoons with oil is optional, as they will develop their own patina through use.

Some recently finished spoons

I have a sizeable pile of half finished spoons. With the lack of daylight and the general miserableness of the weather, I try to rough out as many spoons as I can when I get the chance to work outside. I then finished them off from the warmth and comfort of my living room sofa.

Here are three spoons I put the finishing touches to today. The first is a scoop carved from copper beech and the other two are small eating spoons carved from silver birch.

Copper Beech Spoons and a Spreader

I'm always amazed by the variance in grain pattern from within even the same tree, let alone between trees of the same species. All these were carved from an old copper beech tree in Woodford, Suffolk that had to be taken down due to a fungus weakening its roots. 

Hornbeam Trencher

I'm in the process of carving a large trencher bowl from a hornbeam log I've had sitting out for probably a little too long. I've been at it with my adze and now I'm smoothing the inside with a curved gouge before working on the outside shape. It's important to finish the inside first as it's easiest to do so whilst the bowl still has a lot of mass and is less likely to move around.

A busy morning

I spent this morning with some off-cuts of hornbeam. I'm trying my hand at making butter spreaders, but couldn't resist making a couple of spoons whilst I was at it.

Hornbeam Serving Spoon

Here's a hornbeam serving spoon I recently carved from a nice crooked piece. It was partly inspired by this Finnish spoon design I found over on the Woodsman Crafts site:

Bark on Spoons

A couple of weeks ago, whilst on a bimble in the woods I found a lovely little bit of crooked wood that I thought would be great for two small spoons. As the bark was quite decorative I decided to leave it on the handles.

 As you can see, this on has a small chip in the bowl from a tiny hidden knot. Little discoveries like that keep spoon carving interesting. At first I was a little annoyed by it, but as the intended function isn't as an eating spoon but a scoop, I've grown to like it.