The good old wooden spoon is still indispensable in our technological age. Made from eco-friendly material, it does not change the taste and quality of products, does not burn, it is pleasant for her to eat. It can be made even by a novice woodcarver, having a minimum of the most common tools, even on a hike. Spoons are made from different tree, in our master class, we propose to make a maple spoon. It is durable, does not crack and does not fray after washing. Here is a set of simple tools that we will need to carve a wooden spoon:
hatchet, wood saw, semicircular chisel, rasp, wood file and sandpaper. Also a pencil and ruler. To begin with, we take a log under the future spoon and saw it or split it in half.
Now we draw the outline of the spoon with a pencil.
We take a hacksaw and cut out the spoon along the contour.
With a hatchet we cut off sharp edges and roughly form a scoop from the back side.
Then with a hatchet we create an angle of inclination, first from the side where the scoop will be deepened, and then from the opposite side at the base of the handle.
We round off with a file the place where the handle goes into the scoop.
We finalize with sandpaper, dressed on any round stick.
With a rough rasp, we round off and create the outer shape of the scoop.
We round the handle using a rasp, and then grind everything with sandpaper. With a semicircular chisel, we cut a recess in the ladle, checking the thickness so as not to make it too thin.
We finalize inner part sandpaper spoons. It is convenient to use a wooden blank, rounded at the end, on which the sandpaper is attached crosswise.
After final polishing, you can coat the wooden spoon with oil for durability by immersing it in warm vegetable oil. This old recipe. The spoon will be protected from moisture and will not be frizzy after washing. I am often asked: what kind of wood are spoons made of? Most often from linden, alder, aspen, birch, they are easy to process. An oak spoon will crack faster, and an ash one will fluff up. Spoons are not made from coniferous, they contain bitter resin. Successful spoons are obtained from fruit species, the main thing is that the tree is dry enough.
Today I want to talk about how to carve a wooden spoon. Six months ago, I suddenly really wanted to make something out of wood. And to do it not just like that, but with benefit. Of course, one of the most popular items in this case is the wooden spoon. Before getting down to business, I read various articles, but many of them seemed too complicated and after reading them it was not entirely clear from which side to approach the manufacture of a wooden spoon. In fact, everything turned out to be much simpler and you need to read less and try more. So let's go.
To make a wooden spoon, we need the following items:
- Material (wood)
- Ax (optional)
- Spoon cutter
- Sandpaper
Preparation
Material
The very first mistake I made when making the first spoon was incorrect choice tree. I took a piece pine board unknown age and began to cut from it. Pine soft wood, I thought, so it should be fine. But in reality it turned out to be not normal, but damn difficult, and I never finished the first spoon. In general, no dried wood, boards from the store, etc.
To make a spoon, we need a fresh (not dried) tree, preferably a soft breed. There is a lot of information about tree species, so you can familiarize yourself with and choose the soft wood species that is most available in your area. Oak makes very strong and beautiful spoons, but first, take something softer. I really like spruce or pine, their smell and pleasant feeling when cutting.
An important point is the tree search itself. I urge you not to cut down the first live tree you see, but to take the time to look for a tree that has been recently felled, cut down by others, and is abandoned or dying. It is rather sad to see good trees thoughtlessly cut down to make natural and eco-friendly crafts. For me, the search for material is also a kind of process and can take several hours, or maybe days. In general, take care of nature and use its resources wisely.
Tool
Saw
To make a spoon at home, absolutely any hacksaw is suitable. But when looking for material or cutting a spoon in field conditions It is best to have a compact folding hacksaw. Great choice for reasonable money is the Bahco Laplander saw, which I can safely recommend for purchase.
Axe
Above, I indicated that the ax is optional. This is because when making a small wooden spoon, you can easily get by with a saw and a knife. The ax becomes relevant when it is necessary to make a large spoon or mug (kuksu) and greatly saves time during the primary (roughing) processing of the workpiece. I use a Fiskars X-7 axe.
Knife
Perhaps most of the work when carving a wooden spoon is done with a knife. The knife should be fixed blade, short in length and moderate in width. Carbon steel blades have excellent cutting qualities. You shouldn't think that good knife will be expensive. For 400-500 rubles you can buy a wonderful Morakniv Basic carbon knife, which in the best way suitable for woodworking.
Spoon cutter
Although a spoon cutter gets a slightly smaller amount of work than a knife, it will be very difficult to cut a spoon without it. You can do without it and use only a knife. But in this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to make a rounded spoon, and the process itself will not be easy. Somehow, for the sake of experiment, I tried to make a spoon without a spoon cutter and it turned out to be a rather convenient spoon for coffee or spices. But to make a real spoon, so that you also enjoy the process, the presence of a spoon cutter is a must.
I wasn't sure if I would enjoy carving spoons, and doubted if I wouldn't give up on the first try. Therefore, I decided to save money and bought an inexpensive Tatyanka spoon cutter. My first mistake was the wrong choice of material, but the second was the purchase of this spoon cutter. I somehow made a few spoonfuls for them. It blunted very quickly, sharpened badly, and was small in size. In general, I suffered pretty much and in the end it broke down, could not stand it. To replace him, a Morakniv 164 spoon cutter was purchased. And then I realized that this is happiness. After Tatyanka, I had the feeling that Mora was cutting wood like butter, which was an incredible pleasure when making the first spoons with Mora's help. I highly recommend purchasing the Morakniv 164 even if you are just starting out, as a bad cutter can simply discourage you from doing anything further. You can also look at the Morakniv 162, which features a double-edged blade, which is sometimes very handy.
Process
Finally, we got to the very process of making a simple wooden spoon, which is very convenient to use for sugar, salt, coffee and other spices.
We will not immediately try to make a large spoon, let's start with a small one, 15-17 cm long. To do this, we need a bar of the appropriate length and a diameter of 4-5 cm. Saw it off and remove the bark with a knife.
Now you need to make one of the sides of the log flat. To do this, we cut off an extra tree with a knife about ⅓ along the entire length.
We give a rounded shape to one of the ends of the log (where it will scoop). While rather rough, but as symmetrical as possible.
It is time to take the spoon cutter and begin to make a recess with gentle circular motions. Not all the way yet, but not quite superficial either. I usually do the deepening in several passes, alternating with the processing of other parts of the product.
Having achieved a result approximately as in the photo, you can proceed to give the workpiece a final look by gradually chipping with a knife.
Now it looks like a spoon. You can proceed to the holder (handle) and, if desired, make a decorative pommel.
Now it is no longer something similar, but a real spoon that you can take and use. But somehow she is all rude and clumsy. Having a bite to eat in the field will do, but giving one like this is somehow not very good. To give the spoon an attractive look, we will use sandpaper (skin). It is advisable to have a skin of different grain sizes in your arsenal and start processing the largest one and finally fine-tune it.After 10 minutes of processing, the spoon takes on a completely personal appearance and it is no longer a shame to give one.
A small wooden spoon usually does not require special conditions for drying and dries normally even at fairly low humidity in a city apartment. Do not deliberately place a freshly cut spoon in a very dry place, this will speed up its drying and can cause cracks. When making a large spoon, the risk of cracking increases, so I recommend immediately after use, wrap the product with a dry cotton cloth and put it in a plastic bag. Once a day, change the fabric to dry and repeat this for several days. The more massive the product, the more demanding it is to the drying conditions. So, for example, when making wooden mug(cupcakes) of large size, drying in this way can last from three weeks, but one and a half months!
You can stop there, but if you plan to use a spoon for liquid foods, then it is best to soak it linseed oil. Impregnation is done after complete drying. You can also use ordinary vegetable oil, but it goes rancid and the smell from the spoon will not be very pleasant. If the spoon is small, then it will be enough to smear it with heated oil several times with a brush. If the product is quite large or if there is a desire to make the impregnation more thorough, then you can hold the spoon in oil in a water bath for 20-30 minutes. Perhaps I will cover this in more detail in another post.
On this I will finish. Good luck making your first wooden spoon!
It's hard to find a more indispensable cutlery than a spoon. It can be eaten, cut, used as measuring utensils and for educational purposes, you can cook in it and simply display it as a decoration. And it's also a musical instrument! In Rus' and in the Scandinavian countries, historically, spoons were made of wood. In our country, the town of Semenov in the Nizhny Novgorod region became the capital of the spoon craft. At the end of the century before last, about 7 thousand people worked on the manufacture of spoons in the Semenovsky region and they produced more than three million spoons a year. In fact, these are only at first glance huge numbers. Simple math shows that the productivity is one spoon per day per person. Population Russian Empire at that time was 129 million people. Thus, it would take 43 years for Semyonov's artisans to cover consumer demand. Therefore, in every village, in almost every house, on long winter evenings, the peasants not only prepared carts and rakes for the summer, but also cut spoons for family needs. I had a choice: to go to Semyonov and rent a production of souvenir Khokhloma spoons, or to find a craftsman and look at modern spoons for everyday use. The craftsman, of course, was found, and all in the same Nizhny Novgorod region. SPOON - well. a tool for slurping, for eating liquids; loafer, shevyrka, eater. pouring spoon, ladle. a wooden spoon (the main craft of the lower lip of the family county) is chopped off from a baklush with an axe, embossed with an adze, sharpened with a knife and cut with a curved cutter, and the stalk and forging on it are sharpened with a saw, by hand. a spoon happens: mezheumok, simple Russian, wide; butyrka, burlatskaya, the same, but thicker and rougher; barefoot, longish, blunt-nosed; semi-flat, rounder than that; nosy, sharp-nosed; fine, generally fine, clean finish. white, i.e., unpainted, first-hand goes 9-18 rubles. a thousand banknotes, aspen and birch; maple dyed up to 75 rubles. thousand notes. This is a small excerpt from an article about a spoon in explanatory dictionary Dahl. The article is so self-sufficient that if I quote it in full, then there will be nothing more to tell. So let's look at the pictures and listen to our today's narrator. 
Here he is - Leonid Khazov, who has mastered many professions, but settled on the spoon craft. He really does make a living making spoons and wooden utensils, so doing stuff about him was doubly educational. And in the meantime, I learned a lot of new and interesting things about this ancient craft. 
Everything starts prosaically. Leonid takes a ridged deck and splits it in half, and then into a few more poles. The amount depends on the diameter of the deck and the expected number of spoons. One pole - one spoon. 
As the master says, anyone can make a spoon with a knife and desire. Yes, the first spoon can be ugly and look more like a crooked spatula, but it can perform its functions. Even the handicraft of spoons for sale uses a rather simple set of tools that can be found in any, probably, home. I am distracted by the story, and in the picture the descent to the future scoop is selected with an ax. Do you know the structure of a spoon? Scooped, held and jumper. 
Almost any material is suitable as a raw material. deciduous tree. Most often, dishes are made from birch, aspen, maple or fruit trees. Conifers are not suitable because of their resinousness and characteristic smell. In Rus', they even made spoons from imported palm trees and they cost ten times more than usual. Now in the photo the spoon is in the stage called “baklusha”. This work was done by apprentices, and the masters brought these blanks-blocks to mind. 
With the help of a template, the contour of the future spoon is applied to the buckwheat. Depending on the purpose, they are round, oval, flat, voluminous. And for decorative spoons, the shape is limited only by the imagination of the master. 
Each master has his own branded product that is in stable demand, which he makes in bulk on a stream. The cutlers have certain types knives, blacksmiths have souvenir flowers and horseshoes, spoons are no exception. Leonid copied the Soviet tablespoon twenty years ago, and with minor changes and improvements, this form has remained the main one. 
Clamping the workpiece in a vise, Leonid selects the wood from the future spoon. By the way, unlike other types of wood carving, spoons are cut from raw wood and dried already in finished form. Some masters specially store the ridges in tall grass so the wood doesn't dry out. 
The ax is used to shape the back of the spoon. 
You can continue to work with a hatchet and cut off the side of the bucket to give the intended shape, you can take a hacksaw, or you can also use a jigsaw, which is the fastest. This stage can also be performed with a knife or chisel, the only question is the amount of time spent. 
Birch is practically not inferior in strength to oak, but lives as a spoon much longer - oak cracks. As you can see, even with such a rather delicate operation, the master is in no hurry to take up the knife, but wields an ax. 
The last swing of the axe. The traditional Russian souvenir spoon is more like a hemisphere: deep, voluminous and not very convenient to use, similar to a ladle or ladle. Here the forms are closer to modern classic oval spoons. 
Up to this stage, all the work could be done by a not very skilled journeyman. In principle, another ten minutes of work with a knife and you will have a spoon quite usable in your hand. This is where the work of the master begins. The spoon should be not only functional, but also beautiful. 
At the beginning of the post, I mentioned the performance of the Semenov masters. In fact, somewhere in the numbers there is confusion, either fewer people worked, or they cut not only spoons. According to the data for 1905, there were about 1,400 spoons in the Balakhna district of the Nizhny Novgorod district and they produced 13 million spoons, i.e. 25 spoons per day per person. These figures are already close to the truth. Leonid says that one can make fifty spoons in two or three days, but in artels the whole process was divided into stages and divided among workers, which reduced the time for production. 
However, Leonid also prefers to make the parties in stages: first he prepares the bucks, then he cuts off everything superfluous on them, and then he takes up the knife and sandpaper. It is believed that from the state of the log to the finished spoon, it must be in the hands of the master at least 13 times. Haven't tested it, you can check for yourself. 
The pen is ready, it remains to scrape out the scoop. The wall thickness is 3-4 millimeters, if you make it thinner, the spoon will be lighter and may be more beautiful, but it will last less. The more carefully the excess is removed, the easier it will be to grind later. 
As with any craft, there is little time left for creativity. If business feeds you, then you need to make template products, with the implementation of which there will definitely be no problems. Leonid has a well-established sales, his products can be found in Moscow and some major Russian cities. But, of course, he wants to do something new, try some tricks, cut something unusual. Sometimes you are lucky and receive such orders, and sometimes you have to sell what you have done yourself. 
This is how another spoon was born after the conversation. In the old days, sales were about the same situation. Spoons, who carved for the owner, received the least, then went those who handed over spoons to merchants in bulk, and those who sold their spoons themselves had the highest income. 
Our spoons recover to dry. This is a couple of days in the air in summer or on the stove in winter. Just while a batch of spoons is being made, the previous one has time to dry. Let's finish the historical excursion. Few people realize that the demand for wooden spoons fell only after the Second World War. Then it was replaced by tin and metal spoons, and instead of the Lozhkosoyuz, the Khokhloma Painting association was organized. 
While the spoons are drying, we'll take a look at the tools. I have long noticed that the straighter a person's hands, the more unprepossessing the instrument. More precisely, no, it's not. How straighter arms, topics less people chasing brands and appearance and the more it appreciates functionality. 
And Leonid has some of the instruments generally homemade. Knives are made of saw blade, the so-called high-speed steel. And there are a lot of them, not because they break often, it's just that Leonid is preparing to conduct master classes in carving and will distribute knives to students. 
And here is the cranberries from the bearing cage. The steel there is also well suited for such a tool, so it remains only to find a bearing with a suitable diameter, saw it and weld on the shank. And don't forget to sharpen of course. 
At my request, Leonid showed the sharpening process using an example semicircular chisel. First, an angle is removed and the notches on a large stone are crimped. Here the main trick is not to overheat the metal, hardening may be released and the tool will be damaged. 
Next, the chisel or knife is sharpened on a small stone with a constant supply of water. The edge is sharpened until a uniform burr appears on the opposite side. This is if a chisel, with a knife a little trickier, there you need to sharpen from both sides. And then it's all polished on a leather wheel with GOI paste. Before removing this very burr. The first two procedures are rarely required for a working tool, editing on the skin is usually enough. 
Burr with inside corrected with fine sandpaper wound on a piece of wood of a suitable diameter. If necessary, again polished on the skin. In general, the same as when sharpening ordinary knives. 
Let's get back to our spoons. It used to be that spoons had three grades of processing: front, very good and good. We will make a front spoon, we are not some kind of hacks! 
You can grind with sandpaper by hand, you can use the machine. I don’t know what our ancestors polished with, but in the Scandinavian countries a special variety of horsetail was used for this purpose. 
Very quickly, the spoon takes on a well-groomed appearance and just asks to be finished as soon as possible and placed next to the plate. 
But there is no need to rush. In addition to the fact that the spoon is sanded in several stages, reducing the graininess of the sandpaper, there is one more nuance. 
When using a spoon for its intended purpose, it begins to fluff up from the water. It is not critical in the hands, but very unpleasant in the mouth. Therefore, after grinding, it is wetted and dried, and then polished again. And so several times. 
Now the spoon is almost ready. Her handle can be decorated with carvings, or some kind of inscription. For example, a name or a saying. 
There is also a little trick here: in order for the inscription to turn out even, you need to write it backwards, with last letter to the first. 
And the final touch - the spoon is soaked in ordinary linseed oil. More massive products are immersed in oil and stay in it for some time, but it is enough just to anoint the spoons with a brush, they are so thin that they are soaked through. For about a day, the spoons dry and absorb the oil, then they are wiped with a napkin and that's it, they are ready to please their new owner. 
From wooden utensils, as well as from all wooden things made by hand, some kind of warmth emanates. Now I have two spoons, I'm thinking of making a bowl or a plate, or even a whole service. 
IN Everyday life all people use spoons, perhaps except for representatives of some Asian countries who prefer wooden sticks. And when the question arises in choosing this cutlery, many, without much hesitation, go to the store and buy them, focusing on their taste and budget.
A wooden spoon most often has a decorative function, but can also be used for its intended purpose.
Increasingly, people are attracted to wooden utensils, they have a special flavor and it is very pleasant to eat from them. This article will discuss how to make a wooden spoon with your own hands, without much experience and with a minimum number of tools.
Required tool
First you need to decide what should be at hand for the manufacture of wooden spoons:
- Bar- not all breeds are equally good for making spoons, it is best to use aspen, birch, cedar or juniper. The log itself should be well dried;
- Marker- or a pencil, it will be needed to mark the contours of the future spoon on the workpiece;
- Axe- it is best to take a small hatchet, with its help the initial preparation of the bar is carried out;
- Knife- should be comfortable and sharp, it will be needed for finer processing of the workpiece;
- Clucars- a special figured chisel, it is distinguished by a modified shape of the working tip. For the manufacture of do-it-yourself spoons, cranberries with an arcuate tip are used;
- Sandpaper- for polishing a spoon;
- Flax oil- Coated with linseed oil to protect against negative impact water;
- Drill- a special spherical nozzle for grinding rounded surfaces is sold on it. You can also use a drill to drill a hole for a hook in the handle of a spoon.
DIY step-by-step instructions for making a wooden spoon
Choice of wood
In order for the spoon to be comfortable and practical, it is important to choose the right type of wood. You should stop looking at durum varieties wood, so that the future spoon lasts longer.
For a spoon, you should choose cedar, aspen or juniper.
An ideal option would be a pre-prepared and dried birch or aspen log. If you make a spoon from raw wood, then over time it will bend.
Preparation for work
In order to make a wooden spoon with your own hands, drawings and templates for its manufacture should be prepared in advance. Clarity of the process is the key to success in any business.
The place for hand made wooden spoons must be freed from unnecessary items, leaving only the necessary.
Workpiece characteristics
When making a wooden spoon from a bar, it should be remembered that it must be of a certain size. For a tablespoon, a bar measuring 300x100x60 mm will fit, where the first digit is the length, the second is the width, the third is the thickness.
If you are using a log, then cut it in half and approximate it to the dimensions above.
markup
Using a marker or pencil, draw the outlines of the future spoon well according to the template. There are many options, although you can come up with them yourself.
Primary processing
With a hatchet, chop off excess wood around the drawn contours of the spoon. Process the workpiece without reaching the edges of the spoon outlined with a marker about 8-10 mm. This step is due to the fact that the fibers of the tree can be twisted after drying, and you will chip off the excess, thereby ruining the workpiece.
Cut the workpiece a little more than the markup, taking into account the final grinding of the product.
It is important to observe safety precautions! Working with an ax in the process of making spoons with your own hands is the most dangerous, carelessness can lead to injury. Watch your fingers before the ax strike!
At the same time, try not to make a margin of more than 1 cm, the process of processing with a knife is more laborious. The more accurately you prepare the workpiece with a hatchet. The less work there is.
Cavity in a spoon
Arm yourself with cranberries and without a hammer, and relying only on the strength of your hands, begin to gradually choose a "hole" in the workpiece. For more precise work better to draw the thickness of the walls. At the best craftsmen self made the walls are very thin, 4-5mm thick, if this is your first work, then it is better not to risk it and make the walls 7-8mm. You should go deeper, focusing on your own preferences and the thickness of the workpiece.
If there is not enough imagination, then you can draw a circle of the recess by making a template taken from the finished wooden spoon. You can see the solution in the video attached to the post.
Knife processing
Secondary processing will give the wooden spoon an almost final look. The knife should have a short but sharp blade. Carefully cut off any excess. As mentioned above, you can give the shape of a wooden spoon whatever you want, only the imagination and abilities of your hands will become a limitation.
Comment! If you make a spoon with your own hands in nature for urgent purposes, then processing with a knife will be quite enough, eating an ear from roughly processed dishes is even more pleasant.
Many people make the mistake of cutting wood by pointing a knife at extra sections and hitting it with a hammer. This is not worth doing, because of the same twisted fibers. By doing this, you run the risk of ruining the spoon.
The recess in the spoon is most convenient to “choose” with cranberries.
The shape of the handle can also be any, if you want to make a set of wooden spoons, then all typical elements should be in equal proportions, especially handles. To do this, draw templates or download drawings from the Internet. Although a self-made original template will please the eye much more.
Processing the back of a wooden spoon is one of the most crucial moments. Many amateurs, when making their first sample by hand, try to make the spoon too elegant and remove the extra layer in the process of processing.
Important to remember! Wood is a specific material, it is heterogeneous, knots can be found in it, or there may be hidden cavities. Carving with a knife back side, be very careful, you can ruin the spoon in the final stage of processing.
Interior surface treatment
For this, a special nozzle on a drill is best suited, they are different. The essence of processing is to grind the concave surface of the spoon without damaging it.
If you do not have a round nozzle, you can replace it with a rubber one with a mount for a sandpaper petal. But in this case, be very careful during the grinding process, you can’t put pressure on the drill, otherwise the fastening bolt, located in the middle of this nozzle, may leave deep grooves on the surface of the spoon.
To fix the spoon should be placed in a vise, holding it in your hands is very dangerous, because the drill can come off and injure you. But it is necessary to fix it with the help of gaskets, this will avoid damage to the surface of the spoon with the vise jaws.
Spoon grinding
One of the most enjoyable processes in making a spoon with your own hands. If you have little experience in working with wood, most likely after processing with a knife, the spoon remained far from ideal. Sandpaper grades from P240 to P280 will help remove irregularities; it is ideal for working with hard rocks tree.
Grinding is The final stage manufacturing, is done with sandpaper.
Finer grinding should be done with grades P400 - P600, with their help you can prepare the surface for painting or varnishing.
Water protection
A handmade wooden spoon will serve its owner for a long time if he takes care of its protection from water in a timely manner.
As you know, when regularly wet, wood deteriorates! A variety of oils are used for coating, linseed, tung and others. The choice lies with the manufacturer.
Processing a spoon with oil is not difficult at all, especially if you have made a hole in its handle. In this case, you can completely process the spoon suspended by the hook. After drying, apply another layer of oil on its surface.
We hope the question of how to make a wooden spoon with your own hands is completely settled. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this process, and perhaps making wooden utensils will become your new hobby.
Video: do-it-yourself wooden spoon
Everyone can and should carve a wooden spoon, according to the author.
He collected spoons from all over the world for a while (see second photo) and has always been interested in strange spoons.
At some point, he eventually started making his own spoons.
Making a spoon using the woodcarving method is a long process, but there is still room for creativity in it. This material is intended for beginner carvers.
Tools and materials:
Sharp carving knives, including at least a medium straight knife and a rounded or arrow-shaped knife;
- a piece of soft wood, slightly larger than the size of a spoon;
- Sandpaper with a grit of 80, 120, 220 and 400 units;
- sanding drum small diameter (2.5 - 5 cm);
- a pen or marker;
- food-safe wood finish (eg wax or mineral oil);
Additional power tools:
grinding machine;
- dremel;
- jigsaw;
- table saw;
(The whole process can be done manually. The author used power tools to create the blank to speed up the process.)
Step 2: Wood
The most important thing to consider when carving a spoon is the type of wood you are going to use. Despite the fact that at the right tools and techniques can be carved from almost any type of wood, some types are easier to process than others. Since this is spoon carving for beginners, we will try to make everything as simple as possible.
The easiest types of wood to process are softwoods, For example:
Linden
- pine
- cedar
- Red tree
- fir
Hard rocks that are more difficult to process, are:
Oak
- maple
- Walnut
- pink tree
- exotic breeds
- Teak
Follow these general points when choosing a tree:
Cut off a piece of wood and see what kind of wood it is.
Look for a narrow fiber, not a wide fiber - a wide fiber breaks into large pieces.
For a beginner, the easiest way to try woodcarving is lime, so it's best to start with it.
Finally, it should be noted that wood, like many of the substances we live with, can be a potential allergen for certain people. Some woods, such as cocobolo, have dermal and respiratory effects. Other varieties such as cherries are known to be generally safe and inert. Wood dust from almost any type of tree can be harmful to the respiratory tract over a fairly long period of time.
Step 3: Spoon Drawing
Once you've chosen your wood stock (I'm using cherry in the example below), draw a very rough outline of the spoon you'd like to carve. This does not need to be a detailed drawing, as this outline will only be used to create the spoon blank. Drawing the profile of the spoon is desirable but not required.
Spoon size
- spoon head type
- Should it fit in the mouth entirely?
- depth of the concave part
- thickness and height
- intended purpose - salad, soup, etc.
Step 4: Create a Form
If the spoon you want to cut out is smaller than the piece of wood you have chosen, use table saw to cut the workpiece into a thinner one, so that when cutting out, you have to remove less material manually.
Then use miter saw to cut pieces of wood to length at the ends of the outline of your spoon.
This is called creating a form.
Step 5: Cutting the Parts
Use a jigsaw to cut the spoon along the outline. It is advisable to cut as close as possible to the sketch of your spoon.
By making the stock slightly larger and thicker than the intended finished spoon, you can always remove the material later.
Step 6: Rough Sanding
This step is completely optional, but the author did it. He used tape grinder to quickly round the edges and sand to the contour of the spoon. Anything done with a power tool eliminates the need to do it by hand in the next step of the carving.
Step 7: Moving on to carving
Carving along the handle of a spoon is the easiest place to practice. Start with small particles, removing a small amount of material by cutting away from yourself.
Start removing small pieces of material from the tops of the curved lines. Cutting down, in the notch is more difficult.
Dipping the knife in a downward direction usually results in a piece of material being chipped off. bigger size than expected.
Turning a square block into a smooth spoon takes time - for example, several hours. So don't expect the spoon to instantly take shape. Just slowly move towards the goal.
Step 8: Add More Detail
As the spoon begins to take shape and you start rounding off some of the straight lines in the stock, decisions need to be made regarding:
Handle thickness
- how the handle should taper and fit the hand
- how long should the handle be
How wide should the spoon be?
- whether the spoon will have a curved or flat leading edge
- thickness of the spoon head
The spoon pictured below has a blunt, straight head, more like a spatula, which is good for scraping the bottom of the pot... of course, it's not a very good soup spoon.
Step 9: Back of Spoon Head
Once the handle of the spoon is carved, it's time to start working on the head. It's easier to start with the convex back of the spoon rather than the concave side.
Start removing material around the edges of the workpiece and round off the head of the spoon to make a smooth transition from the back of the spoon to the rim.
Continue rounding the back of the spoon and create an even, continuous slope.
Step 10: The front of the spoon
On the concave side of the spoon - use a rounded arrow knife or hook to begin removing material from the surface of the spoon.
Remove small pieces of wood until a small indentation begins to form. Continue to remove material, picking wood closer and closer to outer wall your spoon.
A hook knife is useful for shallow hauling, but does not work very well at depth. This is where a dart knife comes in handy.
Step 11: Sanding Finish