Monday, May 28, 2007

Happy Birthday Laura



Here is a spoon that I carved yesterday for a friends birthday. With it you can see the carving knife that I made a couple of years ago (looks like I made it in prison, right?!) and a hook that I forged to hang it. I haven't made any object that has more to teach about the nature of grain direction in a chunk of wood. I know that for some, this may come dangerously close to seeming too "crafty", but I assure you, it ain't as easy as it looks. I try to work with the shape of the piece and its fibers to decide all of the design aspects as I carve. This has led to some pretty ugly spoons, but I like the challenge. Both Roy Underhill and Drew Langsner have some good info on spoon carving. Personally, I like to make simple spoons that show the tool facets all over and only scrape and sand the interior of the bowl. I carve them green, usually from crabapple tree (this one is cherry) and then once they are almost to final size, I put them in a paper bag to dry. A little finish surfacing and some walnut oil finish them off. I get much joy from seeing a well used spoon of mine when visiting friends, the only problem is that I always give the good ones away and keep their ugly cousins for myself!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey there, i was just looking at the spoon you made and noticed the table it was on, is it made up of all dovetailed pieces? never seen anything like that before

Peter Galbert said...

It's a butcherblock. I found it in a salvage place about 10 years ago. I'd never seen anything like it and have since seen a couple made this way.

R Francis said...

Have you found and added Bill Coperthwaite's A Handmade Life to you bookshelf? He is very good on spoons and other things too.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to Me!! You know I wanted one of your spoons for the longest time. So long in fact I thought maybe the idea just slipped away like a curly little wood shaving collecting dog hair under a chair in the corner...but alas! Two wishes come true--your spoon and Sue's beautiful ring, all in one pink package! I am a lucky lucky girl...thank you Pete! See you at volleyball next week. lejm