Spoons and other "treen" are traditionally carved from green wood, cut fresh from the tree. ou know when you have to go cross grain its really hard to get a good cut. Although carving wood dry is harder, the likelihood of dry wood to crack open is much lower as it does not hold moisture, making dry wood the preferred state of wood for carving. Dunk your utensils in a vat of skimmed milk, bring to the boil, simmer for a couple of minutes then turn off the heat and let cool. Poplar wood is easy to work with, easy to get a hold of, and easy on your budget too. Whittling is a MEDITATION and PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY when you come tired after work. ‘Drying’ can be a little misleading. They should be good and dry before applying oil. There are lumberyards everywhere, and even the big-box stores sell one or two species of hardwood. Learn how your comment data is processed. Any sort of wax finish has similar issues. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Hello Ben, I like to leave the green wood carved spoons out to dry for at least a day or two. I was excited to try my hand at carving wooden spoons, but was a bit nervous due to the fact that I was going to use dry/seasoned wood scraps I … If you’re using utensils before the oil has properly cured (the oil no longer gives off an odour) then you might find yourself eating linseed flavour everything for a while. Poplar is great for carving, and this is all down to its grain texture. It depends on the tools. This summer I spent two weeks sailing an open boat. You may need to choose different tools or get creative about sourcing your stock, but it IS possible to carve nice spoons from dried wood. Then, during the carving process, the task remains to control the distribution of water inside the wood. How to personalize a wood Spoon with an Engraving. When carving freshly-cut, soaking wet wood, you can get away with a slightly dull edge. Spoons and other “treen” are traditionally carved from green wood, cut fresh from the tree. To simplify, Pearson said he works with wood that has a higher water content because it hasn’t had the chance to dry out. These oils can also go bad. Riven radially. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. His style is inspired by traditional Swedish wood carving, or more specifically, wood work that comes from the 17th and 18th centuries. Hatchet NOTE: I used a hatchet head as couldn’t find my actual hatchet The wood you will need is also fairly common and can be found anywhere: 1. Carving a Wood Ladle: Woodcarving is always a pleasure and can be done almost anywhere with a minimum of tools. It springs back and you only get a super smooth finish when the wood is almost dry and is ‘cut’ with super sharp tools. The dry carving removes that and reveals fresh wood. For small pieces of wood, heat them in your microwave oven for 45 to 60 seconds on its lowest setting. As a rule of thumb, hardwoods and fruitwoods that are good for cutlery – like maple, oak, apple, and cherry. It depends on the drying method. I found some riven walnut; but not enough to make a joined stool. One of the last steps is to carefully and gently remove the rest of the wood where the … I make most of my spoons from relatively dry wood, and some species I prefer to carve dry. All the best spoon carving woods are completely safe to chew on. Truth be told, you don’t need to coat them in anything. If you use this category of wood for carving, you would be well-advised to carve it when it is still a bit green. Wooden spoon blanks. Milk has a kind of protein called casein that forms a sort of plastic coating. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), A Note of Encouragement to Beginning Carvers, “For Love and Money,” My Latest Article – Published in Quercus Magazine. Apr 18, 2019 - Explore Dom Rudd's board "Spoon templates" on Pinterest. The more wood you remove the less water there will be in the log and the less likelihood it will crack. This process also has the advantage of not yellowing the wood as much as oils do. It’s complicated. I personally prefer apple, as I find it fairly easy to carve when dry, generally has a nice straight grain as well.The not so hidden secret is maintaining sharp knives. In many species, there is a noticeable difference in workability between air-dried wood and kiln-dried wood. Ember-burned spoons seem to last longer than carved ones, as the burning seals the wood. Especially if you live in an urban area, in a desert region, or in some other tree-poor area, it can be hard to get a fresh-cut hardwood crook out of which to carve a wooden spoon. If that’s important to you, here are my suggestions. Wrap in a t-shirt if it is really dry. You can buy a moisture meter to get a precise measurement. The whole in the center is for pulling nails. August 24, 2016 at 11:03 am. For sharpening carving spoons, fine grit wet/dry sandpaper is probably the best. I watched Paul Sellers' video on carving a spoon with a gouge from dry hardwood and was about to go buy the Hirsch gouge from Highland, but they had a warning about how the gouge shouldn't be used in the fashion that Mr. When I carve dry woods, I typically use a carving gouge, a drawknife, and a couple spokeshaves while holding the work in a bench vise. After successfully carving a spoon, you have to dry it. It depends on the species. It came about mostly from shop-cleaning. Get started carving spoons over the perfect piece will react with basswood because of replacing knowing how i would like to dip my spoons i am a lot of these basic questions regarding wood way to prevent splitting and in flaxseed oil which you smooth out of a beautiful green wood for its limited and eat with a fall festival but can and how … To make spoons from them, I took a couple different steps than I do when… Most will dry quicker in a warmer environment, some like a bit of UV to help the process. Windsor chairmaker Peter Galbert blows off steam by picking up a carving knife and whittling spoons. If you are planning on making some home spun kitchen utensils, such as spoons and bowls, then using cedar wood is a perfectly fine.. Eventually I found out that traditional wooden spoons are lap-carved from green wood, but I was already well on my way to developing a method that worked well in dry hard- woods. Some people will use green wood for carving, although this wood still has a lot of water in it. Leave a comment to let me know. This Instructable will show you how to get started carving your very own spoon and hopefully answer some of the basic questions regarding wood carving, whittling, and how to create your own wooden spoo… My friend knew I like to “rescue” parts of… See more ideas about Carved spoons, Love spoons, Wood spoon. Hazel is also suitable for carving, is nice and soft and has a beautiful grain pattern. Green wood is however preferred when using very hard woods that are difficult to carve such as apple or alder. Rick says. Some would-be carvers, however,… The wood was quite wet, so after cutting out the rough shape on my bandsaw, I immersed the spoons in a saturated salt solution for a day or two. If you have 1) a drill press, and 2) good dust filtration system, this is a really good way to do the handle and bowl bottom of a spoon Buy Sanding Drum, 3" x 3" x 1/2" at Woodcraft.com It takes exactly 1/3 of a sheet of sandpaper (cut into thirds lengthwise). I work with the wood itself to reveal the unique spoon that lies within. Spoon Carving – Dry Wood. Oils that polymerize are sometimes referred to as drying oils. This would depend upon how thick the spoons are and the relative humidity. || For a gallery of finished wooden utensils, see my Wooden Utensils board. And dry is not always better like it is for firewood. Some store-bought wooden spoons come with a protective finish and may not have to be seasoned right away. Let me explain. After it’s dried, then come back and finish the spoon. Very sharp and durable blade. Soft wood is … When you’re carving your wood… ( Log Out /  Storing the piece in a rolled up paper bag along with green wood chips will slow the drying process and minimize checking. It’s also worth mentioning that wood carves VERY differently depending on if it’s green (e.g. I harvest most of my spoon wood straight from the log, and I air-dry it at a fairly slow rate (because it’s really humid here). Make sure you’re using skimmed milk, as it’s the milk fats which lead to that spoiled milk smell. The oils harden by reacting with (mainly) oxygen. I’ve been carving spoons again lately, after a long hiatus. Hey Dave, Thanks for the tip! The wood will benefit from natural oils and grease from food. Aug 4, 2020 - Explore Charles A. When wood’s dried out or rotten, you should avoid it. Boiled linseed oil has chemical additives to speed up the drying. They’re 100% waterproof and there’s been no spoiled milk smell. It came about mostly from shop-cleaning. I tend to find that at least for bulk removal a saw, gouge and shave take the place of axe, hook, & drawknife and my hands thank me for saving much of the (Sharp) knife work for light finishing cuts. While they will dry and harden, waxes have such a low melting point that in hot food they’re likely to melt and disappear. It’s important to get the best wood for spoon carving. If you’re smearing something on a cooking utensil, you want to be confident that it’s food safe. I am carving some cypress right now and not only is it dry but if your familiar with cypress it is sort of "stringy" for lack of better word. When working dry wood with hand tools, your edges must be extremely keen. Here is what I’ve learned: So if you find yourself without access to green wood, don’t give up on the idea of spoon carving. Its uniformly straight grain makes this wood fairly easy to cut into. Experiment with your own spoons and see what you like. The wood was given to me friend who collected a couple of sweetgum branches while out running. Draw a shape of a spoon on the flat surface of the wood and it’s ready to be carved as a spoon. Some people will use green wood for carving, although this wood still has a lot of water in it. His style is inspired by traditional Swedish wood carving, or more specifically, wood work that comes from the 17th and 18th centuries. With a new video each week, there’ll always be something new to learn and practice. Hook Knife 3. Freshwater was stored in a barrel on deck, and the ladle we used to scoop it up had a painfully short handl… Knife 2. 41. 's board "Spoons" on Pinterest. The obvious advantages are that (1) fresh-cut wood is softer and generally easier to cut than dried wood, and (2) you don’t have to spend time waiting for the wood to dry before you work it. If the wood is particularly damp, heat it for 1 ½ to 3 minutes on your microwave’s defrost or 2nd lowest setting. Stored in an airtight container in cool, dark conditions and they’ve got a pretty healthy shelf-life, but while in its liquid form it can turn rancid. It may feel soft, and there is a good chance that it will shrink and even crack. You're over halfway there, but now you'll need to dry your spoon, which will make it easier to sand. It depends on the sharpness of the tools. used to be a controversial topic. In theory, those additives will have evaporated once the oil has dried. The woods I carved spoons from, even when green, were too hard to carve with a knife. If you turn it occasionally in the bag, your spoon should take between 3-5 days to dry naturally. ( Log Out /  The cracking of wet wood is reasonably easy to prevent if one understands why it happens. Truth be told, you don’t need to coat them in anything. Honestly, for the price, this is a 5 star tool set. Final touches. Although I do use a traditional sloyd knife and hook knife to carve some smaller spoons from dry wood, I find that lap-carving methods are often less than ideal when working dry wood. See more ideas about carving, spoon, wood spoon. Try to make sure the oil has a chance to cure before stuffing the spoons away in a dark kitchen drawer. Water absorbs much quicker through the end of the fibers, so soak a spoon for a day or two in a plastic bucket, shoe … Not ideal. If that doesn’t matter, one certainly could choose to finish a spoon while it was still green, let it dry, then oil it. With a few tricks, you can easily dry your wood faster at home. But is it easy to carve? These woods carve really easily when freshly cut or green and make excellent cooking and serving spoons. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Finishing the spoon: The mark of an experienced greenwood carver is the ability to carve a finished spoon with nothing more than an axe and knife. Mesquite and pecan, live oak, it wouldn’t really work. The more wood you remove the less water there will be in the log and the less likelihood it will crack. SPOON CLUB LEARN to carve from home! I’ve been carving spoons from sweetgum this week. The super wet softwood is like a sponge. Although there are a > dozen in the photo, one has already been removed from the mix, so eleven > are available. Saw 4. Sellers did. It is pretty durable too, which means it can hold intricate designs well. Dec 30, 2020 - Explore Brad Tilman's board "Wood Carving" on Pinterest. Some would-be carvers, however,… October 2, 2020 pfollansbee Uncategorized. See more ideas about carving, wood carving, wood. Re: Spoons - When to carve/dry/sand/finish I just finished carving several spoons from Willow & Catalpa which came down in a storm about 2 months before cutting out the shapes. 'What finish?' Spoon Carving for Everyone: Everyone can, and should carve a wooden spoon. I really want to try carving some spoons, but I live in the desert and green wood is not a realistic option for me. When starting out I recomend willow (Salix sp), poplar (Populus sp), alder (Alnus) and lime (Tilia sp) lime in the UK is basswood in the US. But when you put that edge to drier wood, you will realize that you were doing just that–getting away with it. But when I buy hand-carved wooden spoons from local artisans, I always season those before I use them. Some people ask about allergies, mainly when talking about walnut oil. If you’re pruning good hardwoods like apple or maple anyway, might as well keep any desirable crooks from the pruned wood – these are wonderful carving out wooden spoons, and you can offer them for sale on Etsy or Ebay. Within that time period, your spoon will be fully dry. I personally prefer apple, as I find it fairly easy to carve when dry, generally has a nice straight grain as well.The not so hidden secret is maintaining sharp knives. Change ). They can take ages to properly dry. On the scale of months if you don’t have the right conditions. Utensils are much less likely to split, so that’s not so much of an issue. From what I understand, according to the FDA any clear wood finish that dries to a hard film is considered food safe. What is wood carving called? Not for any rigorous scientific reasons, but coating a handmade wooden utensil or vessel in finishes that often have “This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm” printed on them somewhere doesn’t quite sit right with me. These are the softest of the hardwoods. Technically yes, but not always. Linseed, safflower, poppy, walnut and soybean are all great oils for two reasons: They’re all used as cooking oils / dressings. Dry and smooth the spoon. Wood carving is an ancient hobby and artform that is very rewarding when you see your designs begin to take shape. Wood Carving is not just a hobby, it’s a bright new world that will REDUCE the amount of DAILY ROUTINE in your life. My simply-shaped spoons do not shout, as my preference is for subtlety and understated elegance. Hello Ben, I like to leave the green wood carved spoons out to dry for at least a day or two. The top spoon is one I made 25ish years ago in a green woodworking class, with hand tools only.It was a freshly-cut sycamore sapling (so I … These are years old, as dry … I have since made hundreds of spoons and spatulas in many sizes, from two-foot-long stirring spoons to two-inch tasting spoons. Crooked knives are a great tool for spoon making too. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. keep it in a zipped bag with some dry wood pieces and leave it for 3-6 days. This is a timely revival for me. Soaking birch spoon blanks: this can make a dry spoon-blank much easier to carve, somewhat approaching the ease of carving green wood. Sometimes. Spoons and other "treen" are traditionally carved from green wood, cut fresh from the tree. Mine are thin and inside with a wood stove this time of year. Measure two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil into a small saucepan. This is one that could piggy-back off of a backyard orchard. Then, during the carving process, the task remains to control the distribution of water inside the wood. Clean & Straight. They make excellent carved bowls, dishes, and spoons. I’m a little distrustful of this analysis. – carving spoons from green wood. Drying time is hugely variable – It could take a day or a couple weeks once the spoon is fully carved – determined by thickness, drying conditions, original moisture…..dry wood is distinctly different than wet – one has to learn to judge by feel and sound and weight, it’s one of the fun challenges of spoon carving. ( Log Out /  The wood is sturdy, and it can hold up well against damp (so dipping your spoon into soup isn’t going to cause any rot in the wood). Since they remain liquid they will either slough off into your cooking or get washed off when you next clean the utensil. Oct 3, 2020 - I've been carving spoons again lately, after a long hiatus. A few thoughts on drying green wood carving projects and how to prevent splitting and checking. Cast and after that forged and tempered sculpting, wood carving and a wood working BOWL adze. ( Log Out /  However, some sort of finish will help slow down staining. A branch off a tree Non-drying oils (mineral, coconut, peanut, olive, rapeseed) aren’t good choices. Details. Green wood is easier to carve with hand tools because the fibers are softer. Learning how to dry wood will save you a lot of aggravation in the long run. The sweetgum tree was being taken down as part of a homeowner’s efforts to clear trees in anticipation of hurricane season. Instead, wood is typically softer when it’s green, making it easier to slice with a knife, allowing you to make cleaner and faster cuts. When you have fresh wood, use it immediately or put it in storage. To get started, all you need is the right kind of wood, a carving knife, a sharpening stone, and maybe a gouge for carving things like wooden spoons. Fruit tree woods like apple, cherry, pear, and apricot are all fine-grained woods. Now there's one clear winner #covid19, A post shared by Tom Bartlett (@sylva_spoon) on Apr 1, 2020 at 4:30am PDT. Better off sticking to using a salad dressing. In the right conditions, all the above oils will change from a liquid to a solid. I did however lose a couple of jugs to splits from the process, so my method for sealing jugs might need a bit of refinement. Carving with Green vs. Dry Wood. Cover it over so that it’s shielded from the rain and sun and keep it off of the ground. Carving the whole takes longer and the advantage of using standing dead wood or wood already dried is that they go from start to finish in one go. The obvious advantages are that (1) fresh-cut wood is softer and generally easier to cut than dried wood, and (2) you don't have to spend time waiting for the wood to dry before you work it. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. This is what Andrea Cortés, founder of Barcelona Wood Workshops, a woodworking workshop where the positive aspect of manual work and creativity through this material is promoted on a daily basis. A lot of folks get into spoon carving, make some utensils, then fret about what to coat them in before they’re ‘safe’ to use. It’s easy enough to stick with finishes that are themselves food. Some species, such as poplar and black walnut, are fairly easy to carve even when dry. This would depend upon how thick the spoons are and the relative humidity. I’ve finished turned creamer jugs using this method. Now round up the ends of the wood. However, carving spoons from dry wood can be hard with hand tools such as chisels and carving knives. What’s your favourite finish for spoons? Very useful and well balanced. In some cases you will need to carve the spoon to a “rough” dimension and allow it to dry for a period of time. Yes and no. Others, such as soft maple, are an absolute pain to carve dry, and I avoid it. I've carved quite a bit of wooden spoons from Apple wood, so I wanted to share a bunch of things I've learned in doing so! Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Wood carving is a specialized field of woodworking that involves crafting wood into different shapes by hand. Is Cedar Good For Spoon Carving? Remove the utensils, give them a wipe down and let them dry. Professional wood carving, of course, is made with dry wood. May 22, 2019 - Explore John Pearson's board "jgp wooden spoon" on Pinterest. All the best spoon carving woods are completely safe to chew on. 10 Best Types of Wood for Carving (Spoons, Bowls, Walking Sticks & More) If you purchase a product through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Don’t fret over trying to out whether this lacquer or that poly-something-or-other has some sort of food safe approval. Reply. Yes, you can carve spoons from dry wood–within limitations. The tools that I have learned how to use are fairly common and can be found anywhere: 1. 12 14 Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Although most of the spoons weigh just a few ounces, they come from rough, irregularly shaped chunks that can weigh forty pounds or more. While hand sharpening your tools is a challenging and alto­gether separate discipline from carving spoons, it is … To simplify, Pearson said he works with wood that has a higher water content because it hasn’t had the chance to dry out. Note that a pre-dried piece of hardwood will be harder to carve, but a lot less likely to crack too – both whilst you’re working on your spoon and when it’s completed. Mine are thin and inside with a wood stove this time of year.