Wooden Spoon

The Wee One came over for a visit a week or so ago. I entertained her by giving her a very sharp draw knife and a stick of green wood from our freshly cut Hazel tree. She sat at my shaving horse and stripped all the bark off. A few days later she returned and requested that we do some more bark stripping. So I gave her a second stick of wood.

While I watched her shape that second stick, it occurred to me that the stick might be turned into a nice spoon. So after she left I pulled out my carving gouges and managed to make a half way decent shape of the bowl of a spoon. The photo below shows the roughed out spoon bowl, with bark still attached to the rest of the stick.

I took both sticks to the band saw and shaped them each roughly into a spoon shape. The photo below shows the two sticks after going through the band saw.

Several hours later, after removing lots of wood with the draw knife, straightening with the spokeshave, whittling with a straight knife and a little more gouge work, I sanded it down to a fine 180 grit finish. I'll let it dry a few days before applying a linseed oil finish. The two photos below show the finished spoon alongside the still roughed out shape of the second spoon. I rotated the second spoon to help demonstrate the shape. It has a nasty knot that will play a major role in determining the final shape of the spoon.

I read that wood is an excellent material for use with food service. Wood is naturally anti-bacterial, and it cleans up nicely with warm water and a little soap. It doesn't like (or need) the harsh conditions found in dishwashers. This Hazel wood is absolutely delightful to carve.