Finding the Spoon in the Wood.

This is about midway in the process. I like to do 95% of the carving with the spoon still attached to the larger piece of wood. That way I have something to hold onto and clamp down. That makes the carving easier and preserves my fingers.

The walnut I am using for this spoon has a really nice contrast between the light and dark wood which I am trying to take advantage of. I would ordinarily be leery of the light wood but I made a spoon out of mostly light walnut that we have been using for more than a year now and the wood has a great buttery quality. You can see it in my very first blog. We use it all the time and other than spending a few weeks with a distinctly yellow hue as the result of stirring saffron rice with it, it hasn't changed. I was sorry when the yellow faded. It was kind of fun.

A couple of items of self criticism: 1. I shouldn't have so many tools out. 2. I shouldn't be chopping on that mat. I try to have a few rules for myself but I get tunnel vision when I am working on something. If the bench was not already on numbered days, I wouldn't chop on it either. Fortunately, the safety related rules have become second nature.

Pine Shelving Board II

While I was waiting on wheels and trucks for the main thing I am working on now, (see the previous post) I had a couple of ideas. This is one of them. It is made from some of the pine shelving that a former employer was going to throw away. Not too much actual carving was done. It was an exercise in hand sawing, mostly. The steel plates were kind of an afterthought. I realized that I would have to use washers on the top because the wood is so soft and I really didn't want to use washers. So plates were my solution. I  had almost used them on previous boards but I felt it would have been an add-on that served no real purpose. I don't know why that matters.

 

I used a chisel and a plane on the bottom and chisel on the top where the plates are. I have started another pine shelving board that is similar in that it is angular but different in about every other way.

I have not posted this board on Etsy and I may not at all.

There is a new cherry spoon in my Etsy shop.

I made it from wood my neighbor gave me. They had a large cherry tree fall in their yard last winter.

I am going to try some pieces of jewelry. The maple I have seems particularly conducive to that sort of thing and it a good use for some of the small pieces of really nice wood that are left over from previous projects. The main problem I have run into is that the sanding, particularly, of these little bits of wood kills my hands. I wondered if there was a better technique for sanding little pieces like this than the one I am using, sandpaper in one hand, piece in the other.

Preview

I was nearly done but now I have decided to add a complication.

Pine Shelving Cruiser

I decided to try something a little shorter.

I had some old pine shelving which I hand shaped and carved.

I hollowed out the top a little.

I had to use an electric hand drill to countersink the holes.

It ended up being a lot less serious (if that is the word) and a lot more fun. I took it for spin around the house, which was the idea, and could go pretty much anywhere.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37545704

Large Maple Spoon

Another spoon. The finish is easy is the main reason. A skateboard finished in salad bowl oil is just wrong but it is a little more difficult to finish a skateboard using the proper range of finishes without gassing myself in the winter or near winter.

This wood seemed very dense so I polished it up, ending with 2000 grit sandpaper. I usually stop at 400 and raise the grain a couple of times until it stays smooth when wet. I put the usual salad bowl oil on it but it didn't soak up very much of it.

I like it a lot. I spent 1/2 a day sanding it by hand, though. I'd like to try it on a cherry spoon.

axhead.etsy.com

A couple of new items.

It's slightly spalted and there's a little tigering, which is nice, I think.

I made a spatula for my mother and wanted to try another one. Mom's is kind of bendy which works well but I lived in fear for a while that it would break. Mom says she doesn't hold back when she uses it and it is fine. I promised to make her a new one if it does break. Anyway, this one is just a bit thicker in the blade but it should get under your eggs or pancakes just fine.

Thanks!

axhead.etsy.com

Still Here!

Nothing new, yet.

I, at long last, set myself up to sell some items. www.axhead.etsy.com

I could probably sell the spoons in any number of places but I didn't know where the skateboards would fit. Etsy seemed to be the best option. The whole thing seems a little insane, I must say, but what the heck? Right?

Right now, I have a couple of solid body guitars in the works, one cherry and one maple. I am waiting for the wood to season a little more. I have run out of any of my own "yard" wood that would be good for anything but spoons or smaller. I found some 1 1/4" pine shelving that I am making a New England Cape Cruiser skateboard out of. It is small enough for negotiating the tight confines of a cape cod style house in winter. It is done, mostly. I am just awaiting inspiration for the finish.

I am also working on a long board that is made from wood I purchased at the local home center. The basic idea is that a skateboard is NOT a surfboard. I love surfboards but I wanted to get away from that influence as much as possible. It is close to finished. I am pretty excited about it. This board has led me to a few more ideas along the same line.