Long Spoon

   The most recent thing out of the shop is another long  spoon.  I have made a couple of these long handled spoons in the past.  The spoon is 18 inches long and perfect for mixing large pots of chilli, stock or stewed fruit.

 In some ways these spoons are a speciality item for the kitchen.  After all it is not often we make four gallons of chilli.

First I laid it out, and cut the rough shape with a band saw.  (a jig saw would have done the job too,

    This spoon started out as a piece of oak trim from a local farm house.  A few years ago I was contacted by a friend who had a friend that was over hauling a big ol' farm house.  I was able to go and get a station wagon full of mixed oak trim.  Some of the trim had been painted, some was splintery and good for fire wood and some was really nice.  The stain and/varnish sanded off easily and so the wood has been used for lots of things in many places.

 

  This long spoon is a lovely piece of that white oak  trim. Since the wood was a milled board this spoon is a machine made effort.  As a milled board  there is no advantage to working the wood with hand tools, there isn't much chance to work with the grain. 

  

    The wood showed a really nice grain and was as hard as stone to shape.  I used a belt sander and a Dremel tool with various bits to do much of the work.  Ultimately the final sanding was done by hand, 80,120,180 grit sandpaper and card scrappers providing  the final result. 

  I gave the spoon a quick coat of Hemp Oil and it is ready for the soup.

  I paid attention this time, it took about 2 hours of hands on time to complete this spoon.  If I were making several at once I am sure that I could cut the time, perhaps in half, I don't know.  If you go to a craft fair and someone is selling a nice spoon, made from nice wood it should easily cost $25.00 or more, I would expect that much for this spoon and I got the wood for free.  

  I was easy to make this spoon.  All it took was tools, time and experience.  Please buy wisely and support your   local  crafts people.

cheers ianw

ps. check out at years worth of spoons  

https://www.dailyscandinavian.com/365-daily-norwegian-wooden-spoons/

 

Spreaders, Spatulas and Spoons, Oh My.

Those of us playing in our workshops must remember and respect.

 November happily has had unusual weather. This day last year I needed my snow blower, this week I've been out riding my motorcycle.  We know for sure that there will be weather, we just don't know what kind. 

  In the shop lately  I have been making spoons and spreaders for church sales.

  These wooden tools have been made from milled lumber that was collecting in a box by the bench.  I like to make longer spreaders to reach to the bottom of the peanut butter jar.

  There were a whole spectrum of tools used to make these pieces, power does make it happen faster.

Bench and Sanding Station

  First I cut the basic shape with the band saw then various sanders and my Dremel Rotary Tool makes short work of these pieces. Generally I used planes, saws and sanders on milled lumber as I find it more difficult to shape with knives and chisels.  If I begin with a piece of wood that is split out it seems that the grains works with me rather than against me and so I use knives much more in the shaping process.

  Years ago I recovered an A.V. cart from a school dumpster. It had lost a wheel. It wasn't that difficult to replace a missing caster and I've used it as a sanding station since. When I am in production like this I roll the sanding station into place, clamp the Dremel to the bench and layout all the tools I could want to use. 

  The final stage for the spoons is hand sanding with 400 grit and a hemp oil finish.

  The other thing I did one evening was:

  When I  made my antler handled tankard I had two small bits of horn left.  I love the feel of horn. I got an inspiration to use the small bits of antler.  These are two horn handled scrapers/awls . The blade is 1 inch finishing nail, one pointed and the other hammered into a thin wedge shape. I frequently use a nail or knife to scrap crud out the teeth on a file or rasp or dislodge dried lumps from sanding belts.  I now have a couple of proper tools for those scraping jobs and won't need to risk my knife's edge.  There are other ongoing uses for a fine tipped awls and these fill that need.

  Remember, Christmas is just around the corner, get making your gift. 

cheers ianw

For The Fallen:  

Poem by Lauren Binyon

Music by my friend David S. Fawcett, 

Street Find and Big Spoon

 People throw away the darnedest things.  As I was riding my bike around the neighbourhood on Sunday this garden tool box lay with the trash at the end of a driveway.  Now, admittedly is was not really much to have pride in as it lay.   I don't really know how a person could nail five pre-cut board together and get none of the edges lined up, but, so much the better for me.  I sprung the unglued pieces apart, glued them, lined them up and clamped the whole thing together.  I plan to sand it smooth; at least 400 grit: wood burn and paint garden type designs on the box.  

 

  The coloured leaf design works well as a pattern on light wood.

  The other project from yesterday was to fulfill as request. 

A 45 cm. spoon for stirring large pots filled with cooking fruit.  It has been a great year for pears and so we have pear sauce, jam and juice. Eva wanted a stout spoon so she could mix and coax a pot full of hot fruit while being far enough removed that she wouldn't also get cooked.

  I cut the spoon shape from a piece of 3/4 white oak on the band saw. I used a block plane 

and a palm plane 

very similar to this one to shape the handle.

Once the handle was shaped I used my Dremel tool with flex shaft to shape the bowel of the spoon. I have bits and burrs that I have gathered up and inherited to use with the Dremel, I wouldn't know what bits to recommend, but I do recommend having a Dremel or similar tool in every work shop. Often they can be bought with an assortment of bits included with the tool.  After all the shaping was done I used scrapers and sand paper up too 500 grit to smooth the spoon for final use.  Since the spoon will be soaked and boiled I left it unfinished.  White oak may take on some colour from the food but seems to stand up well in the long term.

  I picked white oak because it is less effected by water than many other woods. While digging the big spoon from the drawer I found it had many friends.

  That is just the spoon, spatula and spreaders that are used in our kitchen.  At least that many have been spread about various other kitchens around Canada, Sweden and Great Britain too. I like it when my work gets used.