Carved Forks and Finished Spoon

 I finished a couple  for salad forks and my fancy spoon while waiting for glue to dry and dust to settle.  Also I seem to have been busy with other stuff and out of the shop for a few days.

  

  Again I used poplar for the forks. This particular piece of wood has the green and white two tone grain colour that makes poplar unpopular with furniture makers but poplar with me.  The wood has good strength and straight grain but.....the  colour is not neutral,( it even stains strangely)

  I included these forks to encourage beginners. Below are the tools that I used after the basic shape was cut out on the band saw, a coping saw would work as well, only slower.  The fancy spoon is now finish sanded and ready to be sealed. I may stain it first since it isn't really meant to  be a cooking tool just an ornament.      

 

  

The straight bladed draw knife, or push knife is another tool for quickly removing wood.  A good basic carving knife like the one in the middle would do the job too. I used two palm chisels, a straight chisel and a shallow gouge. As you can see I saved money on the knife and the gouge by buying them without handles. There is a point where the beauty of the handle is more ascetic than helpful.  The tiny palm plane is also nice to have but....not necessary, an ordinary block plane would do the work fine.   

These are my two most used hand sanding finishing tools.  Once I am done carving I do plenty of sanding.  I use 80 grit to refine shapes and work my way through to 600 grit for a touch that is silky smooth.  I used dozens of bits of sand paper about the size of a business card. The wine cork makes a good backer for sanding curves.  The other thing is a home made flap wheel using nut and bolt.  I load the bolt with pieces of sand paper and drive it with my cordless drill. 

  I haven't decided what legs to put on the plant stand.  I have a dresser that needs attention and that has taken some attention in the shop.  I've been puzzling on a sander that keeps letting the sand paper slip loose,  I've been designing and painting Easter cards for my grand kids, and so I have filled up my time, outside the shop too.  It is great to have the free time and resources to putter around with many different things.

  cheers ianw