Love spoon #2.

[pren]

Afternoon.

Having come down with a nasty case of 'Carving feaver', I decided to have a go at a Welsh love spoon for my sister-in-law's wedding.

The brief from the mother-in-law was that it had to have an entwined heart, initials, horseshoe, ball in cage and a spoon.

No WIP's, but here's the finished article made from some rescued Iroko (I think), finished in Danish Oil.

Whatchafinkden?

Cheers.

Bryn

 

[big soft moose]

looking good mate - i see you got the ball and cage sussed then
I'm sure your sister in law will be well chuffed with that.

 

[Gill]

Very nice . I bet nobody else gets one of those for the wedding.

Gill

 

[Tusses]

really liking that Bryn ! excellent work

 

[gatesmr2]

WoW

That is great Bryn love the ball in a cage

How long have you been doing this as it seems to me i'm about 100 years behind the rest of you in talent and experience.

Martin

 

[pren]

Thanks, everyone. Means alot to hear your feedback!

BSM: Thanks for the tip about making the ball/cage first. I was going to do that bit last, but seeing how fragile the whole thing was once it was all cut out, I don;t think it would have survived!

Gill: Glad you like it! I'd be pretty surprised if there was another one at the wedding. How bonkers would that be!? :lol: I used my cheap 'n' cheerful B&Q scrollsaw for all the cutting out (even the cage - 32mm iroko is quite a big chunk to cut!) and a set of small gouges off ebay for £1.99 for all the carving.

Gatesmr2: Thanks! This is my 2nd attempt at anything like this. I think it's more to do with patience than anything else. I did rush one part which turned out rubbish - luckily I was able to rescue it with some judicious carving! :-$ . Get stuck in and see what happens .

Cheers.
Bryn

 

[PowerTool]

Very nice,also think the ball and cage sets it off beautifully

Andrew

 

[Gill]

I guessed a scroll saw had seen action somewhere along the line . You cut a 32mm piece of iroko with a B&Q machine, you say? Wonderful! Iroko that thick doesn't surrender easily to a scroll saw. It just goes to show what can be achieved without having to splash lots of cash. For the odd bit of scrolling, I should imagine that saw will serve you very well indeed. Did you find it a slow process and was vibration a problem? What blades did you use and were they supplied with the machine?

Gill

 

[big soft moose]

Very nice,also think the ball and cage sets it off beautifully

Andrew

a word of warning to anyone else making these - the ball and cage on a love spoon sybolises a wish for luck in getting with child , so its not recommended for every case

 

[pren]

Hi, all.

Apologies for the lack of a response. I did reply but it would seem I hit the 'Sleep' button before the post had posted.

Dinner was ready - had to rush! :lol:


Gill: Yes! I am very surprised/pleased with the performance of my £45 machine! I had it set on it's lowest speed to alow me to make slower mistakes. I also didn't want to risk burning the wood by using it at higher speeds.

I did find vibration to be quite an issue. I don't have the saw fixed to the bench yet, so that would probably acount for quite a bit. I did find that at around half speed, the whole machine would almost bounce up and down, tho! Not sure if it's something to to with resonant frequency, but it became difficult to see the line at times! :?

The blades used were Rexxon pinned ones from .... you guessed it: B&Q! :lol: 15tpi IIRC. They worked very well on this project (although I've no basis for comparison with higher-end blades). There was one blad supplied with the machine. I'd used it on a few test projects when I first got it. As far as I can tell, it performed just as well as the Rexxon ones.


BigSoftMoose: Thats right! The number of balls also indicates the number of desired kids. The mother in law was very explicit about wanting ONLY ONE BALL in the cage, tho! :lol: This is why i really like love spoons. They have so many different symbols to convey some pretty precise intenions!

Cheers.
Bryn

 

[Rich]

Well no one else has asked so I assume you all know, but I don't , so how is the ball in the cage achieved or do I have to enrol as a member of the magic circle to find out? :lol: .

Regards,

Rich.

 

[pren]

Sorry, Rich. That information's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you .... :lol: :lol:

I followed the tutorial on a link that BigSoftMoose passed on to me.

I love watching people's faces as they try and find the glue lines or some sort of trap door in the peice that shows where the ball went in! :lol:

The hardest part in making a caged ball is getting the marking out right. After that, it's fairly straight forward, if a little time consuming/nerve wracking at times! :lol:

Cheers.
Bryn

 

[joiner_sim]

Wow :shock: this looks great! Well done! :wink:

 

[Rich]

Thanks for that Bryn, my labs name also, (from Cefn bryn) on the Gower peninsula.

Best Regards,

Rich.