Spoon Carving/Crook Knife making

[Racers]

Hi,

I always fancied carving spoons, but you need a crook knife, so I knocked one up yesterday morning.
I had a strip of O1 steel left over from making a plane blade; it was the off cut from the slot.
I filled it to a bevel starting with a big Dreadnought file and drilled a couple of holes in the tang.
Hardened it with my blowtorch, I had to stick in inside a length of pipe to conserve the heat and get it up to temperature all the way along the blade.
Then tempered it, mounted it in a piece of Hawthorn with a couple of lengths of brass as rivets, hawthorn is a nice tough wood and should stand up to the use well.
I have some very green Sycamore that I am carving into a bowl and used a off cut to make the spoon, it’s still wet and needs drying and final finishing.
The knife works very well, spoons are quite tricky to make, lots of draw knifing and much spoke shaving using my Hock bladed spokeshave and my Millars Falls cigar shave.

Pete

 

[Argus]

.


You may find this guy's blog interesting. He's an itinerant spoon maker.


http://barnthespoon.blogspot.com/


.

 

[Racers]

Hi, Argus

Thanks, that looks very interesting.

It seems to be quite addictive this spoon carving, you can easily get in to the zone and lose yourself for a few hours

Pete

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I made another spoon this time from maple, its a lot harder to work :shock:
Its about 14" long

Still needs a bit of finishing, the bowl it really tricky to get smooth and an even thickness.

Pete

 

[Argus]

.


Looks great to me.


Well done.


.

 

[AndyT]

Very impressive - but I have a nagging feeling that knife making and spoon carving aren't quite as easy as you make it look!
Another one for the tuit list.

 

[jimi43]

Brilliant bit of work there Pete...I love the carving knife...shows what you can do with a scrap bit of 01.

I keep all of my offcuts from plane making in a box now...even the smaller bits which are ideal for making marking gauge cutters! I like the idea of localised heat reinforcement in a pipe...must try that one day!

Both spoons are impressive...particularly the second one! I can also see that this could become quite addictive and relaxing....stress relief indeed!

Thanks for sharing =D>

Cheers

Jim

 

[Aled Dafis]

Very good! Spoon carving has been at the back of my mind for a while.

I remember as a child going to my mother's uncle's shed where he gave me a little carved spoon, I think that my mother still has it somewhere, quite a few of his spoons are still in the family.

I also came across this guy a few months ago, he's a blacksmith working in mid wales, and guess what, he makes spoon carving knives.
http://www.nicwestermann.co.uk/

Hmm.. are the planets slowly aligning??

Aled

P.S. The welsh name for these spoon carving knives is "twca cam" roughly translated it means bent knife. I wish I could lay my hands on my great uncle's twca cam.

 

[Racers]

Hi, Chaps

Thanks.

It is tricky but very enjoyable, the maple spoon took about 3 hours but I think I could improve on that with a bit of practice.
It was a case of finding out how to hold the spoon while you worked on it, the off cuts came in very handy.

I need to make an upside down L shaped platform so I can work on both sides of the handel, clamped upright in the vice you have to support it with your stomach as it bends while you are spokeshaving it.

I think a left-handed crook knife is the next thing to make just to get at some areas of the bowl.

Pete

 

[matthewwh]

Beautiful work Pete!

(both the knife and the spoons)

Another one for your list of spooncarving contacts is spooncarvingfirststeps Jon is a great guy and incredibly passionate. I have seen some incredible translucent hawthorn kuksa that he made and they are so delicate they could almost float in the air.

 

[Sean Hellman]

Great looking knife and a good shape for spoons. Most hook knives I have seen and used are just glued in with a 2 part resin, no need for pins as well. I like the shape of the second spoon. As for holding all my work is done with axe and knife, if I do use a drawknife on any larger spoons then this is held in my shave horse, a quick release foot operated vice. The spoon is usually just held in the hand and cut.
There is lots of info about spoons and other greenwood stuff on The association of Pole Lathe Turners and Green woodworkers web site, Bodgers.org.uk http://www.bodgers.org.uk/bb/phpBB2/index.php

If you want to see how I carve a ladle from a forked branch using an axe and knife then have a look on my bloghttp://seanhellman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/making-ladle-from-forked-branch-video.html

 

[Racers]

Hi, Sean

Thanks, I made some carving knives today to help me make more spoons, I will post some pictures.

I like the ladles and the bib that looks like a helpful but of kit, I need to work on my axe technique and make a shaving horse then more spoons!!!


Pete

 

[Racers]

Hi, Chaps

Here are the carving knifes I made yesterday from 2mm Ground flat stock.
Theu both have Hawthorn handles and oval brass bolsters.

They are nice to use, I spent some time making a piece of wood in to smaller bits :lol:

Pete

 

[Sean Hellman]

Again nice looking knives. Just the shape and style I like using, what sort of bevel have you put on them. I like a 20 to 23 degree bevel with a micro bevel just to strengthen the edge. Basically they just are primary bevel only.

 

[Racers]

Hi, Sean

About 20 deg with a stropped edge a bit higher than that.
I nearly reached for one today as I was boning a shoulder of lamb and it would have been ideal.
I must get round to turning thet big HSS hacksaw blade in to a boning knife.

I liked your little adze made from a gouge, that's something I will have to copy

Pete

 

[custard]

Sean, thanks for posting the link, I enjoyed your video (congratulations on retaining ten fingers!) and you've really inspired me to give it a go!

Any recommendations for tools for spoon carving, where to learn, and where to get materials?

 

[jimi43]

Absolutely Sean! What a fun video and really makes you want to try green woodcarving.

I couldn't quite see but I assume the first axe you use for trimming is a single bevel one?

Ever since I got my little Ward and Payne axe at a bootfair last season....

...and restored it...I have fallen in love with axes and must get a single leftie at the first opportunity.

I used the W&P only today trimming some branches off some chestnut sapling to make a fence and it was a dream...and to have an edge that shaves hairs...

....is quite frightening!

Thanks again...oh and those knives are beautiful Pete!! =D>

Cheers

Jim