Wooden Spoon (pic heavy)

C

coyotesniper69

Joined
Mar 4, 2006
Messages
357
I was looking through some photos today and decided to have some fun animating a couple of them. This is how I made a wooden spoon. Keep in mind only 4 of the pics are animated.
I started by squaring the wood on one end w/ the hand chainsaw and then sawed it to length: (animated)
saw.gif

Next I batoned a knife threw it to get it squared on all sides: (animated)
batonmedium.gif

here is a pic finishing the 4th side:
baton.jpg

Next a started the cup of the spoon by drilling some holes with the tip of my knife so I could get the depression started:
spoon1.jpg

Then of coarse you need a fire for the coals, I used a spark tool and cottonball with a piece of bike tube to get it started: (animated)
firemedium.gif

Then you apply a coal to the depression you started: (animated)
coalmedium.gif
 
next, round off the end and cut 2 slits in the wood with a saw from a SAK or simular type saw:
spoon3.jpg

Baton those chunks of wood out:
spoon4.jpg

Then finish out the handles:
spoon5.jpg

The finished products should look like this:
spoons.jpg

Hope you enjoyed
 
That is great! My son and I carve simple little spoons using a coal and a hoof knife. Thanks for sharing.
 
Whats funny is that those are not my toes. I sawed the one end and let my wife try the other. I liked the photos of her sawing beter so I used them. That pocket chainsaw is quite a neat (and very useful) little tool.
 
Nice work, have you tried just carving out the hollow directly instead of burning it out.

-Cliff
 
If you don't have the proper gouge, try taking a piece of metal pipe (black pipe). Cut it at a 45° angle. file the pointy edge sharp.

Use standard chisels to rough the shape and break up the surface.
Then use the piece of pipe as a make-shift gouge to "scoop" out the shape.

Of course, out in the wilderness the hot coal method is field expediant.

Good Show, thanks for the animation!
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Nice work, have you tried just carving out the hollow directly instead of burning it out.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

A timely post and question. I just did this exact same thing (carving it out) on a spoon I made this weekend with a Fallkniven A1. It was not as difficult to do as if I had used a large chopper, but I was actually surprised at how easy it was to carve out the hollow given the fairly large size of the A1.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
I have tried the coal and always found it very slow, how much time did it take you to form the hollow.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Honestly, I cant remember. I did this project about 3 months back. There was nothing scientific about it, I did it just for fun.
The only area I see being a big deal is the coal method didnt leave splinters. The one was made from kinda green wood and it was not very smooth. The seasoned wood seamed to take the cuts better.
Hope that made sense.
 
I feel that the spoon carving exercise is nice to see what a given knife can do. I've seen folks who think it's silly, since they can just eat with chopsticks or their fingers or whatever, but that's missing the point. It's not about the spoon. It's about the blade's versatility.

Some tests, like cutting a taut piece of string, can be performed with nearly any resonably sharp edge. A flake of glass or a sword or anything in between should have no trouble slicing a piece of string in seconds. But, try carving the hollow of a spoon with a wharncliffe blade sometime. Then try it again with the spey blade on a stockman. This is where you'll readily see the differences in shapes and design.
 
the possum said:
I've seen folks who think it's silly, since they can just eat with chopsticks or their fingers or whatever, but that's missing the point. It's not about the spoon. It's about the blade's versatility.
Click to expand...

Spoons do have their direct uses though because making stews is nice for outdoor cooking as it will cook meat through without burning it and there is less nutrition lost. It is of course not necessary but similar methods can make bowls, shovels and in the extreme case, boats. But yeah, always look at the larger picture, what does this say about the ability of the blade beyond the immediate.

-Cliff
 
I might have missed it, but I didn't see anything about accelerating the burning of the spoon bowl. Use a hollow, non-toxic stem, such as Phragmites, and blow at the juncture of the coal and the wood. You can actually control the direction of the burning with the blowing and it greatly accelerates your efforts. Try it, you'll like it. :)

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
I might have missed it, but I didn't see anything about accelerating the burning of the spoon bowl. Use a hollow, non-toxic stem, such as Phragmites, and blow at the juncture of the coal and the wood. You can actually control the direction of the burning with the blowing and it greatly accelerates your efforts. Try it, you'll like it. :)

Doc
Click to expand...

Good tip, I have seen it done before with surgical tubing but I usually dont have anything like that with me. That was the original intent when I made it was to use only the tools I would carry on a day hike.
 
Great Thread, :thumbup:

I have done this With a scout knife once years Ago and it was an all day project, but that spoon was still part of my patrol's cook kit for many years. I am always looking for little in camp activities for my camp outs I am going to try this method on my upcoming winter trip with Docs tubing varient since that is a part of my survival kit anyway.:D
 
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