Making Wooden Spoon - Hand Tools Only

by jirka.luftner in Workshop > Woodworking

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Making Wooden Spoon - Hand Tools Only

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Demonstration of how I made a wooden spoon with hand tools only.

Supplies:

Hand saw

Axe

Carving knife

Gouge

Sand paper (80, 120 and 400)

Material Selection and Preparation

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The basis is to choose a suitable material for the production of a spoon, linden wood is ideal, but willow, apple, cherry, maple or plum wood is certainly not to be thrown away. I prepared already pre-dried willow wood and thus avoided later drying. I was the first to cut the wood in half to the required size and shortened to a length of 25 cm. Finally, I prepared the wood I drew the contours of the spoon.

Chopping

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Now it was time for a rough removal of material. I always cut the desired side several times and then cut off the excess material with an ax. In this way, I gradually did all the sides and this gave me a rough spoon shape.

Knife Shaping

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I had already set down the ax and picked up the knife, which I began to shape and smooth the entire spoon. I started with a "handle" that I shaped to fit in my hand, and then carefully smoothed it out. Then came the other half, which I rounded and smoothed in the same way.

Carving a Bowl

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Now I've dug out a bowl. I used to do that gouge. I clamped the spoon in the vice and began digging. Ideally, it should be about an inch deep to fit something.

Sanding

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Now comes the longest part, which is grinding. I had to regrind everything, smooth it out and get rid of sharp edges. I started with 80 grit sandpaper, followed by 120, and finally it was 400. The total sanding time was about 4 hours.

Oiling

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Now I had almost finished the spoon, all I had to do was oil it, I used quality olive oil. I preheated the oil to about 60 ℃ and dipped a spoon into it for 30 minutes. Then I pulled out a spoon, wiped it and let it dry.