Back in November 2024, I started the Woodland Ways Social Spoon Club. Originally a way to pass the dark winter evenings in a more fulfilling way than sitting on the sofa, this club has taught me far more than I ever thought it would.
The way I approach carving, the materials I use, the qualities of the tools I use, the designs, the finish, everything has developed, and now I’m proud of the spoons I create. They’re not just functional anymore.
I used to carve a spoon from a half round of Sycamore or other relatively plain timber. Split a piece just wider than the finished spoon in half, carve the split face flat to remove the pith. Carve something spoon shaped, sand it smooth and that was that. Very agricultural, not massively efficient, and certainly not refined.
Bottom to top: Ash (my first finished spoon), Oak (unfinished), Walnut, Rippled Ash
I’m under no illusion that I still have a long way to go before I can claim any sort of mastery, but I find it a more enjoyable process, and sharing that process with the club brings another level to that joy. Sharing new ideas or techniques between us is one thing, but we also share the satisfaction of the finished item too. I’ve learned something from everyone who has attended, more from some than others, but each person has helped change little elements to what I now enjoy carving.
We’ve carved a great number of species since we started the club, mostly native, but also some obscure too. I’d not heard of Berberis, certainly not in the size suitable to split and carve, but inside is a vibrant yellow wood with black flecks, different to any timber I’ve seen in the UK or overseas. Fruit woods are a firm favourite among carvers for being reliably nice to carve. Easy under the knife with interesting grain, that yields a strong utensil with a nice finish. Each timber offers an interesting quality, a different pattern, and different properties. The group have expanded from the carving into experimenting with natural dyes, chip carving patterns, kolrosing (carving patterns with a finely pointed blade before rubbing coffee and oil into the grain to highlight the work), and pyrography.
Bottom to top: Cherry, Berberis (unfinished), Birch (unfinished)
The process is now more structured. As with anything artistic, it’s always open to change, but I find myself becoming more consistent in the steps I take. Selecting a bent piece of wood, to make best use of the strength in the grain, allowing the natural fibres that make up the timber to flow as long as possible through the spoon. I then axe out the crank in the spoon - a flat spoon won’t be comfortable to use, and is now something I see as an easy step that defines a change in the carver, between most people’s first spoons, and the spoon they actually enjoy using. With the crank shaped, it’s time to think about the ‘plan view’ or top down view of the spoon. Asymmetric designs were a revelation, the only reason shop bought spoons are symmetric is to be equally comfortable for left or right handed users. It makes total sense really, and everyone who enjoys carving should try some Asymmetric designs.
Bottom to top: Birch (unfinished), Ash (unfinished), Hazel
Once I’m happy with the design, I shape the plan and side profile of the spoon as closely as I can with the axe. I’d once overheard a conversation at a Spoon Carving festival along the lines of “you should be able to carve 80-90% of a spoon with the axe” which I originally thought was pretentious and unnecessary. You absolutely can do it without an axe, but a light weight carving axe makes a lot of sense. My personal preference is the Gransfors Bruk Small Carving Axe. The time it takes me to reach this stage has drastically reduced, my accuracy with the axe has increased, as has my confidence using it. Spatulas are a doddle.
Next it’s time to use the Sloyd Knife to refine the shape of the spoon. My preference for a shorter blade carving knife has changed to a longer blade, to allow the thumb to act as a pivot, facilitating a powerful but accurate cut for detail. The Sloyd knife makes so much sense in this setting, from planing cuts to tighter radii, they’ve clearly been refined over a huge timeframe. I decided to create my own Sloyd knife, giving me control on the steel type and thickness, the heat treatment process, the blade length, the grind height and angle, the taper to the blade and how curved the belly is. I sculpted the handle to be comfortable to my hand in the grips I’ve become so familiar with while using my Morakniv 106. These minor changes in the design start to become more noticeable after carving regularly over a couple of years.
An Ash handled Sloyd knife of my own design and making, and a Hazel spoon I've carved with it. My favourite spoon to eat with.
To finish the spoon, rather than sanding, I’ve moved to burnishing. Once the wood has dried, the final knife cuts leave the surface almost complete, and the last step is to rub the surface with a polished stone. Other materials will work too, metal, antler, glass, or a harder wood, but it just leaves a beautiful surface. It’ll go some way to offering protection to your spoon, but crucially, the surface doesn’t go ‘fluffy’ when it’s been used a few times. After the burnishing, which takes surprisingly less time than you might think, it’s on to oiling the spoon. A food safe oil such as mineral oil, is heartily applied and allowed to soak in. I then use a thin coating of Spoon Butter, a mixture of Mineral Oil and beeswax. The result is a beautifully supple spoon, with the natural beauty of the grain amplified.
Left: Hazel, Right: Pear (obviously!)
My plan is to venture into Kolrosing and more of the post-carving decorations, which I’m sure will fuel future blogs. I'd had this Barn Owl spoon floating around for a long while, with a creative block preventing me from calling it finished. This blog inspired me to get it done, and a few small tweaks, some burnishing, and some spoon butter later, I'm happy that it's done.
Hazel Barn Owl Spoon, somewhat inspired by Giles Newman