Hello friends, I thank you kindly for all of your past comments on my Japanese Gift Box project, it is always great to hear from all of you. Thank you!

This was a project I toyed with off and on the last 2 months and decided to finish it and share with the group.

This was a small spoon that I challenged myself with to see if I could give the appearance of a swans neck flowing from the back portion of the handle. This was truly a challenge, not something I would want to do to every spoon…lol.

This spoon was carved from Silver Birch.

Thank you all for looking in, be well and have fun!

Joe

Thank you for taking a look at this recent project of mine. This is my version of a Japanese gift box. It measures just about 4” wide by 9” long by 2” high.

Made from scrap Pine using only traditional hand tools.

I wanted to keep this piece looking natural so I only used BLO to pop the grain a bit and some Pine shavings for inside decoration.

The joinery is a combination of Brad nails, wooden nails and glue. It is a really fun box to make and I thank Mads for bringing this fun idea to my attention about a year back.

Thanks so much for taking a look and of course if you are new to viewing my work please visit me at my website:

Be well friends!

Joe

Hello friends!

As of today this study of traditional Swedish spoon making has turned close to 300 days old…..wow.

In that time I am amazed just how much information I have learned and the possible count of spoons made is…a lot…lol.

My form in carving these has come far. I started with thick, larger, and much more heavier spoons that have gradually improved in overall fit and form. Hard to believe my first attempts was the project titled Handmade Cherry Spoon: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/68661

I want anyone who is on the beginning paths of spoon making to look at my portfolio of works to see how each time these carvings would slowly over the course of attempts become more sculpted and correct. I look back and even though I want to almost cringe…lol, I am still proud that my determination held through the growing pains. I suppose my heart and passion wanted something more on my carving log than just a few attempts.

In the end what I wanted is what I am in the last 2 months getting….spoons that fit in my hand with grace, elegance, strength, and confidence. I now bring the lines and the weight of the spoons wood down without keeping too much fat on the bone. I can also now hold a roughed out blank in my hands and already tell you if that will be a good spoon or not.

This spoon here is a total winner for the holding, and the eating. I now understand eating, serving, and cooking forms and how they should hold. This particular spoon ironically is in Black Cherry sort of completing the journey of the first round of my learning in Sloyd Work.

The pride you can attain from learning the traditional methods of spoon making have been countless in my overall woodwork. I approach my tools and vision with improved skills and higher tuned instincts. Once you begin on this path of learning and participating in handicrafts you can only become a better woodworker.

So here is this spoon that I proudly call a Swedish spoon.

I thank you for taking this long journey with me and look forward to bringing you more. Now, my planes, saws, and other hand tools await me. It has been a little too long since tending to my Carving Throne aka (three legged stool) project. I feel I have gotten a very nice introduction to this work and it is something I will continue to share with all of you, but I crave some more of my other ideas to flow from pencil to paper to pine!

No matter what friends, please remember….and never forget that no matter how our grains of wood may roll….YOU STILL HAVE TO ROCK!....HEHEHEHE…..Enjoy the video! P.S. If you watch the video…please watch it until the time stops….and you will see a funny surprise at the very end…lol!

Thank you and have fun,

Joe

Howdy, my lumber jock friends!

More green woodenware here to share with you.

This project was all done in Smooth Sumac with a cameo by some additional new spoons in the mix!

I did not have a lot of timber for a larger bowl, so I made do with what I had and went for it.

This is only my second try at doing a dish/bowl setup, so I learned while I whittled.

Always wonderful to here from you, I hope this may be of interest.

Be well and take care my friends!

Joe

http://www.spoonscarver.com/

This was a spoon that begins my further journeys into learning about chip carving and eventually the Scandinavian art form of kolrosing.

Kolrosing is a very old method of giving fine line surface decoration to wood. It started centuries ago with simply using the tip of ones’ belt knife to make fine decorative cuts – and then rubbing coal dust into it to bring out the pattern.

This and additional information on Kolrosing is found on Del Stubbs website at: http://pinewoodforge.com/kolrosing.html

This is a chip carving with good ole tasters choice coffee powder rubbed in, this would usually be done in Kolrosing where there are only score lines without any wood relieved….but what the heck, I wanted to try it and so I did!

The wood used here is this wonderful smelling Sassafras.

All hand made and sure feeling the blisters…lol.

Hope this inspires some future spoon carvers out there.

Thank you and please remember….......

SIGN UP FOR OUR SPOONSCARVER.COM NEWSLETTER AND GET ALL OF MY UPDATES AT:
http://www.spoonscarver.com/

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST SPOONS CARVING VIDEO AT http://www.spoonscarver.com/videos/

LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AT_* http://www.facebook.com/pages/spoonscarvercom/440771882678340

WE THANK YOUR SUPPORT! *

All the best and keep making shavings,

Joe

First off, I want to thank all of you for your kindness, inspiration and encouragement. Believe me I take a lot of pride hearing from woodworkers that come from all walks of the trade. Wether it be hand tools, machine work, or both, I am always very excited to share my part of the shop with such experienced and talented folks.

You may have recognized that I have been making spoons….lol. Well tonight sitting outside in the sunshine and hewing a piece of Paper Birch something magical happened. I suppose in sports talk we would say I entered “The Zone”. Funny part is…..I had no big plans to even make much of the piece I was working on. I was simply enjoying some extra time at the log and then the lines, the knife, and the hatchet all spoke the correct language. I began to see my shavings bringing forth something more than my usual style of output.

Just yesterday I was watching some footage of Jogge Sundqvist carving bowls and spoons. Of course I saw things in my own work that needed improving. I am truly glad for that time spent studying because I feel it put me in some sort of mindset that produced this piece I showcase here and now.

I have carved about 100 or more spoons, and I can honestly say it was to make this very spoon. For my level which is an intermediate spoon maker, I think this is really a spoon that captures what makes me continue to keep going back and doing this work all over again and again.

I thank you for looking and I am lucky to add that I captured video of this session of carving. In the coming week I hope to produce another video for my buddies to enjoy watching this spoon come to life!

All the best and thank you!

Joe

http://www.spoonscarver.com/

Hello friends!

I have been spoon making ahoy as of late..lol.

This new pair were carved using Holly for our timber!

My father during a hike fetched some decent branches, brought it back to the shop and I made these two about ….uhh…wow…3 weeks ago now…lol. I almost forgot to tend to them.

So I sanded and oiled them. Then did a photo shoot testing out my new Canon Power Shot ELPH 110HS.
Nice little camera, good price and pretty easy to use.

I hope this might give some of you galoots the temptation to get out in the yard (Weather providing) and have a go at carving your own spoons!

Thanks gang for stopping and having a look.
I also thank you for visiting the website and liking our facebook page.

Have a great woodworking weekend!

Joe

http://www.spoonscarver.com/

So many times I would day dream roaring up the hills of upstate NY gazing away at the mountains seeking out Silver Birch.

For me any time the forest showcases a mix of Evergreens, Oak, and Maple the highlight is always finding this wonderful species.

Whenever I see the beauty of the bark all I want to do is get my hatchet and tools put to the task of making a spoon!

This one is a little guy best for eating Soup, Cereal or Ice Cream with!

It was a very nice grain to work the knives through, and I hope this may bring forth some inspiration!

I thank you for looking and for more on this kind of work please visit our new website!

http://www.spoonscarver.com/

Thank you all very much and be well!

Joe

Hey everyone! Hope all is well out there in the land of wood work!

Here is my latest spoon carving session.

Made from pine this piece is a real favorite. I attempted a more bold curvature in this spoons design and with some hard work was rewarded with a real looker and user of a spoon.

The website is in the final stages of touch ups!
Soon friends I will announce the launch of my new website with plenty of spoon craft, woodcraft, traditional hand tools and all sorts of ongoing stuff!

Thanks for taking a look, and as always keep makin’ shavins’!!!!

CHEERS,

Joe

An enjoyable duo of fine woods from my forest. Holly and plum made for wonderful carving this past weekend, making a smaller strong pair of spoons for anyone to enjoy!

Important message!
I am in the process of designing a spoon making/woodcrafting site where you can enjoy all of this work, purchase hand made spoons, read blog updates, stories, see some vintage hand tools, videos, and any other crazy thing I might come up with!

I hope you may all visit and enjoy it! More to come!

Thank you for taking a moment and having a look.

Great shaves ahead!

Joe

Hey friends, hope all is well out there in LJ’S LAND!

In between country carving thrones, spoons, woodwork website building…haaa….I have gotten an interest in elementary tinsmith work! What a wonderful lost craft it is and trust me the hunt for education on this is sparse but available with some digging.

I used some scrap pine to create this tin bending jig for small works involving tin exercises.

Pine is what was available and even though oak would have been best to use sometimes you have to use what ya got…and add a little pretty to it and learn with that!

So I took some pine, got out my pfiel chisels and carved some details and shaped her up!

Followed with some danish oil for a vintage look to it…(Hey this is tinsmith stuff…we need the look and feel of vintage…lol)

Also included in my picture show is my mocked and almost completed very first tin cup! Soldering, filing and some small mallet work still needed but the journey has been fun and extremely challenging!

If you want to have fun…go to a Lowes…or Home Depot and ask questions about tinsmithing…haaa..they look at you like your from another time…and I suppose perhaps I am and loving it more and more…lmao!

Thanks for taking a look and enjoy your projects!

CHEERS!

Joe

From the wonderful forest of pine comes this new pine spoon! The grain is a show off for sure and as usual a wonderful wood to carve with.

Let the spoon season for a decent amount of time in order to dull any back taste of the sap and you can’t go wrong creating a spoon with this fine pine!

A special cheers to Jamie Speirs, I hope your looking in…I sure enough used some of my pine material for spoons!

Thanks for taking a look and keep on creating!

All the best,

Joe

Hey everyone! I want to thank you for checking out the spoon making video!

If you did not have a chance to view the video here is the link: http://lumberjocks.com/jjw5858/blog/34526

Here is a photo shoot of 2 that are finished (The Cherry spoon was the star in the video….lol) using my smaller template.

All hand carved using traditional sloyd techniques.

Thanks for taking a look!

Be well,

Joe

Say that title 10 times fast and good luck….lol.

More work on this smaller shape with the larger bowl. I have been enjoying this style and this is the first copy from the previous birch version. I had the smoothe non poison variety of sumac close at hand and knowing how it loves to show off when oiled with flax seed I just had to attempt it.

Hoping to get my spoons website up and running where I will be having some wooden spoons available for sale, hopefully by spring time. I have a decent selection of about 15-20 finished all in various woods and most shown on this site.

There will be some different styles of spoon work coming along as well. More kitchen/cooking friendly editions with a country style.

Hope this was something of interest to anyone curious of the craft. All handmade in tradition sloyd style, learning more as I venture ahead. There will be a spoon blog soon on some of the templates I have created that may be fun for any of my friends here to use if they want to try this work for themselves.

Thanks to everyone for taking a look and inspiring me with your work!

CHEERS,

Joe

I thought it would do me some good to try out some new styles since as of late I had found myself getting into a rut with my spoon work. So looking around the web I saw some shorter more curvy styles and wanted to give one a go!

Again from what I have read this seems to still have the background of the wonderful Swedish styles of spoon making and trust me there are many to look at. I love the expression in this kind of work that is available for the carvers knife to explore.

I always push to show smooth lines as well as still keeping light carve marks all the while letting the piece flow as best as possible.

This work never tires me of finding confidence in other areas of woodwork. Many times I say to myself…..”it’s just like the spoon…..it’s carving and working at it.”

This is in Gray Birch and was a real joy to work with. This was a portion of limb that was tossed to the street in our neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy. It always inspires the hell out of me to see things change forms as wonderful ornaments or gifts to share again with lovers of craft work.

I take this work as an exciting obligation to rescue these limbs and make them full of life through ideas and design.

I hope this may be enjoyed by all of you and thanks for taking a look!

Be well and great shaves ahead!

Joe

Hey look…...more spoons….lmao!

Well I am learning more each session, and each attempt brings more light to the subject. Of course like anything you have good days and some that need additional work….lol.

Here are some newbies in some new timbers that I am adding to my good spoons pile. My good pile are spoons I would feel good about selling or giving as gifts.

From left to right looking at pic 3 the list goes: 2 Sassafras, 1 Paper Birch, 1 Gray Birch

All work performed in traditional sloyd craft style as best as I am able thus far.

I have one blank of Holly split as I write this…..so I hope to share some of that timber next go around!

When time permits I am getting new project plans together for another adventure in my exercises in artisanship blog. More to come on that avenue of ideas.

Thank you all for looking in and enjoying this work. Your talents always inspire me as well as hearing your ideas and support!

Thanks gang, have a great night!

Joe

Hey everyone I am still putting more of these out and have hopes of selling a few in the upcoming months!

These pair here are Smooth Sumac (not the itchy variety..lol) and Sycamore.

I am in the middle of a computer crash so my old Macintosh 2000 rig is up and slow as a whale..lol, so I may not get too much mileage on here as the new computer is due next month.

I thank you all for enjoying this work and I certainly am inspired by all of yours.

Getting plans together for something new to tinker with in the shop besides these spoons, so I hope to have more next month.

Take care gang and hopefully I will still be able to share some with my older mac/computer setup.

Thanks for taking a look!

CHEERS!

Joe

Hey gang, with the new year upon us I had some spoons awaiting finishing as well as a brand new piece made just yesterday on New Years.

All of this was Sandy storm wood, much of it hauled from local curb sides and even my local park. Glad to see it be able to bring something good from a storm so bad. It’s a wonder to take something and change it’s form and share with others. I find with all of this treenware, bushcraft…or just good ole country spoon makin’ it unleashes peoples fascination and appreciation for one of the most commonly passed by treasures we see daily…..trees.

But of course…although we may see it….... we may not REALLY….. see it, feel it or let it heal us. To be like a tree, strong and steady, courageous and full of a secret wisdom only mother nature knows it hidden guidance in the harshest of crusading winds.

The lot of 6 by species presented here are looking left to right in pic 1:
2 Gray Birch, 2 Plum, 1 Black Cherry, 1 Sycamore. The Sycamore was the New Years spoon and one of my favs…also special since it was the first time carving Sycamore (a preferred used timber for spoon makers in England I read in Drew langsners book).

For anyone new to my projects this work is all done with sloyd axe, knife, hook knife, and determination.

I hope they may inspire curious crafters out there to take a branch and have at it!

Coming soon I plan on having a blog series strictly on this craft and the teachings I have gathered during the journey. Of course my usual love of hand tools and various project ideas will remain as well!

I thank you for taking a look and inspiring me your wonderful projects!

All the best in this new year!

Cheers,

Joe

Well friends this project was worked on and then it sat…..then sat…..then sat some more, but I am glad to have it finished and ready for holding my growing collection of galoot woodworking dvd’s, books and even some hand tools! My discovery in the arts of making spoons has indeed taken up some time in the other areas of learning, but I have no complaints on the interruptions knowing I am making solid contributions to additional skills.

It’s been a while if you have bothered to follow this journey so in short the output of this adventure details the following….

1.Box store pine.

2. All made by hand with my own design, including the chip carved pattern.

3. Sanded, followed by 2 coats of watco dark walnut danish oil, followed by 2 coats of shellac.

4. BLO for the final shine.

5. A nice smaller sitting shelf for keeping woodworking books and dvd’s…AKA (Woodright’s galoot library)

I look forward to some new fun ideas soon besides only spoon work, so I hope you may have enjoyed taking a look!

Thanks for stopping in, have fun and keep enjoying your craft!

Joe

Hey everyone,
Here are some spoons from plum and cherry!

Length about 9 1/2 and bowl widths around 1 1/2.

Finished in flaxseed oil from the healthfood store.

Have a wonderful holiday season and I thank you for your inspirational work!

Joe