Carved Spoon

Dude! Hope you weren’t thinking about kids too much when you carved that spoon.

Nice work! LOL

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Nice carving, Alin. Great way to kill time and wood.

-- Dust collectors suck.

I can see a display case in your future to hold your son’s growing collection!
this is a nice addition for him!

-- ~ www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.woodworkingdungeon.blogspot.com ~

Thanks guys for the comments.

Blake: as it turns out carving outside has a lot of other benefits besides not being bored: everybody asked me what I’m doing and I got to talk about my work, all my kid’s friends wanted a carving (they all got a knife or a spoon) and I even got one kid to stop pushing around my son by carving a knife for him and telling him that he can have it under the condition that he will behave well. I am always amazed how much the kids appreciate hand-made things especially if they see how it is done.

Darryl: my kid already has a bookshelf where he keeps his collection: http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/alindobra/blog/4374

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

A very interesting spoon, Alin. It looks like something one would use to stir a witches’ brew!

Like Scott said, I’d hate to be holding any sharp instrument while chaperoning children. :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Very artistic. I like it.

-- Michael R. Harvey - Brewster, NY - RusticElementArt.com - SpaceAware.org - AnConn.com

Charlie,

You would be surprised how respectful all the kids were. Not a single one of them did something unsafe and they all understood they cannot get too close. They were just checking on my progress every 10 minutes and kept on asking me when I’m going to be done.

Charlie and Michael: Thanks for the comments.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

You know we all blame the tv and games on why kids don’t do anything any more, or at least in my circles. But maybe you have unknowingly stumbled on a really good reason. We don’t do anything with them anymore, because we are to busy watching tv and playing out games without them.
Very interesting that you was able to keep them spell bound and well mannered by really just giving of yourself. Great job on the spoon and very better on the kids.

-- JJohn

I am always impressed by carving as it seems more artistic than general woodworking

-- Shawn, I ask in order to learn

LOL! Alin, I meant I would worry about them aggravating me to the point of using the knife on them intentionally! (Joking of course.)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

JJohn, my kid already started turning even though he is only 6: http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/alindobra/blog/3967
All kids are fascinated when they come into my workshop. They all want to know how it is made. At playground, absolutely all the kids were interested in how the carving goes.

Shawn, I think a lot of forms of woodturning can be very artistic. You just have to put your soul into them.

Charlie, I was impressed with how nicely the kids were behaving. Once I gave one of them a carving, all the others were model citizens in the hope they will get one too. They were also genuinely fascinated by carving.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

Nice work Alin, I guess im not the only guy that carves when he is bored…..thanks for sharing.
Jim

-- A duck that brags on his own pond, soon swims alone.

Thanks Jim. I actually do very little carving lately since I am completely distracted by woodturning, box and furniture making. I will go in vacation with my family in August and I’ll carve all day (otherwise I’ll die of boredom).

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

Nice spoon Alin.

I’ve also been looking a while for some form of woodworking that would travel well, and have just started diving into spoon carving. I have a curved spoon on order, and have found some green boxelder that was cut and left along side railroad tracks near my house. I have to “harvest” some of that for my practice spoon blanks.

-- johnjoiner

Alin,

You did well on this spoon. And you had a winning combination here as well. You got to get in some woodworking time while watching the kids, your carving kept them entertained and may have sparked some interest in woodworking, they learned something new and your son received a nice gift.

Wonderful post. And thanks for the story behind it.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Good job Alin, I think you taught us all a little something, mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Thanks Guys. One reason I like this kind of projects is because most people that see my work immediately assume that the tools not the skill is the major factor. In this project, the tools are so basic, nobody dares suggest the tools magically did the work. Interestingly, since I am a computer science professor, a lot of people I talk to assume I figured out some interesting combination between computers and tools and I just feed data into a computer and the rest is taken care off. Something like the “Easy button” in Staples commercial. Needless to say I get irritated at the thought. I probably use technology a lot less than other people in my woodworking.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

Looks like a great way to pass the time Alin.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Always nice to go back to the basics. I’ve made a few spoons. It’s a great way to pass the time.

-- Bruce from Central New York

Well done ! Will be someone’s favorite.

-- ..... art for lifes sake

Dan: it is my kid’s favorite already (part of his collection).

Grumpy and brunob: thanks for the comments.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida