Old Project: Spoon

Here’s something I did in the autumn that I don’t think I posted about on my old blog. With more of the poplar I have in the garage, I made a little wooden spoon.

Of all the things I’ve tried to make so far I think utensils are my favourite. This is the 3rd spoon I’ve made and I think it’s probably the best. I quite like my previous effort, a Rhododendron tea scoop but it wasn’t the most practical design.

It’s made from Poplar and finished with walnut oil. Even though I don’t intend to use this spoon I wanted to try a food-safe finish. Walnut oil is a pretty popular way of finishing utensils, though obviously it’s not suitable for people with nut allergies. An alternative would have been raw linseed or it’s vastly more expensive health-food shop equivalent, flax oil.

I made this before I got my hook knife (which I still haven’t used) so I carved the bowl out with the bent shallow gouge that came with my Henry Taylor palm tool set. I did the inside of the bowl after roughing the outside because I just don’t feel confident enough to do the inside first like some people do. I think my next spoon will be a large cooking spoon if I can get a nice log of something a bit sturdier. Poplar just isn’t durable enough to use for utensils.