Thread: Huon and Musk spoons.

Beautiful Mate!
I really like them.

Pete.

When I look around, hemispherical spoon bowls are quite unusual.
Thanks for doing something different.

Very good

cool

I like these spoons, quite honestly I wouldn't think that such a simple utilitarian object could have so many possible shapes & forms ! yet it undoubtedly does , whether they be in wood or metal there are so many possibilities.
If I owned a tool to cut out a bowl myself - then I would be tempted to try out this surprisingly broad art form.
Thanks for sharing these, they've made me think about this whole field ,
Mike

MtK: Mora (Sweden) #162, 163 and 164 and typical Scandinavian knives for bowls, spoons & kuksa. The handles are round and the blades are center-hafted.

The smaller, shorter and thinner crooked knife blades from Kestrel will work around in voids with a short radius. Those blades work best in squarish handles of your own
making and surface-mounted as you see in the completed Kestrel knives of PacNW style. North Bay Forge has similar but they want to sell completed knives, all of which have handles too small for my front paws.

A completely different approach is to find your local farrier and see what they have as "worn out" hoof knives = still lots of carving steel left in them. I use Mora (#171 & 188)
Diamond #271 (Taiwan), Ukal/Supervet (France) and Hall (Canada). Ukal and Hall have wonderfully hard steel. I bash off the factory handles and fit the blades to PacNW handles of my size. A worn out Hall was $5, new = $50.
Size: Palm up, in a typical PacNW fist grip, the tips of your second and third fingers should just barely touch the fat ball part of your thumb.

Have a go. TasSculptor has such fine examples.

I have a bent shaft gouge from Pfeil, a cheap straight carpentry chisel and a dremel rotary tool with various bits. I suppose I am only interested in the finished product not in doing things by the "rules" or correct techniques for carving etc. I do admire people who have the traditional skills though. It must take huge amounts of practice and focus.

Jason.

I use any tool that I can find that makes the cut to make the shape.
Some kinds of cuts for some kinds of shapes do require a lifetime of practice,
adze texturing in PacNW style as an example.
I believe it's worth trying, worth experiencing, if just for the appreciation of skills.

The past few years of exploration into the versatility of the PacNW carving tools
has been a complete pleasure of discovery.

Originally Posted by TasSculptor

I have a bent shaft gouge from Pfeil, a cheap straight carpentry chisel and a dremel rotary tool with various bits. I suppose I am only interested in the finished product not in doing things by the "rules" or correct techniques for carving etc. I do admire people who have the traditional skills though. It must take huge amounts of practice and focus.

Jason.

Yes, -OF COURSE ! Surely throughout history carvers have used the most efficient tools they have to hand.
There are for instance definitely quicker more efficient ways of removing wood than the penknives I limit myself to but I choose to so that I feel the woods' personality & experience the joy of a hardened steel edge cutting & shaving the wood.
For me it's like you can go for a walk in the woods, smell the trees & earth, hear the birds & the breeze rattling the dry leaves OR you can blast through on a motorbike much faster & get there much sooner.

Each will make his own choice based on the tooling available & his aims & values etc.
With the cost of computer controlled tooling falling all he time , I wonder how long it will be before we see such machines offered in carving magazines & perhaps with their resulting carvings being posted here on this forum !
As I said each will make their own choice as to tooling.

I admire CNC wood carvings = astounding geometric accomplishments (while we go out for supper?). Just another art form like digital painting. Time for a different thread.

Nice looking spoons!

Claude

nice work

Originally Posted by TasSculptor

I made a couple of spoons for a customer this week. Burl Musk and Huon pine. Went with a smooth finish this time and used a carnauba and beeswax polish.

Beautiful little spoons Tas, what tools did you use to get the shapes for bowl and for handle?

edit: I see you mention you tools above.

These are very nice but I don't get it. Are these made as little turnings with handles inserted, or are they carved one-piece ?