Thread: First Project, things learned, things loved.

So about a week or so ago, I decided I wanted to start carving. I've seen beautiful pieces of relief carving in photos many times, and was somewhat inspired by a wooden spoon I had bought for my wife.

I decided as a first project, that I'd make a wooden spoon, as in my mind, it should be relatively straightforward, especially as I've used spoons most of my life.

I had some junk pine(end pieces from studs a neighbor was using to make an outdoor walkway) that I planned to start on, so I went shopping for some tools. I started at a craft store, and found an knife by xacto that looked like it might work out OK. The blade is Xacto #104 for those that are interested. I also picked up a razor saw while there. I knew the knife wouldn't work well for the bowl section of the spoon, so after a while of looking around at various stores, I drove about an hour and a half to get to the only store in my state that specializes in wood carving - Woodworking Plans & Tools | Fine Woodworking Project & Supplies at Woodcraft. I have to say that this store was a little overwhelming, but with some help from one of the staff, I picked up a #8 bent spoon gouge(swiss made, palm handle), a book and a chunk of basswood.

Once I got home, I started cutting the rough shape of my spoon out of the pine(which is somewhat knotty, by the way) with the razor saw. Ugh...that thing was a waste of money. Sure, it cuts, but it takes forever, and my hobby vise isn't the most rigid of devices(has a clamp to hold it to the bench, a ball that allows you to rotate it around, and a vice on top). My arm got tired fairly quickly, and I found that due to the construction of the blade, I couldn't make cuts deeper than about 1.5 inches, so had to make many cross cuts(I guess you might call them) and remove smaller chunks as I went along. Having been thoroughly disgusted with that (happily) small investment, I decided I would get my cordless drill out, and 'draw' a rough outline with holes, which I used the razor saw to cut out. I also cut the corners off the end where the bowl of the spoon was to be.

Being the impatient type, once I had the shape roughed out, I brought out my random orbital sander, and smoothed out all the areas where the holes were(which I had hoped would make whittling the handle shape out a bit easier). While smoothing out the handle area, I also ran the sander over the bowl area where I cut the corners off, and gave it a roughish shape.


Next, I brought out my xacto knife, with the #104 Blade I mentioned earlier, and started to whittle away at the handle. Now, being new to this, I'm not exactly sure if some of what I experienced was due to my lack of experience, the odd choice of carving knives, the wood, or a combination of all three. What I found, was that semi-frequently, while cutting along the grain, I would remove a large splinter of wood, which would break off at the end. I assume this is due to the lack of a scooping motion while removing stock, but I also attributed it to being a chunk of knotty white pine, and an xacto knife, rather than a proper carving knife. I did learn to go a little slower with my cuts, a little shallower, and if the wood started to splinter off like that, I would reverse direction, and shave off wood from the end still attached, thus avoiding making the 'tear' worse.


After the weekend was over, sadly, I had to return to work. Of course while I was there, all I could think about was the spoon, and what I could do to make myself a little more efficient and proficient. Well, as I've been finding out, proficiency comes with time, but efficiency comes with the local hardware store. My intentions for the handle was for it to have a bit of a curve, rather than a straight rod, and as such, I had been whittling away at it with that in mind – learned lesson #2: whittling takes a loooong time when removing a lot of material. Armed with this information, I went to the aforementioned store and purchased a coping saw(in case you hadn't figured it out yet, I don't have lots of cash to throw at this hobby, so I'm making do with hand tools until I can afford things like a drill press and a band saw). Once I returned home with said saw, I drew out the rough shape of the handle and bowl I wanted, and started cutting away. I guess I forgot from my boy scout and middle school days, but using a coping saw can be quite a bit of work, especially on a piece of wood that is a couple inches thick. I did eventually get the shape roughed out the way I wanted, which had the net effect of removing all the time I spent trying to whittle the shape. Learned lesson #3: Rough out your piece first, look it over, finish roughing it, THEN put the knife to the wood.


Well, once I had my basic shape finally roughed out, I sanded the bottom of the bowl area once again, and tried to figure out a way to hold my piece in place while trying to use my gouge. Let me first give you an idea of my bench, and general work area. The area is currently a section of my basement that is approximately 6 feet wide, by 8 feet deep. On one side, I've got my tool box, at the end of it, I've got a makeshift table/bench I had originally used for working on small greasy things I had pulled from various cars, opposite the toolbox I have a flimsy folding table, with two pieces of plywood clamped to the top as my wood working and general purpose bench. At the end of the bench, I've got the hobby vise attached, and I've got a make-shift stool(Once a kitchen table chair, with the back removed) between the bench and the tool box. Now, if you can picture this tragedy, you'll see that I don't have a lot of space to work with. Also note that I don't have a lot of tools suitable for this type of work(I found out the hard way that a reciprocating saw is too strong for a piece held in the hobby vise). Eventually, I placed a piece of junk pine on top of the handle of the spoon, and clamped both ends to the table(I will attempt to photo something similar once the batteries to my camera are charged). Happily, this arrangement was strong enough to hold the spoon in place while I happily gouged away. When I first purchased the spoon gouge, I was unsure that I would enjoy the hobby, so wanted to find a cheaper tool. Luckily, I let the salesperson talk me into the $25 swiss made gouge I walked out with, because all the tools I purchased for this project, that is by far my favorite. I enjoyed using that tool so much I had the entire bowl area carved out the same day.


An interesting thing to note(which will be pictured later, once I have fresh batteries) is that because this piece of wood is knotty, there is a knot in the bowl area. I wasn't able to remove the knot completely, so have decided that I kind of like the way it looks, so it will stay. I do have to find some food safe epoxy to fill in the cracks in the knot, so if it gets used, there wont be any bad things happening in there.


After a little break from this piece, I once again brought out my xacto knife and started carving the shape of the handle. You can safely assume that nothing exciting happened during this phase of my work. I am now at the stage where I need to sand the piece smooth, to prepare it for some food safe mineral oil(of which I do not currently have a source).


As has been mentioned a couple of times, I will take some photos of my work space, tools and piece as it currently stands, once the batteries for my camera have been charged. Also I will keep this thread updated as I make progress towards a finished piece