Thread: Timber choices for kitchen utensils

Hi,
The traditional favourite is Olive wood.
Regards

Thanks Hugh

They would look very nice in Olive as well.

I might pick some at the Sydney T&WWW show.

Originally Posted by ozhunter

They would look very nice in Olive as well.

I might pick some at the Sydney T&WWW show.

I got some nice olive off of Stan at Billinudgel woodworks at the Melbourne show last year. He might have some in Sydney

Cheers

Doug

For what its worth, I've still got 3 birch spoons I carved over 7 years ago and never finished with anything which are still going strong.

You could PM "Big Stan" to see if he will have any Olive at the show.

Including the one-offs and prototypes, I've carved maybe 100 kitchen "sticks", spoons, ladles, forks and salad servers. Any wood from any tree species which produced an edible material should be OK. I have used mostly birch as it was easy to carve and very inexpensive for me. I'd like to split some fruit wood (apple & pear) to carve something more elegant than I have done in the past.
I use an oven-baked olive oil finish which penetrates the surface wood much further than anything applied at room temperature.

Speaking from a different continent I can only say that birch, beech, willow & olive are the commonly used wood for spoons in Europe. Fruit woods should be OK I reckon but might be prone to splitting in use also their beautiful colours tend to change & fade relatively quickly. Any of the maples would be fit for the purpose too.
One obvious tip for spoon making is to raise the grain after sanding a couple of times because it is going to happen soon enough in their intended use anyway.
As you say olive would be the most attractive, it is a hard & heavy wood but carves very nicely with edge tools.
I would advise you do your homework on any wood type you do end up using though because there are plenty of species which are toxic, indeed most members of the true rosewood genus have toxic resin pockets that dissolve in hot water & wood from the Yew tree is very dangerous if taken internally. These are only two wood types I know of, there will be many others that are either toxic or perform poorly being plunged into boiling liquids periodically. Olive oil is the most commonly used finish for spoons & bowls that will be used for food.
If your posts suddenly stop, then I'll know you chose the wrong type of wood !

Thanks Mike, my choices, too except willow. If the salicylic acid is only in the bark, then it would be OK, too.
I have the fruitwood, precracked. Thought I might follow the natural splits and see if I get any useful pieces. Otherwise into the smoker BBQ!

The oven baked olive oil finish can't leach out into boiling liquids.
Preheat the oven to 325F (no more than 350F.)
With a cake rack over a sheet pan, slather your wood tools with olive oil.
So they are dripping with it.
Into the oven for 3 minutes by the clock. Stand there and wait. Don't fry it.
Out of the oven you will see hot expanding air bubbling out through the oil.
As the remaining wood air cools and contracts, it will draw the oil well down into the surface wood. Wipe off the excess tomorrow.
212F/100C isn't hot enough to get the air/oil in the wood to move.
Simple application of Charles' Law (gas physics).

Plus, the spoon is ready for years of use just as soon as it has cooled.
Simple rinse in hot water makes for a quick wash-up.

Adam ive got a bunch of celery top wooden spoons I made 6-7 years ago, these regularly go through the dishwasher and are still going strong

Hmmm...... that does sound like an interesting & efficient technique of getting the oil deep into the wood RV.
It is a pretty standard traditional practice when finishing Lime wood to heat up linseed oil in a pan 50% diluted with turpentine & when it only JUST boils ( about 5 or 10 seconds before it reaches flashpoint ! - this is dangerous ) you pour the oil over the carving . You can see the wood drinking it in, wipe off the excess , after a month the oil dries, the carving is completely waterproof. This darkens the wood substantially , brings out the figure & adds a bit of depth to what is visually rather boring wood , a coat of wax completes the job.
Obviously you don't want to use turpentine anywhere near a spoon used for food anyway but your step of heating the wood to aid the penetration is excellent , although I wouldn't like to risk anything more than spoon in an oven !

The process is fast and very efficient.
The one thing to remember is that the oily spoons are 325F when they come out.
Like French Fries. So resist the urge to pick it up, OK?

Why not just slather the oil on the carving and bake for 3 minutes?
Do the experiments with wood scrap. Fairly benign option.
At 3'30", birch wood will begin to brown a little, I've done a few like that.
Far safer than what you describe (which you won't ever do in my kitchen under any circumstances!!!!)

The other thing about raising the grain. I tried to carve the entire surface with no sanding to shred the wood fiber. Sort of like finishing with a cabinet scraper.

Hmmm......I've done the old "act first, research later" trick ....again!

I've just finished making about 10 spoons and spatulas and searched the forum for the best finish to use - so thanks RV for the info on baked olive oil - I will definitely give that a go.

However, I've made my kitchen utensils from Jarrah, Sheoak, WA Blackbut, and Marri. Are there any toxicity problems with any of these??

Originally Posted by Mike the knife

If your posts suddenly stop, then I'll know you chose the wrong type of wood !

Thats funny Mike. I think I'll use Olive wood, might get a few more posts in that way.

Thanks for the baked Olive Oil recipe RV, I was going to spend some time looking it up tonight.

Thanks for the responses chaps.

BSM, ozhunter and others: your very own CSIRO/Forest Products people ought to be able to
guide you about "food-safe" Australian woods.
40 yrs ago, there was a bunch of them in Hobart. What with consolidations, maybe they got hung up with the Protein Chemistry gang in Royal Parade/Melb.

Ah, yes chaps, I'm a Post-hole Digger in Botany/Wood Science (LaTrobe/Wardrop.)

Wait til you see the wood air foaming out through the hot oil. Quite surprising.