Thread: The scoop

Nice product, Jim, and excellent presentation of the process. Thanks.

Joe

PP, They look great!

To save wood have you ever though about making the handles and scoop parts separately and then joining then together. It seems like an awful lot of timber can get lost in making the handle?

Jim, thanks for the scoop tute! Good job in explaining everything, as you went along. That looks like a very useful little item. Ever tried making different sizes?

Originally Posted by BobL

PP, They look great!

To save wood have you ever though about making the handles and scoop parts separately and then joining then together. It seems like an awful lot of timber can get lost in making the handle?

Of course Bob would say that, Jim, we have already established that he, like me, is a throwback to Homo Faber. Thanks for the demo, it is good to have a "professional" showing how it is done for a crust.

Now that you have shown me yours, I show you mine. For the reason said above, I have always been rather unimpressed with the low efficiency (wood /scoop) and effectiveness (volume of scoop/capacity of scoop) of the traditional turned scoop design. Don't look at my poor turning, this is only a proof of concept using crapiata pine.

The idea is to use both halfs of the bowl instead of wasting one.
1) turn between centres a cylinder as long as 1 bowl, 2 handles and 2 tenons.
2) finish the outside of the bowl and take down the handle and tenon cylinder on both sides to about half the diametre.
3) cut the bowl diagonally
4) hollow out the scoop. For this example, and if the "hand carved" look sells, gouge and mallet will do. It is quick, all along the grain. For mass produced ones, a router setup would be a better option.
5) mount the tenon in the chuck and sand the inside if needed.
6) turn the handle and finish
7) Discount for buying the couple.

Comments welcome.

next pics

BobL & FE in considering the idea of not loosing valuable timber

Instead of turning the whole handle down why not trim on the bandsaw as close as practical then turn down
Gives small off cut pieces for other work such as segmented etc.

The scoop section could then have a hole saw run into it while being held in the chuck a hole saw in a Jacobs chuck then paring it away. I had considered a SC blade small eough but other than a Dremal one

Originally Posted by wheelinround

BobL & FE in considering the idea of not loosing valuable timber

Instead of turning the whole handle down why not trim on the bandsaw as close as practical then turn down
Gives small off cut pieces for other work such as segmented etc.

Yes, in principle this works also: cut off 1/4 of the diametre on each side of the handles before rounding the cylindre.

I suppose it boils down to whether the value of the small pieces recovered justifies the extra time and effort of measuring and cutting them off with reasonable precision. If the timber is really that valuable, would you want to make a scoop out of it in the first place? I am not sure there would be a big market for $100 lignum vitae scoops, but it could work with a $150 lignum vitae mallet, for example.

Very interesting reading. Been down that road Frank. Found that turning the rolling pin idea was too slow. Even tried to bore the bowl out of the half bowl with a spade bit, but couldn't get a good quality finish in the bowl quickly enough. Still good to see a discussion on the topic.
Jim

Originally Posted by powderpost

Very interesting reading. Been down that road Frank. Found that turning the rolling pin idea was too slow. Even tried to bore the bowl out of the half bowl with a spade bit, but couldn't get a good quality finish in the bowl quickly enough. Still good to see a discussion on the topic.
Jim

Thanks Jim, if you also had that idea I'm not that whacko then. Of course the hollowing is the critical factor. Have you ruled out a horizontal pass with a U shaped router as wide as the whole hollow? Once you have set that up and a cradle for holding the scoop, you should have a clean cut in seconds. Again, it would boil down to whether offering two different designs would result in better sales and whether sales of this design are good enough to justify setting up the router. For a few dozens a year it might be worth it.

Hmmmm - I don't see what the problem is . There's no more waste in Jims method than turning a goblet and much less than a bowl or box or just about anything else you turn.

Frank, small round piece of wood, large diameter router bit, 20,000 rpm, not a good recipe???? Interesting idea though.
Jim

Originally Posted by TTIT

Hmmmm - I don't see what the problem is . There's no more waste in Jims method than turning a goblet and much less than a bowl or box or just about anything else you turn.

Hi TTIT. No problem with Jim's method, it's the time honoured way to turn scoops. My point is that turning a scoop in this way wastes half the bowl and produces little capacity, as Jim also realised and tried to address. Of course, hollowing the bowl wastes as much as with any other bowl of the same size and there is no real issue with the handle, as already discussed. (Bob's question has not yet been answered directly, but my guess is that it would still come down to cost/benefit).

My apologies if my post looked in any way like a criticism, that was not the intention. I was only asking if this alternative had been considered and its pros and cons, and I have got the answer. Maybe a better way would have been to open this discussion in a new thread. (Thanks for putting this smilie in, so I could copy and paste it..)

Frank, there is no need for an apology. Your comments were valid, and if we do not question "tradition", we make no progress.
For Bob's question, it slipped under the radar. It would be necessary to have a spigot of some sort to hold the 'bowl' for turning. This spigot would probably have to be removed of used as a dowel to attach the handle with. Not a bad idea for using a different species for the handle. Too much mucking around for my application, still food for thought.
Jim