http://www.woodreview.com.au 27PROJECTThe Green
Wood Spoon
A few tools and branch timbers are all you need to get
started carving eating spoons. Story by Barton Chesworth.Y
ears ago I stumbled across wooden spoons in a
museum whilst living abroad in Sweden on a student
inter-university exchange. At the time I remember thinking
how cool and beautifully handcrafted they were.
A couple years later I felt a need to reconnect and pursue
woodwork once again, however at that stage I was living
in the top floor of a unit complex in Brisbane. Despite
the limitations, spoon carving jumped into my life with
full force.
Spoon carving requires few tools – axe, straight and bent
knives (photos 1, 2) – and can be performed anywhere.
It makes minimal noise, wood chips not dust, and
utilises freely scavenged timber. These are the factors
that have caused a boom in this craft around the globe
in recent years.
Why green woodworking?
Spoon carving traditions mainly originate from
Scandinavian, Celtic and Roman cultures. My interest
in lies in green woodcarving that celebrates the use of
readily accessible timber. Here, the biggest advantage of
using green or wet timber is that it’s much easier to work
and less taxing on your tools.
In a country full of endemic hard timbers this is hugely
beneficial. Apart from the experience of a handful
of shingle cutters and chairmakers at the turn of last
century, Australian green woodworking is an exciting
realm to explore.You can experiment with what’s at hand. Native and exotic
species I have had great success with include sheoaks,
broad leaf paperbarks, native cherry, privet, sycamore,
jacaranda and fruit woods.Green branches from 80 to 150mm diameter are best for
eating spoons, and offer the beginner quicker log-to-spoon
carving time. Here I’ll show one way of carving a spoon
from straight branch wood.Eating spoons
A simple spoon is really a three dimensional sculpture that
should not only look good but also perform. Eating spoons
are generally carved for either solid or liquid foods.An understanding of grain direction and the properties of
timber must be developed, as a structurally weak spoon
will fail in time. The ultimate goal is to carve the thinnest,
strongest spoon possible.1 2