Unusual Plum Wood

I received a new plum log full of unusual colors. This is a spoon carved from the best piece. It will probably turn to brown later, but for now I can enjoy the beautiful grain pattern.

The first picture shows the spoon before sanding and oiling, other pictures show the finished spoon by daylight.

Inspiration by Dan Lawrence and Darrick Sanderson.

Applewood Spork

I created this spoon-fork-knife as a present for my sister after she broke her plastic spork. This one is made of apple wood.

The first piece of applewood that I selected for the spork had an ugly black crack on the worst place, where the side of the fork should be. So after cutting off the black wood I created this:

Apple Wood

My parents-in-law gave me lots of nice apple wood. I made eating spoon and cooking spoon blanks and put them to freezer - this way the wood stays green until the time when I need to carve it.

First I made this small eating spoon. Apple wood can be polished nicely, so this spoon is sanded and polished.

There wasn't much wood suitable for cooking spoons because the apple tree was a little crooked. It can be seen on this spoon...

Moreover the wood sometimes contains dark spots like this. I was slightly disappointed from this spoon, but Jarko says the spot gives it a rustic look :)

Spoon from a Bent Branch

In this post I wrote about a spoon from a bent willow branch. Now I made a similar spoon and this time I remembered to take pictures.

I began with this bent branch. It was still wet inside because I kept it in the freezer :) The picture also shows a place I found in the woods for splitting logs. I don't disturb anyone with the noise there and I don't have to worry about cleaning the shavings either.

I split the log open - it is harder than with straight logs, but it usually goes well.

I took the lower half because the upper one was full of knots. I cut a basic spoon shape from it.

This is the spoon blank after removing unnecessary wood. The branch was thicker than I needed, so I removed a few layers of wood.

Then I found a few hidden knots. Some of them could be avoided, some not. I wanted to throw the wood away, but then I saw the smiley face...

So in the end I just carved a smaller spoon than I intended.

Try what you can see in the pattern - a smiley with a big nose, a Cyclops, or maybe something else?

This picture shows two spoons from bent willow branches. The upper one was treated with oil about two months ago, the lower one is not oiled yet. Willow wood changes its color a little after oiling, but it is not as dramatic as with birch wood on the picture below...

Calamity Beech

We found some beech trees broken during a windstorm when we were walking in the woods. They were already sawn to pieces and prepared for transport (and the lumberjacks even created an improvised picnic table and two chairs using a chainsaw). I took one of the leftover pieces of branch for spoons.

The wood was green and full of sap. The carving was much, much easier than with dry beech. There were several interesting brown strips in the wood, but the spoon has only one brown line on the handle. Now I'm not quite sure if the line is a good decoration or not.

Chinese Willow

I've made this small spoon about a month ago. It is from Chinese willow (the corkscrew variant with twisted twigs and leaves).  The design is from the internet, but I don't remember the source.

The spoon is from a bent branch, so it is copying the bent shape exactly. I forgot to take pictures during carving, but I have a few more bent willow branches left, so maybe I'll write more about it next time.

Lumberjack's Spoon

I've made this spoon for my husband Jarko. It is carved from the stock of plumwood (no, I still haven't spent it all). Jarko wished for a more robust spoon than I usually make and he also wanted an inscription. I don't carve letters very often and it is quite difficult with such hard wood.
Don't ask me why I used this inscription... it's too complicated to explain :)