Wooden Pebbles (or What to Do with Cut-offs and Poisonous Wood)

I acquired a few black locust logs, forgotten in the forest after sawing. But black locust wood is slightly poisonous, can irritate the skin and so it isn't suitable for spoons. What else can be carved from such wood, that would show the grain nicely, but have a simple shape? Pebbles, of course!

Black locust wood reminds me of fiberglass: it contains hard, almost translucent fibers arranged in layers. At first it was greenish, but the color later changed to yellow and brown.

This pebble is from a walnut cut-off (left from this spoon). It is too roundy, so I could not carve it in usual way, it kept slipping off my fingers. So I used Dremel and sanding bands instead of a knife.

This is (probably) zebrawood. When I ordered olive wood, I received this cut-off as a gift, but it was too small for a spoon. The wood has an unusual plywood-like smell and very big pores.

The last pebble so far is from plumwood (both heartwood and sapwood are visible).

Tatting Shuttle

A friend of mine asked me if I could carve a tatting shuttle. Basically, a tatting shuttle is a flat, pointy piece of wood that holds some thread and allows to make knots and loops to produce a lace (at least that's my amateur point of view, I never tried it :D ).
I found a few nice pictures on the internet, e.g. here, and I started carving.

I used a piece of old cherry wood I found in the garden. But the result got out of control somehow. My friend said that the shuttle is too nice for tatting and she will wear it as a jewel...

I didn't have any drill to make the holes, so I dug them with reamer/punch on swiss army knife (that is the small pointy thing, usually next to a corkscrew). Most people never use it, but I find it very useful.

Oak Barrel Aroma

I found OneOak project on the web: a 222 years old oak tree was cut down in Oxfordshire and its wood was given to craftsmen and artists, who created various things ranging from sculptures, beams and furniture to spoons and charcoal. The purpose of the project was to promote the importance of trees and woodland management, and the benefits of using wood.
I also learned that oak wood is not used for spoons very often; it is too porous and contains too much tannin. This page recommends to boil the spoons to remove the tannin, but the spoons could crack during boiling or drying. Tannin has a bitter taste, but it is not poisonous and it even has some healing effects.
Having learned all this, I started to carve. Oak wood splits easily, which helped me to carve faster.

The wood did not taste bitter, but it smelt like vinegar brine from pickled gherkins. After long weighing the pros and cons, I decided not to boil the spoon. I sanded it and finished it with oil. Only then I realized that some small pieces of sandpaper sank into the pores and stayed there. So the resulting spoon is a bit dotted... The wood is quite light and it could be polished to a nice gloss despite the porous structure.

 After sanding, the wood has a natural luster.

Sealed with walnut oil.

Underestimated Sycamore

A few years ago, I was in Bratislava on a business trip. I had some free time in the evening, so I took a walk in a park. It was several days after a windstorm and there were piles of broken branches everywhere, sawn into smaller pieces and prepared to be moved away. I'm not sure what happens with such wood, but it probably ends in compost, ground to small pieces. Anyway, I took one sycamore (plane) log and left it in our garden cottage to dry.

Later, when I was carving the applewood spoon, I also found the sycamore log. I tried to cut it with axe. It split easily and the inside looked very porous and soft. That discouraged me from carving for a while. I looked up sycamore in the wood database and I found out that it is suitable for carving and even a little harder than lime wood. I did not believe it very much until I started carving. Then I really regretted that I didn't have an axe with me because this time it would save me lots of work.

Carving, day 1.

Carving, day 3.

Carving, day 6.

Sanded.

Kolrosing.

I tried to copy this spoon.I also learned about a Scandinavian decorating technique called kolrosing. Shallow cuts are made with a small knife, some dark powder is rubbed in (e.g. charcoal, powdered bark or leaves, coffee, cinnamon, cocoa, ...). The powder sets into the cuts and then the whole surface is rubbed with oil, which fixes the powder in place and makes the design show up. I used cinnamon and was very happy with the result.

Walnut Wood and Oil

I received a special present for my nameday: a few blocks of dry walnut and oak wood. First I tried to carve from english walnut wood. I documented the carving process, one picture a day.

The walnut block after sawing with jigsaw.

Carving, day 1.

Carving, day 2.

Carving, day 3.

Carving, day 4.

Carving the bowl.

Sanded.

Finished spoon sealed with oil.

In the meantime, I found a few spooncarving blogs (e.g. here), which inspired me to try other spoon designs. I also found long discussions about what was the best oil to treat the finished spoons. Some people use mineral oil, some use shellac, others walnut oil, linseed oil or tung oil which is made from some chinese nuts. Walnut oil seemed the easiest option because it can be bought in many food stores. So far I'm quite content with it. It does not give the spoons yellow tint as olive oil did. However, it is quite thick and slow to penetrate the wood.

Olive Surprises

I visited Christmas markets in Vienna with my roommates in december 2012. I did not plan to buy many things, but I found a stall with olive wood products. I admired the beautiful wood for a long time and at the end I bought at least a small cutting board.

My husband and me agreed that the board is too beautiful for cutting, so we just use it for watching. After some time I started to wonder if it was possible to buy a block of olive wood for carving. I discovered a few online stores and found many more exotic woods that could be worth a try. About the same time I discovered the wood database and the article about allergies and toxicity. I was surprised to learn that I could be poisoned if I used a spoon from yew, laburnum or oleander wood. This also reduced my shopping list of exotic woods. Fortunately, olive wood turned up to be safe, so I ordered it. The wood database showed that olive wood is 1,5 times harder than apple, but I was willing to risk.

The carving was easier than I expected. The wood has a high oil content and it seemed wet inside, although it was quite seasoned. It was much like carving from green wood. The only difficulty was the interlocked grain, so that I had to change the direction of cutting to avoid splitting the handle. The wood has a strange fruity, oily and a bit fermented odor - at first I found it funny, but later I got to like it.

When I tested the new spoon, I found it has slightly bitter taste, similar to dried black olives. This is caused by oleuropein, a powerful antioxidant.

Apple Drudgery

We had to cut down another tree: a small apple tree damaged by wild rabbits during one extremely long winter. After my success with plum wood, I optimistically cut a piece of dry apple trunk for a new spoon. I tried to make a spoon blank with saw and chisel, but the wood did not split at all. I decided to cut off the excess wood with knife - a very unlucky decision!

I made the spoon blank only after two weeks of slow scraping off tiny wood shavings. I could not return to saw and chisel because I took the wood to Bratislava and my only available tools were knives.

Afterwards the carving got a little easier. The wood had a nice fine-grained structure and it did not split. But the spoon stubbornly resisted my first attempt to carve the inside of the bowl. I tried to use my old "noname" carving chisels, but they hardly left a scratch. I hat do borrow better chisels and finish the work. Then I added a celtic knot on the handle.

Plum Wood

One of the plum trees in our garden was infected with plum pox virus and had to be cut down. The trunk was left to dry for a few years. Afterwards I cut a piece of it and I wanted to carve something. I decided to try another spoon for a start. (And it turned out to be a different start than I expected!)

Plum wood has a beautiful chocolate color, interesting pattern and it does not split, so it's possible to carve even the finest details. The wood became my favorite and I carved a few other things from it later.

A spoon for my colleague.

Spatula (brown heartwood, light sapwood).

Spoon Collection

People collect various things for various reasons. I started to collect spoons some time ago, every spoon is made from different kind of wood. And every spoon has its own story...

It all began many years ago on a rover camp, on a spooncarving workshop. I got a nice piece of lime wood and I thought: it cannot be so difficult... I can carve a little, I have seen a few nice handmade spoons, so I'm sure my spoon will be the best!

The result was a little different, though. People carved spoons of all sizes and creative shapes, but the best spoon made by Svišť had a simple, clean design. I made something like a mini-ladle and a small odd-shaped ornamental spoon (third and second spoon from left).

And here is the winning spoon (I owe special thanks to my brother for looking up these pictures in his archive):

It sounds obviously, but a good spoon must fit into your mouth, be neither too deep nor too shallow, the handle must be comfortable to hold and a also be little curved, so that it can be used with a deeper soup plate.
Having learned all these things, I found a thick hazel branch and I carved the second spoon (and also the last, for a long time).

I returned to spoon carving only after we had to cut a few fruit trees from our garden and I wanted to use the nice wood for something creative.