Peach Cooking Spoon

There's a lot of information about wood on the internet, however, peach wood is almost unknown. The only information I found is that it can be used for smoking meat. Other fruitwoods like apple, plum and cherry are often used for carving, though.
When I noticed an interesting brown color on a broken peach tree, I decided to try the wood for carving nevertheless.

The wood is medium hard and it has a very interesting smell, a bit like cherries and a bit like lapacho tea.

I used my new axe to level the twisted wood and to produce this spoon blank (yes, I need more practice, but it's much better and faster than it used to be).

The finished spoon has darker and lighter strips and also a nice texture. I plan to make an eating spoon as well and test if the wood is as good as plum or cherry for carving.

A New Axe!

I have always admired how precisely other spoon carvers can make their spoon blanks using only an axe. After a few not very successful attempts I realised that the problem is not in myself, but in my axe - so I ordered a new one :)

This axe can be used for felling trees and splitting logs, but it is particularly useful for carving. It can be held just behind the head for more precise cuts and it is so sharp that it can be used as a knife. If you have never cut your finger by moving it across an axe blade... well, it's possible.

 I learned that a good axe can save lots of time and work when carving spoons... OK, enough advertisement for now, you'll see the results in the next posts...

Lemon-Scented Wood

The wood database says that lilac wood often has reddish or lavender color streaks throughout the heartwood. I acquired a few lilac logs in spring, but I was not very lucky - the wood is just ordinary brown and white.

Lilac trunks are not very wide, often rot from the inside out and often crack while drying. So why to waste your time with such a wood? Especially if it has no lavender streaks at all?
I can say that it is an excellent wood nevertheless. It is hard, but with even texture, nice pattern and gloss. And it smells very nice. Freshly cut logs had a strong lemon oil scent and after drying the smell resembles lemon soap.

The log I selected was naturally curved to create a spoon shape. When it started to crack, I sealed both ends with wax and let it dry slowly for about half a year.

I read that hard wood should be dried one year for each centimeter of thickness. But half a year was quite enough for this spoon blank. The wood stopped cracking and looked dry afterwards.

I tried to imitate this spoon, also carved from lilac.

The following picture shows the natural luster on the knife cuts. The smoothness of the wood contributed even more to the "soapy" impression.

There are two thin reddish lines around the pith - the only exotic colors present in this piece of wood :D It's also noteworthy that the boundary between heartwood and sapwood does not follow the growth rings.

Here is the spoon after sanding...

... and finished, sealed with oil.
Overall, I'm very happy with the result - both with the shape and with the wood structure and pattern.