One month of spoon carving
First month of green wood, spoon carving in order from left to right (missing one which I gave to my Dad as a birthday present).
- The first two are from pine boards.
- The third one (and perhaps the eight, with the T on the handle) are pōhutukawa.
- The last three measuring spoons (half teaspoon, teaspoon and tablespoon) are apple wood.
- The rest are brush wattle.
Some are oiled and some are baked. Both change the colour of the wood.
I tried kolrosing (the T on the handle and the lines on the second set of chopsticks). Really like the look of it, but curves are quite hard! Lots of practice to do still. When I did the chopsticks with the three circles at the end, my finish was still quite rough and the coffee got into all the crevices and grain (even though I oiled first). But actually I really like the speckled look, so win!
Slowly I'm getting better at sharpening. I've never been great at sharpening, and the hook knives you use for carving the spoon bowl are especially challenging.
I'm really pleased with my progress. It's been super fun, to the point that I haven't been doing other things I "should" be doing. I think part of the reason that it's been so fun to learn is that I have zero expectation that I "should be good at this already". So mistakes are mostly fun rather than painful.