Wooden spoons

Spoons and spatulas

I have been making spoons since I was a child in Wales. My first one was for a spoon carving class in the local fair in Tregarron and I have no idea of what happened to it. After college I spent time living under canvas in a woodland and wanted to learn how to create everyday artefacts for daily living. Learning through trial and error, I made some beautiful spoons, which have gone the way of most wooden spoons back into the earth and atmosphere. Not all my spoons are good, I have made a fair few that may be functional but are not well made or designed, after all it is possible to eat with stick or chip of wood.

Spoons can be made with just a knife and hook knife or a carving gouge a saw is also helpfull but not nessessary.

Some of the knives I use and would recommend both on quality and price are the Mora Frosts knives from Sweden

164 single edge hook knife
120 short bladed carving knife and maybe a 160 which has a long narrow blade, not recommended for beginners
840, 860,740,760,780 which are good beginners bushcraft knives and very good for general woodcraft
S-1 and S-2 wooden handled carving knives

The hook knives are OK and cheap to begin with, they do need a bit of fine honing and stropping before useI now make my own. For quality hook knives you will have to buy them from craftsmen that make themselves and the price is usually £30 upwards but they are well worth it.

Good tools are fantastic and we can all put on our anoraks and talk for hours about the pros and cons of this or that tool, but I started off with a Stanley knife and I have seen the most amazing work from some of the oddest looking tools ever. What is most important is the sharpness of the blade and the skill of the maker.

Spoon made from sycamore, carved at WOMAD festival during the mud fest of 2007

Some tools of the trade; hook knives 164 and a hook knife made by Ben Orford, knives; bushcraft and 120 frosts, and spoon

Apple wood love spoon with one ball in the cage and a chain, this has been carved from one piece of wood

Rattle with captive ball with 2 heads carved into it

Love spoons designed and made by Sean Hellman

A short animation of a spoon being made, please feel free to share with others.