wood carving spoon knife
Spoon Carving for Everyone : 13 Steps
Now I can chop down the handle’s outline without risk of hitting the end grain of the bowl and splitting it. To hollow the spoon’s bowl, I use hook knives specifically made for carving spoons, but you can hollow your spoon with a carving gouge.
Product Review: Flexcut Spoon Tools
Hell, there are huge spoon carving gatherings, where people from around the world come together to fellowship, teach, sell, trade and carve spoons. For many, it’s more than carving; it’s a love and a passion. I also learned that a hook knife is sometimes called a “crook knife”. But if it loops all the way back to the handle, it’s called a “scorp”.
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To shape the inside of the spoon’s bowl, you can use a hook knife or the gouge. For my first spoons, I hollowed the bowl with a gouge (mine has a No. 8 sweep in the Swiss-made numbering system). Just as with the straight knife, you want to use your body and hands in such a way that you can cut efficiently, without having the tool’s edge land in your flesh.
The spoon carving I learned from Jögge Sundqvist, his father, Wille Sundqvist, and Drew Langsner is part of a Swedish tradition, the revival of which was really spearheaded by Wille. One nice thing about spoons is that you get another chance to get it right in just a couple of hours or less. Another nice thing is that you can do most of it – other than the hatchet work – anywhere; you don’t really need a dedicated shop space. CUTTING EDGE is very sharp, which allows you to cut soft wood. The cutting edge of hook knives are durable to cut hardwoods such as oak or walnut.
This Swedish-made knife features a blade made from stainless steel. That means it will resist corrosion very well, and that it has great strength. While it may not hold its edge as well as a carbon steel blade, the next-best option is stainless steel, so you’ll be in good shape. This model also comes with an ergonomic wooden handle which won’t bother your hands or wrists.
Another useful grasp is the one Wille calls the “chest lever grip.” I’m right-handed, so I hold the knife in my right hand, blade pointed out. The spoon in my left hand mirrors the position of the knife. To start the cut, the knuckles on each hand are against my chest and my forefingers bump up against each other. The knife slices as I pull my hands apart, with the action coming from my upper chest and back. The cut ends with my elbows sticking straight out and the knife and spoon have both moved out and away from each other.
These tools come in many shapes; some are more rounded, others shallower. Tuck it against your palm, and your thumb provides the leverage to pull the tool into the cut. The knife slices across the bowl most often, except when you are refining some shapes. These tools come in left- and right-handed versions.
- ☀️ THE BEST GIFT is to make something with your hands.
- If you have then you know it practically takes a lifetime to accomplish.
- If you were only to have one knife for carving, this would be it.
- And really, that’s the one I’d most want a sheath for.
- I don’t know if Morakniv mkes a left hand hook knife.
- They will be your favorite as well if you buy one.
Mora knives are an automatic staple among woodcarving tools. They arrive sharp, work well, last long, and they’re not from China (thank you Sweden).
The best quality and best value spoon hollowing knives you can get. These complement the straight bladed whittling knives very nicely. There isn’t a spoon carver out there without at least one of these knives. Exceptional at their job, and also exceptional value – what’s not to love. A good starter set with a range of tools of decent quality.
It’s just a stick with a hollow shaped at one end. Use them to stir sauces, dole out rice and beans, then forget about them. But like much in woodworking, the hand-carved spoon is in another sphere than its mass-produced substitute. Both knives have generously sized birch handles making them easy and comfortable to grip as you work.
After sketching the outline of the spoon on top of the blank, make relief cuts with a saw or hatchet to where the bowl meets the handle. The bulk of the shaping is done with a long-bladed carving knife, often marketed under the description “sloyd knife,” which refers to the Swedish term relating to handicrafts.
The hook knife was useful for shallow divots, but not very good at digging deep. On to the concave side of the spoon – use a rounded sweep gouge or hook knifeto start removing material from the face of the spoon. This step is completely optional, but since it was sitting right next to me, I used the belt sander to quickly round over the edges on the spoon and sand down to my spoon outline. Again, anything done with a power tool just saves you the work of having to do it by hand in the forthcoming carving step.
With the whittling knife, you give shape to the spoon, then with the hook knife, you cut out the spoon and smooth wood out and that’s all, your spoon is ready. Wood Carving Hook Knife – Long Handle 12″. Spoon Carving Tool for Spoons, Bowls, kuksa and Cups carvings – Basic Crooked Knife by STAMESKY.
Or maybe all we did was learn a thing or two together. Either way, it was a fun and rewarding experience. Then I stood the blank on edge and cut away more waste material.From here, it’s just a matter of rounding everything off with the straight knife and touching up the inside of the bowl. I’ll continue until I’ve dished out slightly past my line.Don’t pull with your cutting arm.
Handle First
Japanese carving tools are good for small sculptural carving. Basswood is a very soft hardwood that is great for beginning carvers, and for chip carving. Here’s what comes in the MoraKniv Woodcarving Set.I could use the more traditional “mallet and palm” carving tools to scoop out a bowl or spoon, but deep down I’m a knife carver. And most carving knives are physically incapable of hollowing a concave surface. If you want a premium experience, you could look to the Morakniv Knife 164.
