I find that my wife is often pleased with new things. Some of you out there may have noticed yours are also. So as it is a rainy day, I would like to share something fairly easy, and fun to do.
Make her some spoons. Wooden spoons can be made in minutes, frankly. That includes finishing. I made these with a bench sander and a handsaw. Grain should be as fairly long as you can get it. The material used was red oak from a scrap pallet. You can see one of the nail holes in a spoon still. I made these spoons for her birthday. I set out to make her thirteen of them. A bit of rough weather shortened me up to four. She seemed not to mind though. I varied the shapes for a few different purposes I had in mind from watching her cook.
- A short spoon for saucepan work.
- A long spoon for stirring deeper pots.
- A long spoon with a wide chisel for scraping.
- A short paddle for stirring rougher materials.
They are still being used in the kitchen about seven months later. They were sealed in coconut oil and every so often, Alexandrea anoints them anew and they are hallowed for another six months of service or so(if past experience is to be followed).
I had some boards laying around for awhile. I marked out the shapes I wanted and took them down with a handsaw. It is a fairly straightforward process. Start with taking off the corners. Then the rest of the corners. Around the shoulders a chisel or knife comes in handy. I used an old serving knife that I had in the shop. A drawknife would have been handy. I need to get around to making one of those. Tomorrow is another day.
Once you have it roughly to shape, the belt sander wheel is about perfect for taking off the dish of the spoon. Starting from the middle and working my way out, I took away all the waste. I also took material off the back of the dish to make it look more pleasing. I suppose it also makes it weigh less. The photograph below shows a bit of that. I left the ends of two spoons square, to use for scraping. If you do this, I suggest going for a thick edge to resist splitting. Tell me what you find out if you do make any at all!
Lo, the finished spoon. This was before it was rubbed with oil. Alex got it handed to her, unwrapped. Partly because she kept asking what she was getting for her birthday.
Of course my wife got to provide a bit of input on her subsequent spoons. So her incessant pestering was probably well advised. Granted I still would have probably made quite similar articles, a wooden spoon is after all, a wooden spoon. Her being able to say something about their design and construction was a good thing all the same, I believe.
The spoon above has the deepest dish out of any of them. I intended it to be used for tasting and I think it works well for that. You can send us an email and ask Alexandrea.
It does not matter if you got the dish symmetrical, it will still hold fluid. You certainly should not let the spoon looking funny when it is done bother you. I still think mine look funny. All that matters is that they are spoons.
See? This one is all over the place. Asymmetrical. Shmetrical. Your spoon is alright. Go ahead and make it.
Hagal means hail. Hail is a destroyer of crops. This was too little to really hurt us bodily. Still drove me out of the shop! My wife got four spoons despite our blustery day. We did not escape unscathed however.
We lost some plants and the children saw the playhouse go flying. Did not quite render it to matchsticks, but close. This does not have anything to do with spoons of course. I am always impressed by the power of storms. Thank you for letting me share my fascinations with you.
Warm regards,
Wulf
Wulf's Fire 