Making Wooden Spoons

Here is how I make my spoons:

First: Fell the tree.

Well, this is a pine tree, and I don’t use pine wood for spoons, but in exchange for some black walnut wood, we helped our friends cut down a few pine trees in their yard. A pretty good exchange I say. The majority of my spoons are made from the pieces of black walnut wood that I received.

OR…

Buy a few planks of wood at the lumber yard.

Second: Cut felled tree into manageable size pieces.

Here my father-in-law and brother-in-law splitting some wood for me while my husband looks on.

Third: Cut manageable sized pieces into spoon shapes, or further manageable pieces.

I’m the one at the band saw cutting the split wood into smaller pieces or into spoon shapes as I saw fit. My brother-in-law is sawing off a few knots and damaged wood from the branches.

Fourth: Choose the piece to carve.

Fifth: Shaping the spoon.

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding.

Oiling and drying.

When I make my spoons, I soak them in the flax seed oil for a minimum of 12 hours, usually 12-24, before taking it out and wiping the access oil off. Then I leave it to dry.