4 oak butter knives finished with raw linseed oil

The black cherry was carved dry and I have honestly been struggling with the dry black cherry stock I have. It’s been prone to tear outs and knots and has been a pain, haven’t had one turn out exactly how I want it. I’m stoked with this greenwood sweet gum spoon though it came out great.

Sandpaper, oil, wax.

I’m new to spoon carving and one suggestion I got for gathering greenwood was to head out after a storm and collect from downed branches/treees. I managed to snag a couple big pine rounds with lots of knots for chopping blocks, but most of the wood I’ve found has been infested with what I assume is termites? I should have taken pictures, I know.

Logically I guess this makes sense since compromised branches would snap easier in the wind. What do you guys do to find uninfested wood without having to saw into it? Are there any other tells to look for?

Thanks and happy carving!

I’ve put together something I’m calling The Spoon Carver Survey.

Catchy name, I know.

https://tally.so/r/WOv6AJ

It’s a survey about who we are, how we learned, and why we carve. My hope is to collect responses from as many spoon carvers as possible, then publish what I discover in a report in January.

Survey takes about 6 minutes to complete. I'd also really appreciate it if you share the survey with any other spoon carvers you know.

Mods, if this breaks any of the sub's rules, feel free to remove.

The knot fell out but I kept carving. I really like this one. Good for stews not so much for soups

This turned out way better than I expected. The wood had been sitting in my parent’s garage for about 25 years. They asked me to clear out various old hardwood to use myself at my workshop. Apparently, this board came from a neighbors apple tree.

I finished this flipper today for my dear old mother’s birthday. I worked on it off and on when I had time this past month.

I used hand tools and carving knives for 90% but I couldn’t get the smooth finish I wanted. The wood is very hard and the curled grain pattern was a nightmare for my knives. I usually carve green wood so this was a new challenge.

I switched to an orbital sander using grits 80,120,180 and got the finish I wanted. Soaked in mineral oil for 30mins and here we are.

I think I will make many more utensils from this wood.

My first foray into love spoons as a gift for my friend's wedding! Quite pleased with how they turned out.

Teak wood finished with quick dry tung oil (ran out of time for normal cure times 😅)

After a few failed attempts at carving a spoon, I think I finally got it. I was really excited to get to use maple that my neighbor who has a tree trimming company gave me. I was going to leave all the carving marks but the wood was so pretty. I had to sand it before I finished it with tung oil.

Its turned out pretty cool, but way too fragile to use (already broke a couple of times and been glued), but basically...don't hollow out the spirals 😅😅

Carved from Huon Pine.

It’s better than I thought it’d be but also not perfect in many ways. Lots of learning ahead but this is a truly great hobby.

Looking through cheap hatchet options online, I came across this one. It has the thinnest head of all the other options. It's not a dedicated carving hatchet, but looks decent.

What do you guys think?

Just a little cherry blank I've been working on. My brother-in-law is an arborist so sometimes I get the scraps. I do a couple blanks at a time when I prep them and then throw them in the freezer to save for whenever the creative itch tingles.

Rough carving is my favorite stage. It very much is just removing everything that isn't the spoon. The spoon is in there, you just gotta find it lol

Came across this really smart way to add a spoon mule to an existing shaving horse - every other design i've seen involves creating a whole new mount for the shaving bench.

I'm searching for a hatchet to carve spoons, but I don't want to spend too much. This one is 1055 steel. My other option would be a Morakniv hatchet.

Fell in love with carving a few years ago. This is one of my most recent pieces. This was carved green so it is away drying right now.

Wife got me a Flexcut spoon carving kit for cheap from work, so gave it a try. Really enjoyed it, despite quite disliking both the Flexcut tools and carving basswood haha. Have a morakniv 120 on the way, and a friend is cutting some trees soon so I’ll be giving a slightly harder wood a try. I will sharpen up the Flexcut hook knife and make it work for now, if I enjoy it with a better sloyd and better wood I’ll invest in a nicer hook.

Spent probably four months carving bowls with a crook knife that just felt wrong in my hand every single time. Kept blaming the steel, thought maybe I needed a different sweep or a shallower curve. Turned out the actual problem was my grip, I was choking up too close to the blade and losing all the leverage that makes the cut smooth.

A guy at a local carving meetup watched me struggle for about ten seconds and just repositioned my thumb on the back of the blade. Small change, completely different result. The wood started coming off in these long curling ribbons instead of the choppy little bites I'd been getting, and my wrist stopped aching afterward too.

Been working mostly in green birch lately since there's a tree that came down near my place last month and I've been slowly working through rounds of it. The spoon I'm finishing now started as a pretty gnarly branch crotch, lots of interesting grain but it fought me the whole way through the rough shaping with the hatchet.

Still get tearout sometimes on the bowl when I cross grain lines I didn't plan for. Anyone else notice certain trees just carve meaner than others even when the wood looks clean on the outside? Curious if it's a moisture thing or just inherent to the species.

Zona mini spoke shave excels at taking off tiny shavings

she loved it :3

Oak butter knives( just the sap wood)painted with oil paint but yet to be oiled