My life is a lie!

Well, that may be a bit too intense, but at least the cherry was a lie. The little log I made spoons from over the last few days turned out to be not cherry, but willow. When I say 'turned out' I mean that someone kindly pointed out my mistake, and taught me how to distinguish the barks of these trees. The lenticels on cherry-bark have a 'split' in it only horizontally. Willow had more square marks on its bark. Since I usually only have the wood and the bark to go by, learning about bark is important for me. I imagine that a a bit of my cherry wood from a couple of months ago might not have been cherry either. Whoops.

Here is what I made today. A spoon and a butter-knife.

I think that I will not get to carve much over the next two weeks, because I will be on a trip in Iceland. That means that it will be quiet on the blog, but not so much for me. I`ll meet a blade-smith in Iceland and I hope to buy a handforged knife to put a handle on. That`d be cool.

Cherry eating spoon

 This eating spoon turned out quite nice. With that I mean the crank and bowl make it comfortable to eat with. I do not seem to hit the right lines for my spoons to be called very pretty or elegant these days. I`d love to go to the upcoming spoonfest in the UK to learn and be inspired, but this year I can`t make it. Next year I will seriously explore my possibilities timely.

Then further: my girlfriend likes to knit, and she makes fantastic socks, mittens and sweaters in traditional norwegian patterns. When we were tidying up around here we threw our makings on a heap, and she pointed out that it looked nice together. It did indeed, so I`ll post a picture:

Improvements

I think with my last few carvings I have been too quick in calling them done. That spoon I wasn`t happy with has been bothering me a bit, and I figured I would draw a handle shape on it that I`d like better, and see if I could improve it a little. I think I succeeded. The handle is now more in proportion to the bowl, and I got rid of the twist in it.

Side profile of the serving spoon.

Side profile of the fork

  Not all adjustments are improvements though. I worked on that for a bit to improve its side-profile, and that improved, but I think it lost on overall shape with these adjustments. It is becoming quite weak now, and I hesitate to do more on it. I might keep it like this and save it as a reminder on what to look out for in future forks.

Tried a fork

Inspired by this thread on the wonderful BushcraftUK-forum, I had a go at a fork. It presented me with some new angles and it was a fun new challenge. I`ll have to make some more and eventually I might end up with something usable. I live in hope ;-).

 I lost one of the tines in the process. I removed too much wood behind it, and there was too little grain left to support it. I decided to not chuck it in a fire, but to continue with it and simply end up with a three-tined fork instead.

 And there it is. Or at least what I have now. At the moment I do not see where removing wood would improve it, but I might cut away at it some days from now, when it is dryer.

One problem I haven`t solved yet is how to get rid of the fluff that the saw makes in the end of the slots. I think the answer lies in abbrasives. It was fun to do something else for a bit. I foresee more forks in my near future.

Here to serve.

Here is a servingspoon in what i believe to be some cherry. I am not very happy with it. It has a bit of a twist that i noticed too late to correct it. Also, the crank in the handle didnt turn out deep enough. I guess that is what i get when i do not start out with a good idea of what i want to make.

Live and learn

 As you can see, the handle I made for the rockhammer was not in service for long. In use it turned out that it was too thin to hold comfortably, and that resulted in cramped hands in very short time. This obviously would not do, so I replaced it with a piece of hickory-handle that was just lying around here. It is much thicker and more comfy to use. I live and learn.

 In this image you can kind of see the top profile of both handles. It was difficult to balance the 'old' one good enough to get a full top profile, but it shows the point: it is thinner.

Ok, now something closer to the topic of this blog: the spoons I`ve made over the last days here, after the last finishing by knife. Now they`ll get some oil and maybe a new job in a kitchen here or there.

Fiskars x5

My time here started good carving-wise. Once i finished the servingspoon my father in law asked me to make a handle for a rockhammer. He will use it to tap cement of of bricks he will re-use. My girlfriend has the fiskars x5 hatchet here , and i have been wanting to play with it for some time already. Now i got the chance. I carved the handle with it, and once it was done also did a jelly-spoon. Long and slender for reaching into pots with.

The hatchet is a great little thing. A lot smaller than my wildlife hatchet, but it chops well. Its thicker profile makes it a bit less suitable for carving, but as a general tool in a backpack it is a very good choice.

Some weeks in Norway

Norway in sight

 Yesterday I arrived in Norway, where I`ll be some weeks with the family of my girlfriend. Being here is in great contrast with being at home. They live on the country-side with a huge supply of green wood, while at home I have no garden and carve in my room. In other words: It is great to be outside for a while! I began my first day by carving a serving-spoon in birch. Positioned on a veranda surrounded by tall hazel-shoots and a great view of distant mountains, and in the company of my fantastic girlfriend carving was bliss. Enough chit-chat now though, lets talk spoons.

 It is a fairly large serving spoon, and I tried to do something different with the handle once. Once it has dried properly I`ll finish it off with my knife, and give it some oil. I suspect a nice grain-pattern in this one.

My carving-spot for now. A proper stump, a convenient wood-chip-dump down below, and my girlfriends shoes and knitting-project.

A week in France.

Last week I spent a couple of days camping with my family. At a beautiful campsite on the bank of a small river we had some very nice days where I of course made time for carving.

 In france they sold yoghurt in nice little glass jars. My sister and me ate a lot of yoghurt in order to obtain plenty of jars for various purposes. Here one is seen with spoons in it on my little choppingblock.

 On a campingsite there is no better footwear than dutch wooden shoes. Watertight, warm and comfortable. Nobody believes me when I say this, but I am convinced nothing is more convenient and nice.

Overexposed :-s

The wood I sourced locally to carve was mainly what I believe to be sycamore. I also had a small supply of birch, but this had beatles in it that resulted in holes in my spoons....

A spoon with a hook. In the background you can see a car that was a funny thing. Someone had taken the chasis of an old fiat panda and used old pallets to make some sort of jeep out of it. 

Spoonstack.