Serving spoon

I have been carving the red beech wood that I spoke about in my previous post. Unfortunately there are many hidden knots in the wood, rendering some pieces a bit useless. With this serving spoon it was nearly the same, but I went with it anyway. It has a nice crank, and I like the shape. The wood burnishes up very nicely too. The morning after I carved it I saw that there was a split running through the bowl, delaminating it. I had to emergency-carve it before work to save it. I thinned out the bowl a lot more than I would have usually dared. I hope it will hold up. I would not like this wood to go to waste. It will start its working life now, and we'll see how long it lives.

Red Beech in Clingendael

I think everybody has one: A favourite tree. Or, in my case, a list of favourite trees. Quite high up on my list is a massive red beech that grows in Clingendael, a park near my home. I have always loved this park for its old and iconic trees, and this beech is one of the prettiest and largest of all.  Two weeks ago I took a picture of this magnificent 200 year old tree, because I was afraid that the fungi that infest the tree would get the upperhand sooner rather than later.

 Unfortunately enough  we were right about the trees decreasing health, and yesterday we found out that wind has snapped off the largest sidebranche of the tree. Other branches have been supported with slings to protect the tree from losing more branches, but I am afraid that this is the beginning of the end of this beautiful old thing.

I was happy to see that some bits of wood from the fallen branche were still lying around. I collected a few pieces so that I could carve some spoons from it, and give the wood a second life. Today I made this eating spoon from the wood, and I took it back to take some photos of the spoon with the tree. 

The knife and spoon are lying on one of the many massive fungi that are growing on the tree.

Quite pleased with the side-profile of this eating spoon.

Out of the wood I have collected I hope to carve a few more eaters and perhaps a cooking spoon or two. It is a strange feeling, realizing that I might outlive something that I have known my whole life, and that generations have known their whole life before me. The spoons I will carve from this tree will therefore not leave my collection but will be a reminder of this tree if it ever decides to die before I do.

New tools require new skills.

Besides the lovely adze I got recently, I have also received a parcel in the mailbox containing a lefthanded spoon knife made by Robin Wood. I am lefthanded, and have always used a righthanded mora hook. You can imagine I was excited to finally have one that I could use the way a spoonknife should be used. 

I put a quick but solid handle on the blade, gave it a stropping and carved a spoon from some plum wood. The knife is very nice, but using a lefty for the first time was pretty awkward. Over time I have become adapted to using a right-handed blade in my left hand. Figuring out new grips will take me a couple of spoons, but judged by the way this blade can slice I think it will increase the quality of the tooled finish in my spoon-bowls. 

I also practiced with the adze and carved this little bowl from plum wood. The angle at which it cuts took a while to figure out but it wastes wood very nicely and it made carving this bowl a very fun project. I never really did bowls since the hollowing out was awkward and time-consuming, but those days are now over!

I am looking forward to getting some larger diameter wood, and throw both of my new shinies in the mix for some decent kuksa-carving.