A Silk Hat

A very talented carpenter that I worked with at my previous job had a saying that he liked to use on not-so-high end projects:

"If you put a silk hat on a pig, it's still a pig."

I always enjoyed this statement, and was reminded of it when I was working on my hook knife recently. As I have touched upon previously I have become addicted to spoon carving. It is a maddeningly complex skill set that at first glance appears to be stupid simple. I bought the most inexpensive set of knives I could find because I am cheap (or poor). The straight knife I got works like a champ but the hook knife cuts like, for the sake of my anecdote, a pig.

Original profile with hard, blunt bevels.

Seeing as I am an obsessively compulsive nut bag I took it upon myself to see if I could make a silk hat, and turn this $17 knife cut like an $80 knife. First I took a file to the blade...this was a bad idea and ruined a perfectly good 8" mill file (I guess these knives are hardened fairly well). So my second attempt took me to the sandstone grinding wheel I have at work. This was really slow, but very effective.

Next was sanding, sanding, and more sanding. I started at 120 grit, and then progressed up through 220, 320, 400, 600, and 1000 (did I mention how compulsive I am?). I used a block of wood on the back of the knife, and then wrapped the sandpaper around a dowel for the inside surface. Finally, I stroped with a little bit of rouge polish and leather mounted on a block of wood to normalize and polish the edge.

Polishing the blade really makes the maker's mark pop.

I should have sanded more, if you can believe it, but the edge is fantastic. I might do some work to make the whole surface polished like the really nice hook knives I have seen from makers like Pinewood Forge, Hans Karlsson, and Svante Djarv. It was a lot of work, about a weeks worth of lunch breaks, but it did greatly improve the overall smoothness of cut and sharpness of the knife. 

More polishing on the outside might cause less friction in the cut.

You can see that I ground into the ferrul by accident while re profiling on the sandstone...my OCD is getting the better of me and I might re-helve this knife with some apple, or beech, oooo or boxwood, or...calm down Jason, you have a problem.

Rouded profile makes for cleaner cuts

If you have time, or have already purchased this knife and are unhappy with its performance, I would recommend re-profiling, but if you have money just buy a high end knife. I have tried several of the knife makers I mentioned above thanks to Peter Follansbee, and I can say without a doubt my re-profiled knife is still a pig

Remember, you can't polish a piece of sh...or maybe you can.

The Sweet Smell of Success

After many broken spoons, and plenty of...explicit words, I finally finished my first spoon. The proportions are a little off, the whole thing twisted like a corkscrew when it dried, and the bowl is a tad bit lop sided, but I feel like the proud parent of an ugly baby.

I chickened out from adding chip carving to the handle.

This spoon is made from a piece of apple wood that was gifted to me from a visitor to the museum. Apple is wonderful to work with as long as it is wet. I treated the spoon with some Walnut Oil which really made the heartwood pop.

I left the knife marks on, I think it gives more character.

I learned a few key things in my quest for a wooden spoon:

1. These little buggers are WAY more complex than they first appear.

2. Don't try for perfection, that is what factories are for.

3. Wood selection is paramount. Fruit and Nut woods are preferred, any sort of ring porous wood is abismal.

4. Consider me addicted.

I really like the side profile.

Onwards and Upwards!

Loffel Brecher

Three broken spoons does not a spoon carver make. In fact, it makes the opposite of a spoon maker, it makes a spoon breaker, which is now my new nickname at work.

For Christmas I got some Frost Mora knives. I will keep comments on the knives to a minimal (read "do your own d@%n research") but I do have to say the 106 is a fantastic knife, while the 164 leaves a lot to be desired.

New spoon carving knives #106 and #164

On to the spoon massacre...ing. My first victim came in the form of a straight piece of Sassafras.  I started hacking away with a hatchet, and then switched to the knives. There was some strange grain in the handle so I kept going back and forth trying to get a smooth cut. Before I knew it there was 1/16" of wood left in the handle. Botch number 1.

The bowl is funny shaped anyways.

Next, I did some independent research into spoon carving methods and forms. I highly recommend this Woodwright episode, anything on Follansbee's website, and Robin Wood's spoon porn. My second attempt I used a piece of Sassafras with a crook and whittled it down to a fairly respectable impersonation of a Swedish style spoon. It wasn't till the very end when I was getting to the anal retentive bowl thinning phase that I cut too deep...which ended up with a nice hole. Botch number 2

A hole in one side...and a pinhole knot.

For my third spoon shaped object I talked to P.Follansbee and got some great pointers on wood selection, spoon geometry, and he even gave me a tour of his spoon carving tool roll. Before leaving he let me take a nice clean piece of Birch. I thought for sure that this would be the time that I actually completed a crappy spoon, but again when thinning out the bowl I took one hard cut and snapped off half the spoon. Botch number 3.

A broken birch spoon

While cutting rafter poles for a house frame I walked the woods for some suitable white birch. I didn't find the birch, but I did run across an interesting tree with olive green heart wood, internet says it is Staghorn Sumac. So I should have plenty of branches to mangle into spoon shaped chunks of wood in the next month.

This is neon green in real life, my next victim.

P.S. Sassafras, fun to say, fun to spell. Also, the oils from the tree were used as a cure for "Social Diseases" in the 17th century. Look it up, you will eventually get it.

P.P.S. I may have just found the topic for my next post.