Wooden Spoons

A s a chairmaker, I enjoy complex projects involving many

parts and many skills. But on occasion I find myself just
wanting to let a walk in the woods and a quiet task take
my day, and I make a spoon. Making spoons is delightful work,
and it’s also an excellent way to refine your hand skills. For a
Reaching for a spoon that you carved yourself adds a great deal
of pleasure to cooking, serving, or eating—and giving one away
is a surefire way to get invited back to dinner.
I rough down the spoon using a bandsaw, hatchet, and draw-
knife. I use a hook knife to excavate the bowl and a sloyd knife
very limited tool investment, spoon carving offers an education to finish shaping. This simple tool kit is best suited to green wood,
in woodworking that lays the foundation for a deep understand- which can be had at just about any fallen tree or pile of trimmings.
ing of the structure of wood and how it can be worked, all while
making something both beautiful and functional. From the humble A few simple tools are all you need
pot stirrer to elaborate ladles, there’s no end to the possible varia- Carving spoons represents a remarkable equation: Minimal tool-
tions, and the quick return on your effort encourages exploration. ing gives maximum results. Although other tools can speed the

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 A delight to make, they’re also
a lasting pleasure to use
B Y P E T E R G A L B E R T

FIND YOUR
SPOON
IN A TREE
By sawing the spoon
blank from the
junction of a tree’s
trunk and branch,
you get long-grain
fibers that follow the
curve of the spoon.
For a ladle, choose
a branch that grew
perpendicular to
the trunk (top). A
branch with a higher
trajectory yields a
spoon with a smaller
bend at the neck
(middle). Cut the
blank so the spoon’s
bowl falls right at the
transition from trunk
to branch (bottom)
and the bowl’s tip
points toward the
base of the trunk.

process, all you really need is a hatchet and a simple knife or

two. I’ve done well with garage-sale hatchets, as long as the steel
quality and geometry are good. The best hatchets for carving
have one flat side and one beveled, offering a much lower cutting
angle, which suits work where you are splitting along the fibers,
such as when roughing out a spoon.
Besides the hatchet, I use a drawknife, a sloyd knife, and a
hooked knife for almost all the rest of the job. The work of the
sloyd could be done with a well-sharpened pocketknife for your
first spoons. The advantage of a sloyd is that it is thick at the back
edge, making for long bevels that are easily honed. The extra mass

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Rough out the blank is also helpful when pushing through a cut. And sloyds have short
blades, offering good leverage.
The hook knife is a specialty tool to be sure. It comes in a variety
Split the trunk in
of curves and can be sharpened for left- or right-hand cutting. I’m
two. Depending on left-handed, and I started with a left-handed tool. But I soon found
the size of the log, that a right-handed knife came in handy as well. To sharpen a
you can use a wedge, hook knife I use diamond paste or fine-grit sandpaper on a dowel.
a hatchet, or a chisel. I often make my own knife handles to suit the size of my hands
as well as the way that I like to use the tools. I find that coarse
handles direct from the bandsaw give me lots of good feedback
on the position of the tool and the pressure that I am applying.

You need the right branch

Carving a spoon starts with finding the part of the tree most ap-
propriate for the style of spoon that you wish to carve. I make
some spoons from wood with relatively straight grain, but the
most dramatic and useful ones come from the crook where a
branch grew from the trunk of a tree. At this intersection, the fibers
naturally bend, so you can make a spoon that curves at the neck
yet has long grain running from the top of the handle to the tip
Jointing with a
of the bowl—a boon for beauty as well as for strength.
hatchet. If you’ll be
splitting the branch
The size of the branch and the angle at which it grew from the
with a bandsaw, trim trunk will dictate the type of spoon I make. A branch that comes
one side of the trunk out horizontally makes fine ladles, while a branch that shoots
flat to make sawing upward is more suitable to a stirring or serving spoon. Sometimes
safer and easier. A I have a final shape in mind when I go looking for a branch, but
hatchet with one most often I enjoy letting the spoils of the day decide for me.
flat face works great
I’ve made spoons from common woods such as cherry, maple,
here.
birch, and hickory, and I particularly like fruit woods, especially
apple. But for your first foray into spoon carving, softer birch or
soft maple might be best, as they highlight the effectiveness of
the tools in shaving and carving.

Rough out the spoon

Once I’ve found a promising workpiece, I cut away the trunk
above and below the branch and then split the trunk with a hatch-
et, wedge, or heavy chisel. Splitting the branch itself is trickier,

Saw or split the

branch. A little
swirl of grain on the
trunk’s pith (above)
indicates where the
pith at the center of
the branch termi-
nates. Start there
and saw up the
center of the branch. Flats before curves. Before shaping any of the spoon’s convex and
This sawn plane es- concave curves, use a drawknife to cut a flat along the length of the
tablishes the under- handle and another on the underside of the bowl. To maximize long-grain
side of the handle. continuity, use the pith as a guide and make your flats parallel to it.

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 Carve the spoon shape

Freehand design. Draw the shape of your

spoon on the top flats. A centerline helps keep Carve the cavity. Galbert roughs out the interi- Perimeter trim. With the inside of the bowl
the design symmetrical. Lateral lines help or of the bowl with a hook knife before carving excavated, Galbert uses a sloyd knife to carve
position the bowl so that its deepest part is at its perimeter. This gives him more room to grip away most of the waste around the bowl.
the junction between the branch and the trunk. and an added margin for safety as he carves.

The neck is next. Rough in the neck, working Shear the rim. Using a long sloyd knife, make
toward it from both the handle and the bowl. A a shearing cut that trims both sides of the bowl
short-bladed sloyd knife works well here. at once, leaving the perimeter smooth, flat, and
in one plane.

A simple tool kit

Galbert uses a hook knife (top) and
two sloyd knives for the majority
of carving. Both sloyd knives are
versatile, but the longer one excels at
planing cuts, while the shorter one is
best for fine detail work. Knives are
available from many woodworking
retailers, but Galbert buys the blades
and makes his own handles. He
recommends two knife makers,
both of whom sell knives with or A helping hand. Galbert makes a long, steady
without handles—Nic Westermann shearing cut to help define the handle by
(nicwestermann.co.uk/) and Pinewood holding the knife stationary and pulling the
Forge (pinewoodforge.com). spoon downward with his grip hand.

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Refine the details

Watch your weight. Stop frequently to assess

the shape and balance of the emerging spoon.
It’s easy to carve too far in pursuit of a clean
surface, so check the thickness often, using your
fingertips as a gauge.

Neck and handle. If the pith is still visible, it can serve as a centerline
to help keep the spoon symmetrical as you carve the narrows of the
neck. With the spoon almost fully shaped, Galbert turns to the top of
the handle (right). He’ll leave the spoon a bit oversize to allow for a little
drying distortion before carving the finished surface.

and I often resort to the bandsaw, carefully cutting down the

centerline. My goal is to find and follow the fibers so that they
run continuously down the handle and to the tip of the bowl.
Next, with a drawknife, I establish flats along the underside of the
handle and the bottom of the bowl. Then I use the drawknife to
create flats on the top of the handle and bowl. The flat above the
bowl is a ramped plane that cuts down through the long-grain fi-
bers. Make its front edge parallel with the front edge of the bottom
flat. With all the flats established, I draw the outline of my spoon.
At this point, I hog out the material from inside the bowl. I
work mostly across the fibers, drawing the hook knife toward
my thumb, which is tucked safely below the lip of the bowl. I
use a number of different grips to hold the spoon and knife to
maximize my control and safety. Find grips that have a limited
range of motion and natural stops. Once the bowl is roughly hol-

68 F I N E w o o d w o r k in g
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Finish up

Nuke it—or not. With the spoon fully shaped

but still slightly oversize, Galbert sets it
aside to dry for a few days—more for larger
spoons—before final carving. If he’s in a hurry,
he’ll give the spoon two 10-second bursts in Fine shavings for the final surface. With the spoon dried, Galbert refines the shape,
the microwave instead. compensating for any distortions caused by drying. He takes fine cuts to create a silky surface.

lowed, I carve to the outlines and then shave the outside of the
bowl. I aim for an even bowl thickness and use my thumb and
forefinger as a gauge.

Shape and balance the handle

As the bowl takes form, I begin to shape the handle and balance it
to the bowl. The tight curves and reversing grain in the transition
area between the handle and the bowl can be a trouble spot. Be
careful not to thin out this area too much. As it nears the bowl
the neck becomes thin and tall, which makes it both easy to hold
between your fingers and strong because of its height.
I set the spoon aside to dry while I still have enough material to Finishing up.
correct any distortion from the drying process. For a week or so Galbert scrapes
I put the spoon in a paper bag to slow down the drying process and sands the
and allow the spoon to lose moisture without cracking. After that, interior of the
bowl—the rest
a few days exposed to the air hardens the outer layers enough
of the spoon is
to let me achieve a good finished surface with a knife. On small left with a knife
or thinner spoons, distortion isn’t much of an issue. Spoons with surface. After, he
large bowls are trickier. If you leave them thick enough to refine, soaks the finished
they might crack from stress when drying. If they are too thin, spoon in a jar of
they may not have enough wood left to even out the distortion. pure tung oil for a
A little experience goes a long way on this. week. He wipes off
the excess and lets
the spoon dry for a
The finished form few weeks before
I refine the outer portions of the spoon with nothing but a knife using it.
for a pleasing, faceted surface, and one on which the grain won’t
rise when moistened. On the inside of the bowl, however, I fin-
ish with a curved scraper and sandpaper. The smoothly rounded
surface provides a contrast to the facets on the rest of the spoon
and prevents food from sticking.
I place my dry, finished spoons in a spaghetti jar full of natural
tung oil for about a week. Then I remove them and wipe away
the excess oil. After a few weeks, I burnish the spoon with some
shavings and put it to use. I’ve found that this finish, combined
with good maintenance, will last for years.  □

Peter Galbert builds chairs, spoons, and tools in Roslindale, Mass.

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