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2 projects

elsenham177

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Here's a couple of projects I finished today. The spoon is carved from a piece of willow and the catapult from a fallen piece of ash.
 
Catapult looks a cracker 👍🏻 I’ve tried carving a spoon, didn’t look like that tho lol.. spot on 😁

Need to get my carving gear out
 
@elsenham177 , nice work on the spoon. 👍
from the grain pattern i'm guessing that you carved it from a branch and maybe some of the base of the tree for the bowl? i've recently returned to spoon carving myself so i'm always curious about the methods other spoon carvers are using.

fwiw if you find the veg oil finish on your spoons maybe isn't as durable as you'd like check out Pure Tung Oil (for it to be 100% food safe it must be the "Pure" oil and absolutely not the "quick drying" variety which if full on chemical dryers and so forth). it takes a few weeks to dry but it's quite a durable and long lasting finish once properly cured.

i'm sure the sling shot -- that's what they're called in Canada -- is lovely too but i haven't gone near one since the mid 70s so i'm in no position to comment.
 
Yes the spoon was carved from one branch with the bowl coming from the end closest to the trunk. I will have a look at that oil, I think I have heard other people use it in videos I've watched.
 
Get yourself some teak oil
the penetration of teak oil is pretty impressive. did some oak slats with it last year and after a couple coats the stuff looked like it had been soaked in epoxy, seemed almost semi-translucent and the grain REALLY popped. even now those slats still catch my eye as i walk past them in the shop. pretty amazing stuff.

i have read though that teak oil isn't usually food-safe, that would obv be a concern for utensils and such.
 
... I will have a look at that oil, I think I have heard other people use it in videos I've watched.
feel free to ping me if you want any further info on the tung oil. i've used it in various ways over the years and have tried a lot of different permutations, might be able to save you some trial-and-error time.
 
the penetration of teak oil is pretty impressive. did some oak slats with it last year and after a couple coats the stuff looked like it had been soaked in epoxy, seemed almost semi-translucent and the grain REALLY popped. even now those slats still catch my eye as i walk past them in the shop. pretty amazing stuff.

i have read though that teak oil isn't usually food-safe, that would obv be a concern for utensils and such.
The kind of spoons we carve are usually display items teef, another one I use is a green wood preservative which leaves a very light green once its dry
 
There is also food safe Danish oil that could be used...it is applied thinly in several coats and can be burnished to a high gloss.

afaik those "food safe" Danish oils still use chemical dryers which are in fact toxic. the idea is that once those dryers have evaporated you are supposedly left with a non-toxic finish. needless to say that promise doesn't sit well with everyone.

i should add that those Danish Oil finishes are a great product, i have and use them whenever i can. but i specifically don't use them on food items because of those dryers.

there was a big study done in the US about a dozen years or so ago, testing the "food safe" claims of Danish oils and similar products. to make a long story short the conclusion of the researchers was that trace amounts of the chemical dryers _could_ be left on the items that were treated with these oils and that it was up to the consumer to decide if they were comfortable with that risk. that's one of the primary reasons the whole spoon carving community has largely abandoned _all_ finishes with chemical dryers.
 
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good article overall but ...
i've tried mineral oil as a finish and i have to say i generally REALLY dislike it. in many ways it is the least satisfying of the finishes because:
  • it never dries so no sealant properties other than the basic repellency of oil to water.
  • it wears off pretty readily requiring frequent reapplication on heavy use items.
  • it has pretty crappy "mouth feel".
  • it often contains as many "bad" chemicals and chemical by-products as Danish oils.
there is one exception where mineral oil does have a place IMO: cutting boards. the primary reason is that any finish you put on a cutting board is going to take a hell of a beating. in other words you're going to need to redo it fairly frequently no matter what you finish the board with, so might as well use something that does the basic job and is easy to re-apply. beeswax and mineral oil are more are less the candidates of choice here.

i guess i also want to say that i think the cruz of the matter is "what risk the customer is comfortable with". i tend to hang with the hippy crowd so if it's toxic going in they aren't interested, period. far better for me to just settle with something non-toxic from the beginning and never have to fight that fight. obviously that's a totally personal thing and i very much understand that that approach isn't everyone's cup of tea.

oh, and speaking of tea, try mineral oil on your kuksa and you'll find out why mineral oil is not the "go to" solution for all woodenware: you get an oil slick every time. remember, the oil never dries. mineral oil finishes and anything that comes in contact with warm or hot stuff are not a good mix. as ever it's to each his own so YMMV is the rule of thumb here.
 
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ok, one more thing: back when i got started on spooncarving and suchlike i heard about and snapped up a copy of "Swedish Carving Techniques" by the original spooncarving populist, Wille Sundqvist. needless to say he had a few words on finishing. his recommended finish for spoons and such? soak the finished item in warm, full fat milk for several days. apparently the tradition was to throw the finished spoons and such in with the milk while they were making cheese. always wanted to try that. :D
 
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