Head to toe carving: the eyes

I’m always rattling on during workshops that folks should use their whole body when carving. Now I’m not proposing you strap a carving axe to your head and run like a bull at chunk of cherry; that wouldn’t do at all. No, what I’m saying is that carving is about so much more than your hands, a tool and some wood.

Built into this incredible machine we all pilot is a whole range of woodworking gubbins that help us grip, slice, assess, chop and design. There’s a heap of information out there on carving techniques that focus on hands and tools, but not a lot on all those other handy bits from eyes down to toes.

So, seeing as I have to shoot in a minute to pick my boy up from school, and I don’t have time right now to go through the detailed anatomy and physiology of your standard spoonerd, I’m going to start a little series of guides that detail head-to-toe carving. And where else to start than at the top.

Carving with your eyes

Don’t worry, this isn’t a tutorial on how to perform a knife grip with your eyes; it’s not a fabled 11th knife grip to follow up the ten shown in workshops around the world by Messers Sundqvist. No, this is using your eyes for the purpose they are intended.

To see, not look.

So you’ve got a copy of the latest spoon carving book. If I’m up to date on this it should be Spon by none other than Barn the Spoon. A beautiful and inspiring book it is, filled with lots of photos that in recent months has encouraged many a new and experienced carver to have a go at a Barn made spoon. And as most have discovered, there is difficulty in replicating simplicity, which to me is the underlying beauty in many of Mr The Spoon’s creations.

But why is it so tricky? There are lots of reasons here, from being a carver still developing the dexterous skills to make such a spoon, to being an experienced carver set in their ways as to what works for them. The other reason, which can be overlooked, is that it’s too easy to fall into the trap of copying an image of a spoon by only looking at it holistically.

When your eyes fall over the overall image of a spoon and command your hands to copy what lies before them, they don’t pick up the function of individual parts, or the relationship of neighbouring sections before assembling them together in a seamless food shoveller or dolloper. They don’t see the spoon.

The same would go with making a spoon of your own design. Regardless of how long you spend on designing that elusive ‘perfect’ spoon, things probably won’t work out for you if you don’t see the spoon you are creating. The flow of the keel from the bowl to handle; the width of the neck in relation to the diameter of the bowl; the splay of the handle and how it enhances or clunkifies (real word in my world) the length of the spoon, and so on…

See that spoon, and when you’re ready, carve.

I think it was my favourite spoon carving ogre, Pat, who threw it out there a few months back, asking what makes a good spoon carver. There were lots of answers, and of course all were true, but in my humble opinion a good spoon carver starts with the eyes and ends with the hands (using other body parts along the way). Yes it’s important to always learn, to listen and to be humble, but these things make you a better human being, not necessarily a better carver. Being a better human is of course more important than being a top notch carver. Well just, anyway. But if you can nail the design by seeing the spoon, and build your tool skills over time, then you will end up a bloody good carver, like Pat. Check out Pat’s work over at @klipnockywoods on Instagram and you will see a carver who knows and sees every part of the spoon he’s creating.

Of course the irony of all this is I’ve been carving and squinting at little spoons for so long now that I’ve completely stuffed my eyesight. Oh well.

Peace & whittles,

J.D.

Photo by: Liam Edward Brennan

Love your spoons

Dressing your beautiful new hand carved spoon up is a personal thing; some people like a raw spoon that ages and develops a beautiful patina through years of use, and others like a sleek and shiny little number that sits pride of place on the spoon rack.

Whatever your choice, there are some basic things you can do that will see you and your spoon growing old together. Put simply, wash it after you use it by running it under a tap and then leave it to air dry. Don’t soak it as this may cause the wood to split, and don’t pop it in the dishwasher unless you want to go with that pre-aged look.

Now if you want to treat it, a really good thing to use is a homemade oil and beeswax blend. It’s super easy to make, completely food safe and is handy for adding a bit of shine to any bit of wood lying around the house.

This is what you do: mix four parts organic coconut oil* with one part beeswax by heating gently in a water bath (the same gentle way you melt chocolate). Stir until everything is a clear liquid. Pour into a jar and set aside to cool where it will turn into a beautiful smelling white paste.  Pop the lid on the jar and Bob’s your uncle, you have your own home made wood treatment that is so food safe it’s actually edible!

*Now, choice of oil can be a bit controversial among spoonies. I’ve seen big arguments arise from this subject, which is completely silly. Here’s the thing, oils for the purpose of treating wood are split into three types: non-polymerising oils (this means they are not a ‘drying oil’ and won’t form a thin protective shell as it dries). Coconut oil is a non-polymerising oil, so it won’t hold up as long as the second type of oil, a polymerising oil. These are oils like linseed/flax oil, they soak in and as they dry - which can take up to six months (!) they will give that thin film of protection. The thing is, in the turbid and hot world of cooking pots, the polymerised protection won’t last that long, so in my opinion you are better off with the non-polymerised coconut oil, which smells better, is non-greasy, doesn’t colour the wood, and I’ve never had any go rancid on me. Sure, you will need to reapply more often, but it’s a good excuse to feel all those tool marks and lines you carved into your spoon. Yes it’s spoon fondling…if you’re a spoonerd you’ll understand.

And finally, the third type of oil are the cocktail oils: a bit of this and a bit of that and sometimes you get some great oils. Some of them stink to high heaven when you apply them but as they dry this smell will go away. Mineral oil comes under this category and this cheeky little fellow gets some folk more riled than anything else. Personally, I don’t use it because it is concocted from petrochemicals and the world doesn’t need any more of these. But in terms of how well it performs as an oil, it’s great and I know some fantastic carvers who use it every day. But really, the only ‘rule’ you need to follow, is use only food safe oils…so no motor oil or diesel!

Now we have that out of the way, all you need to do is slather your spoon in the paste, really massage it into the pores, and then buff off the excess with a cloth. You’ll end up with a spoon that likes to show off its lustre and vibrant grain to all its mass produced stainless steel compatriots.

Keep what’s left over and reapply whenever the wood is looking a little dry and tired.

If you don’t have coconut oil you can use other oils like food grade flax/linseed seed oil (can spontaneously combust if left on cotton rags, and your spoon will smell like a cricket bat!), or nut oils, but be wary of sharing the spoon with people who may have a nut allergy. Oh, and never use boiled linseed oil because it contains nasties. There I go talking about oil types again!

If you are oiling a cooking spoon that spends a lot of time in the hot stuff, forget about the beeswax and just use the oil, because the wax hangs only around the surface and will quickly melt into your lovely curry, and beeswax, while it smells lovely, tastes bloody horrible.

And that’s it…enjoy your beautiful new spoon!

Peace & whittles,
JD.