By Show Me Step by StepPublished
Based on a video by David's Passage.
A carved wooden spoon starts as a plain stick and ends as something you can stir soup with. You do not need a shop full of tools. This tutorial follows Dave from David's Passage, who carves a simple spoon with one fixed blade knife and a folding saw, then smooths it with a rock. It is a rough, rustic spoon, the kind you could make at a campsite, and it teaches every basic move you need for finer spoons later.
Fresh, green wood carves far more easily than dry wood. Look for a straight branch about as thick as your wrist with no knots where the bowl will go. Birch, cherry, maple, alder and basswood are all good choices. Avoid anything toxic, such as yew, and anything very resinous like pine for a spoon you will eat from. Carve the spoon within a few days of cutting the branch, or keep it in a plastic bag so it does not dry out.
A sharp knife is safer than a dull one, because it goes where you aim instead of skidding. Carve away from your body whenever you can. Keep the hand holding the wood behind the blade, never in front of it. A cut resistant glove on the holding hand is cheap insurance for a beginner. Sit down, brace your elbows on your knees and take small cuts. If the knife starts to bind, stop and cut from a different direction instead of forcing it.
Dave hollows the bowl with the tip of a straight knife, which works but is slow. A hook knife, a curved blade made for spoon bowls, scoops out the hollow much faster and leaves a smoother surface. Try your first spoon with what you have. If you enjoy it, a hook knife is the one tool worth adding.
Let the spoon dry slowly for a few days away from heat, so it does not crack. Then sand it smooth, wet it to raise the grain, let it dry and sand once more. Rub in food grade mineral oil or a beeswax and oil blend. Wash by hand, never in the dishwasher, and re-oil it when it looks dry.
Practice the basic knife cuts in how to whittle, then try carving a gnome. Decorate a finished spoon handle with wood burning, or pair it with a homemade cutting board for a gift.
10 steps · about 6 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Find a straight, fresh branch. Grip it in your fist to judge the size, then leave a little extra beyond where you want the spoon to end. Saw it to length with a folding saw. Dave uses a Bahco Laplander, but any small saw works. A blank a few inches longer than the finished spoon gives you room to fix mistakes.
Tip
Green wood carves much more easily than dry wood, so use a branch cut in the last few days.
Look at the end of the stick and find the pith, the dark center. You want it on the top face of the spoon, and a natural curve in the stick helps. Set the knife blade across the end, a little off center, and tap the spine with a piece of wood to split it. This is called batoning. Keep the half with the curve you like.
Tip
Tap gently. A few light strikes split the wood more cleanly than one hard blow.
If you do not have a pencil, score a line with the knife to mark where the spoon will stop. Then start removing wood. Carve long strokes away from you to taper the blank toward the handle end. Leave the handle area thick for now. You will need something solid to hold while you work on the bowl.
Tip
Cut downhill along the grain. If the wood tears, turn the blank around and cut the other way.
Take the sharp corners off so the blank starts to look round. Put your thumb against the spine of the knife and push the blade with it, like peeling a potato. This gives you short, controlled cuts. Work along every corner until the blank looks octagonal when you look at the end.
Tip
Push with your thumb on the spine, not your palm. Small cuts keep the knife in control.
On the flat top face, lightly draw the shape of the bowl with the knife tip. A pencil works, or a piece of charcoal from the fire if you are outdoors. Go lightly until you like the shape. This line is your guide for hollowing, so give the bowl a nice oval with a little wood left around the edge.
Tip
Keep the bowl outline a few millimetres in from the edge so the rim will not be too thin.
Put the knife tip in the middle of the bowl and push down. Then sweep it around toward one edge, like drawing a quarter of a circle. Repeat from the middle toward each quarter of the outline. These sweeping cuts lift out small chips and form a little dimple you can keep working deeper.
Tip
Keep your free hand behind the blade at all times while you use the tip.
Keep whittling away the inside of the bowl with the knife tip. Work from the edges toward the center, and from both ends, so you always cut with the grain. This is the slowest part. Take your time and check the depth often. A hook knife makes this step much quicker if you have one.
Tip
Hold the bowl to the light. Thin spots glow, which tells you to stop cutting there.
With the bowl roughed out, shape the rest of the spoon. Carve the handle down from the thick blank into a slim, comfortable stem, and round the back of the bowl to match the inside. Take long, steady cuts along the handle and shorter ones around the curve of the bowl. Now it starts to look like a spoon.
Tip
Hold the spoon the way you will use it as you go. Your hand will tell you if the handle is right.
The spoon will have lots of ridges and rough tips. Take very light cuts with no pressure and let the blade shave off the high spots. If your knife has a square 90 degree spine, you can scrape with it to smooth the surface further. Go over the whole spoon until the facets are small and even.
Tip
Let the edge do the work. Pressing hard is how slips happen.
On the trail, Dave finds a clean, rough rock and rubs it over the spoon like sandpaper. At home, sandpaper does the same job faster. Work over the bowl and handle until the surface feels smooth. Let the spoon dry slowly, then rub in food grade oil before you use it.
Tip
Start with a coarse grit and work up to a fine one for a silky finish.
Keep going
How to Build a Wooden Planter Box (Simple Straight-Cut Build)
9 steps · about 12 minutes
How to Carve a Wooden Spoon With a Knife
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