A day of Spoon carving

Yesterday I ran a spoon carving course after an enquiry from a very nice lady called Kate, Kate had never carved a spoon before so the course was run with this very much in mind, we ran through what wood to choose and what to look for in the wood we select, safe axe technique and how to hold the axe correctly.

 Kate took to the axe very quickly and showed great promise with acuracy and power

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One of the things we covered on the the course was achieving a crank in the spoon using straight wood, I ran through how the wood is split can determine strength in the spoon and end grain problems.

Because of the accuracy Kate was achieving with the axe I was able to show her how to carve from the front of the bowl to achieve the crank in the bowl, rather than carving from the side of the bowl. Also explaining the problems of misstriking with the axe on the bowl side which can cause the bowl to crack/split the bowl.

After lunch we covered the various knife grips and when to use them on the spoon blank to achieve safe technique and how to work the grain without lifting.

Then we moved to the spoon knife and the various ones that are available on the market, we talked about the different radius's and how best to use them and safe technique.

A happy Kate with her spoon.

I really enjoyed the course and was impressed with Kate's skill level and how it progressed throughout the course.
If your interested in a course with me please get in touch more info can be found here.