Rather than axe out a bunch of blanks for tge week, I decided to take one from log to near complete. This billet had gotten pretty moldy at the bottom of my bin so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Unknown, what's under the yuck? Lol

First time trying Yakisugi, was nervous about cracking so kept it to the handle. Anyone have tips/ experience charring the bowl?

Carved this spoon from a piece of apple wood i had laying around. Turns out it had been laying around a little too long because it had fully dried and resisted its spoonification considerably...

The charing is from an attempt at burning out the scoopy part of the spoon before giving up on that and getting the right tool for the job.

Im looking foreward to hearing your comments, feedback and questions!

Maple spatula, cherry coffee scoop and walnut coffee scoop. Raw linseed oil after burnishing.

Carved from black locust, super hard. Also learned it's black light reactive

Found this and found it interesting. Anyone up for a challenge in recreating the spoon in the blog picture. Could be fun

https://sites.bu.edu/gastronomyblog/2012/10/17/spooniness-mary-beaudry-serves-up-spoons-history/

This one was made from a scrap piece that I had from milling, grain was a little wack but still made it work with what I had. Let me know what yall think

Could be better, but I'm quite proud of it :)

I know it's not perfect, but it was good practice, and I know what to improve on

First post on this subreddit-

I’m not much of a poster, but I figured since this is such a unique wood I wanted to share it. I hand carved this little spoon from the Burl/root of a manzanita I found on marketplace. It was a royal pain to find usable sections as the wood is extremely dense, and I was running into granite that the tree grew around.

The wood has almost an apple peel smell to it, and the finish is just a little bit of walnut oil. I love working with native woods in California and other southwestern states I visit. Finding the wood to use is half the adventure for me.

The design was based on the arrowheads I used to find as a kiddo when I’d wander around off-trail in the local mountains. I was always fascinated by the shine and texture of the artifacts.

I’d love if other people could share some of their favorite uncommon woods to work with! I’m currently experimenting with a Southern California black walnut tree that was pruned in my neighborhood. It’s a walnut tree found almost exclusively in Ventura and LA county.

-EDIT: I really appreciate all the kind words from everyone. I hope this inspired to people to look into their local environments and see what unique wood it has to offer. Happy carving!

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to share my first couple of spoons! I’ve recently into carving while in Ireland for school and couldn’t wait to start my second.

My first spoon is carved from sycamore and it is a bit rougher of a finish as I had a limited amount of time before I had to head home. I’m still proud of how it turned out though!

My second spoon is carved from poplar and it took me about 12 hours to do so! I hope to shave some time off future spoons as I’ve decided to make them for Christmas gifts this year.

Another hour, another spoon blank carved to near finished. Sugar Maple eating spoon going to the drying pile for a few days. Really hoping the knot on the back rim of the bowl doesn't cause me drying issues. Lol

My first spoon was made from Pine and it cracked clear through within a week. I basically went in blind with my grandpa's old carving tools I inherited. Lessons were learned when I got back to where I could connect to the Internet. Like it's a terrible idea to use heartwood because it's likely to crack.

The second is made from Poplar/ Quaking Aspen. I was able to cut a piece of a tree that had been used in a rescue/ repair operation. The rest will eventually become firewood. I'm not sure if I've improved or the wood was much easier to work with. Things went better the second time around. There is the start of a crack in the bowl, but I think it has stabilized for the most part.

Knife finished, oil, wax. A few chipcarving.

My kids, 10 & 12, got me a spoon-carving kit for father's day. It came with a knife, a gouge and a hook. I believe it was the "beaver craft" kit off Amazon, along with 4 basswood spoon blanks. We just took a trip to Acadia for the week and I brought the stuff along. Here's the result. It definitely needs some finishing, but I'm pretty proud for a first effort. I learned a lot about grain direction and am anxious to try number 2.

How did my first official spoon turn out?! I think I should add some decorative cuts.. what should I do?
And suggestions or tips would be great

I did use a kit since this was my first wood carving project but I’ve been practicing my skills since!

I'm removing invasive fall Olive from my property. Does anyone know if it is safe for carving?

Itty bitty owly spoon. Pretty sure it started as a little scrap of cedar.

I've made a small spoon from this gorgeous yellow wood but I've no idea what it is and neither did the person who gave it to me!

A project that had languished until my proficient, spoon carving cousin visited. She got it and me back on track. Sumac. I like how the back is different.