In Jogge Sundqvist’s class on making spoons & bowls that I attended last month, one of the other students was Will Simpson. I have bumped into Will on the web here & there, so it was nice to meet up with him for real. One thing Will said is that he was trying to make 100 spoons this year. He was well on his way during the class… (here’s some of his work http://picasaweb.google.com/linux.photo.geek/Spoonery?feat=embedwebsite# )
One of my goals in the class was to learn about making spoons from straight-grained riven stock, as opposed to making them from “crooks.” The notion with the crook is that you make a spoon with a nice curve that follows the bottom of the spoon bowl, up through the stem towards the handle. Fine, if you have some crooks. These are trickier to find than you might think, unless you have a patch of woods from which you can cut stuff…
So I decided that I am only going to make two spoons. I’m just doing them over & over again. One I posted here before I went to the class, Jogge’s father Wille Sundqvist made it at Country Workshops some years ago.
I had seen it there last year, and it’s a beauty. So I worked up a pretty careful copy of the shape of this one, (still not really done, though) and then just cut multiple versions of it. It’s small, so I can fit it in my pocket, and carve it as time allows here & there. What I have been doing is splitting out & hewing the general shape, then I toss it in the basket for knife work later. So a couple 20-minute sessions each day gets me the basic form. Then I let them dry and do the final shaping later…
The other spoon I am making is also based on Wille’s work, and is a larger version really of the same thing. A bit different bowl for it. I carved one, and decided I liked it, so rather than trying to design something new each time, I am just working the same basic shapes. I’m glad I stumbled onto this approach, this way I concentrate on the cuts, and their sequence. Once those are really nailed, then I can spread out a bit for different shapes. Unless I come across a really good crook as I sift through the pile of stock I have…
Most all of mine above are birch, some are holly. More joinery next…
links:
PETER FOLLANSBEE: JOINER’S NOTES 
Peter,
Lovely work sir. As always I am impressed with the quality of not only your wood work, but also of your written work. You mention spoons from straight stock. Does this mean you are splitting your stock radially, then hewing the basic spoon shape out of the split “plank”? If so, this technique might result in more spoons per piece of wood than hewing them directly from a split quarter or eighth. It looks like, from looking at your prototype, that the profile is generally flat, with the handle being level with the end of the bowl. Thanks for the bit of clarity there, excellent work and lovely spoons.
-Tom
I think that Bill Coperthwaite made 100 for the local library silent auction one year. There’s a thought.
I like this approach Peter. I find making “just one spoon” is a great way to really perfect that design because of course no two are identical and each one will hopefully either be a step closer toward the perfect spoon in your head or a learning process along the way. Like you say it also helps you concentrate on the tool use, if you know exactly where you are going you get there much quicker. I also have several of Wille’s spoons and find them difficult to improve on.
Hi I’m a frustrated bloke with aspirations of carving and diy ing my thing is if it looks crap or is crap then it becomes kindling
I’m still in full time employment so haven’t got spare hours to spend on stuff I’d love to do
One day eh