One of the hardest things I do is stacking firewood and preparing kindling. This is not borne out of any arduous effort required, but of NEEDING to examine each and every piece to see what possibilities it may contain! That delays the whole process of preparing for next winter, but I can’t help it – even my 6 year old grandson says ” is there a spoon in here, Oupa?” There usually is…….

This blog is a celebration to some of those firewood or kindling spoons.

This is the most recent one finished.

This came from a small offcut after finishing a repair of a garden bench. So much of my material comes from kindling offcuts. That is the only way I have got my hands on some Walnut.

All the kindling is usually so dry and that makes the carving very different. It’s much harder physically but then on the good side the sanding is easier.

This scoop recently finished is in very, very dry Cherry – really gives a satin finish.

Sometimes even a very plain piece of Maple can be quite pleasing when given a little elaboration as on the end of the handle.

Even a small bit of practical embellishment can add to an already pleasing grain. This is spalted Ambrosia Maple – an offcut again destined for the kindling pile. Fortunately – other possibilities were spotted!

Finally another scoop from the same piece of spalted Ambrosia Maple kindling.

So in a nutshell I guess what I am saying is don’t burn that piece until you have really assessed its possibilities of creating something useful, and perhaps even beautiful too. One thing that will always be true is, unlike so much around – it will be unique!

Part of my assistance in enjoying my hobby of carving is to be busy with several projects at the same time. This is probably counter-intuitive for most, but it works for me. A glance into my carving bowl will certainly validate this…….

As you can see I have many projects on the go – some are nearing completion, some I have only roughed out. Some have a first few cuts to get the feel of the wood and grain and some are just being planned.

I find this keeps fresh interest for me as if one piece is particularly difficult, then I just move on to another piece for just a while. Sometimes one item will take me weeks to complete but I will admit that as I get to the final stages, then I find it hard to put down. This can get me into plenty of trouble when chores need to be done! We have all been there, right?

One of the other things I like to do is tweak a similar design that pleases me. So I often have several spoons or scoops that are similar, but just a little different.

This couple I am working on at present, although similar they will be quite different on completion, (sounds Irish – “Exactly the same but entirely different!”) The one bowl will be flat and the other heavily scalloped. I have no idea which I prefer but we will see in due course when they are both finished.  Both are in Walnut.

With this pair in Maple, I hope to make the stems very different. One will be horizontally wider and the other vertically, but then transitioning to horizontal.

Lastly I want to draw your attention to my carving bowl. I have a large stainless steel bowl that allows me to carve indoors while being sociable, and retain most of my shavings in the bowl. The bowl has a large lip which allows me to let it sit between my legs and is very comfortable while I carve above it. Keeps the missus company and keeps the house clean!

This may seem a strange topic for a blog on woodcarving. Humility by definition : “a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.”

Mahatma Gandhi wrote ““It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

I have been certainly humbled by working with wood – who hasn’t? However some of my great pleasures have indeed come from wood too.

Olive wood has to take its fair share of showing me humility. The piece I got my hands on came from a good friend but was extremely dry – intended for knife handles and never used. It was lying in the workshop for many years. It is dated Oct 1991 on the piece so at least 25 years in the cut state.

As I worked with it I found the grain seemed to lift from whichever direction I carved and initially I became very frustrated. I persisted though – making sure my chisels were very, very sharp and I took lighter and lighter cuts. I found I had to constantly rotate the piece in my hands carving from many different directions until I found the one that worked. The very next cut beside however, may be a different direction altogether!

Slowly I began to have more success and pieces are turning out to be quite pleasing. Olivewood has a very striking grain and is certainly lovely to hold.

However…. starting to see daylight on this piece so maybe another healthy dose of humility is on the way……..!

“To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.” Criss Jamie

I briefly wrote previously on spalting and Spalted wood and I want to re-visit this as it interests me greatly. As far as I am aware all wood can be found in its spalted form and indeed one can even cause Spalting in wood. I have not tried this myself but there are articles online to describe this.

This is a piece of Spalted Pine and in its raw state just shows very distinct and defined lines of spalting. However within these lines separate and again well defines areas have completely different coloration. This will be revealed in a finished carving.

This was carved from the block shown. If you look closely the bowl of the spoon is a different color to the other “sectors”.

Is the wood compromised in any way? This piece fortunately is all still very hard and well structured. If spalting is allowed to continue then the wood will become soft and eventually completely rotted away. The key obviously is to use the wood well before that and once dry the spalting organisms die and the wood retains its structure and integrity.

Spalting can be limited to only one area and can provide a stunning contrast to a piece.

This is a piece of Oak where the spalting is largely just near the outside of the wood.

This was carved from that branch and illustrates just how dramatic an effect the spalting can add.

This piece of heavily spalted Birch appears rotten to the casual observer.

And here are the resultant carvings from that seemingly rotten piece of Birch.

You never know what treasures are hidden until you start to carve!

Carving wood has so many different possibilities within the wood itself insofar as how one is able to work it. Not only will different wood species react differently to the knife but even the same wood depending on its state.

Maple – even when spalted like the picture above has a fairly structured grain and is quite easy to carve using the usual techniques and one can take quite aggressive cuts until near the desired finish. When finishing off, the best cuts are very small and conservative so not to risk a “blowout” where a chunk of the grain lifts.

Carving green or wet wood is by far the easiest giving quick results in the final shape. If you are carving wet wood and are interrupted just submerse it in water until you are ready to continue. Before you are ready to sand you will have to let the finished carving dry thoroughly. This cannot be done too quickly though or one runs the risk of splitting. wrap it in a cloth and put it in your cupboard for the time necessary to dry completely.

Some wood like this small scoop in Cherry has a very short grain that I find best to carve holding the knife at a 30 to 45 degree to the direction of the grain. again this reduced the risk of grain lifting. This was very dry for me to carve and so quite hard. It finished rather well though.

I love carving pieces of wood that I find on trails and the more weird the more I enjoy it. If you attempt a piece like the one above it will need many different approaches as the grain is at different angles over very short distances and in this piece I wanted to leave some bark on so one has to be very careful not to chip it off while carving.

This scoop in very dry Olive wood was another instance in very careful carving needed. The grain went in every which way and lifted out unless one too the smallest and lightest of cuts

The best advice I can give in this instance is a VERY sharp knife and short, light cuts. No shortcuts!

These blogs are intended to be for interest and discussion only and not and instructional manual – I hope you enjoy them.

While I am certainly not a professional photographer there are a few tricks to help me achieve a better quality photo. For quite a few photos I use a home hacked light-box which certainly helps in removing unwanted shadows or shine on my spoons. This light-box is simply constructed from an old aquarium, some transparent plastic–from a trash bag–and a large piece of white paper.

As you can see I have just covered all sides with white plastic, trying to make it wrinkle free. So this diffuses the light and prevents the shine so often seen on objects when photographed without a diffuser or filter.

Then a piece of stiff white paper is loosely placed from the top back to the bottom back and then to the front creating a “invisible” curve. This gives the optical illusion of infinity. Being white it helps reflect light.

Sufficient light is achieved by putting the lightbox outdoors in full sunlight or by shining lights from all angles through the plastic – simple.

Lastly you can add a piece of fabric for background texture and then photograph your “masterpiece”!

Without some fabric texture the object appears to float – also very effective.

I hope this cheap hack helps with your photos.