A New Spoon And An Old Axe

I have completed the redo of the Art Deco Fountain Spoon without major mishap this time. I haven't finished it yet, dithering about what to do with that lily-white wood. I started coloring the messed-up spoon with colored pencils, but quickly carved that off. My technique needs some (a lot!) of work.

Meanwhile I've started a new spoon using spalted maple.

The design begins with a Maltese cross inscribed in a circle at the top. Below that are two large, pierced hearts, and below that an anchor symbolizing the desire to settle down. The departure from my usual methods and materials are two-fold. This is my first attempt at carving spalted maple. So far, my opinion is, harder than poplar, but not unreasonably hard. This is also the first time I have used nothing but a hatchet (hand axe, whatever) and a knife to rough out a spoon. The only saw cut I made was at the top of the spoon bowl on the back as a stop cut. The hatchet belonged to my paternal grandfather. It's marked Shapleigh Hardware Co. -- Diamond Edge. The claim is not unreasonable.

I not only used the hatchet to rough most of the profile, I used it to thin the handle of the spoon.

 It was actually quicker than sawing, considering what a horrendous sawyer I am.

This is the back of the spoon. Not much worse than if I used a saw and certainly quicker. Maybe one day the old Nordic woodsmen won't laugh and make fun of me.

That's it for today. Gotta go make dinner.

Until next time, let the chips fly!