How wooden spoons are made. We cut out a wooden spoon with our own hands. The tools we will need

Making wooden spoons is a simple and exciting process that allows you to touch the centuries-old traditions of arts and crafts. To create such products, you will need a minimum of tools and materials. Making spoons with your own hands is a great opportunity to hone basic carving skills and get a better feel for how wood and carving tools behave. You can experiment with the shape and size of the spoon, as well as the design of its handle, creating a unique utensil that is not only decorative, but also functional.

In our material, we will tell you in detail how to make a spoon with your own hands, introduce you to the basic carving techniques and answer current questions regarding the manufacture of wooden utensils.

What are wooden spoons made of?

What wood is best for carving wooden utensils? This important question worries all novice carvers. For cutting spoons best fit blanks from hard, but not prickly hardwood - aspen, ash, maple, birch, elm, walnut, cherry or maple.

Beginner carvers it is better to use lime. This wood is softer and lighter, has a uniform density and is well planed in all directions. For gaining experience and practicing basic carving skills, this is the most suitable material. Among other things, linden products are not prone to warping and do not emit tannins.

Coniferous trees unsuitable for the manufacture of spoons because of its high resin content and characteristic odor. Also avoid exotic tropical woods such as teak, which can be toxic.

As a blank, you can use planks or split the whole deck-ridge into small pieces. The first option is more practical, the second is more traditional. The orientation of the wood fibers in the blank determines the symmetry of the pattern of the bowl of the spoon, as shown in the photo.

A set of basic tools

To make a wooden spoon with your own hands, you will need a minimum set of simple tools:

  1. Knife. For wood carving, it is better to use the Bogorodsk knife. Its two-sided sharpening makes it equally convenient to work both “on your own” and “on yourself”, and a narrow nose makes it possible to cut wood along internal lines.
  2. Spoon cutter (staple). This is a chisel with a sharp bend, designed for scraping wood in recesses and processing the inner walls when carving dishes. An alternative to a spoon cutter can be a wide cranberry or an ordinary semicircular chisel.
  3. straight chisel- used for even cutting of solid wood from the workpiece.
  4. Clamp- necessary for convenient fixation of a piece of wood.
  5. File for roughing and sanding paper of different grits (320, 180 and 120 grit) for perfect sanding of the product.
  6. Stichel- a thin steel cutter, for creating decorative carvings on the handle.

How to carve a wooden spoon: step by step guide

  1. Using the template, transfer the drawing of the top and side views to the wooden blank. Please note that the orientation of the wood fibers is longitudinal, in this case the spoon will have maximum strength.

  1. Having fixed the workpiece with a clamp, proceed to the rough formation of the bowl. For these purposes, a spoon cutter is used, but you can also confine yourself to an ordinary semicircular chisel or a wide cranberry. Wood is sampled in the direction of the fibers. When deepening the bowl, do not forget that you need to leave a small thickness allowance for fine trimming and grinding.

It is much more convenient to gouge a bowl on a rectangular workpiece, since the piece of wood is rigidly fixed and maintains a stable position.

  1. When the recess is formed, you can start cutting off the excess array in the horizontal and vertical plane, following the top and side contours. To do this, it is most convenient to use a jigsaw or a band saw, but if you wish, you can perform all the manipulations with a straight chisel or a hacksaw.

  1. Using a Bogorodsk knife, we cut off the convex part of the spoon. With a wide chisel, we give the bowl a perfectly even rounded shape. With the help of a knife and a chisel, we work out the shape of the handle.

  1. Using a spoon cutter, finish trimming the bowl and carefully align its edges, as shown in the picture.

  1. Grinding is carried out in two or three passes, each time reducing the grain size of the abrasive.

Advice!

When in contact with water, even a perfectly sanded surface can begin to pile. Raised pile does not spoil the appearance of the spoon, but is unpleasant in the mouth. Therefore, if you plan to use your own hand-made dishes for their intended purpose, you can solve this problem in the old proven way. After grinding, the spoon is wetted and thoroughly dried, passing again with a fine-grained abrasive. This procedure is repeated two or three times.

Our version of making a spoon is more of an adapted technique. It is designed to use a modern tool, which, although it simplifies the workflow, but at the same time moves away from the age-old traditions of carving art.

The secrets of the original Russian carving of a wooden spoon - see the video below:

How to cover a wooden spoon for food?

The final touch of creating a wooden spoon is its processing with a finishing compound. And here, as a rule, many questions arise. If you cut out a decorative spoon, then everything is simple: it can be painted with paint, applied with any varnish or waxed. With products that are planned to be used for their intended purpose, everything is more complicated. When choosing a composition for impregnation, it is important that it be practical and safe.

In the Russian tradition, they used and continue to use for processing wooden spoons. This impregnation is environmentally friendly, has antibacterial properties, emphasizes the texture of wood, and is easy to apply. But it will have to be updated periodically. However, using raw linseed oil as a finish, over time, it can begin to transfer an unpleasant rancid smell to food.

A more practical solution is to use special mineral oils to finish wooden utensils. Such impregnation gives the surface water-repellent properties, while it does not form a film - the pores remain open and the wood continues to breathe. Mineral oils do not affect the taste of food and are more persistent.

We spoke in detail about the practicality and food safety of finishing compounds in ours.

Even in our age of high technology, an old wooden spoon is still indispensable and relevant. Such a spoon has a lot of advantages - it does not change the quality and taste of the products, it is made from environmentally friendly material, it does not burn, and it is simply pleasant to eat with it. Even a novice carver can make a wooden spoon with his own hands, with a minimum set of tools.

The spoon can be made from different types of wood, but in this article the spoon will be made from maple. Such a spoon will be quite durable, after washing it does not fray and does not crack.

Tools you will need to make a spoon:

  • wood saw;
  • rasp;
  • semicircular chisel;
  • hatchet;
  • sandpaper;
  • wood file;
  • pencil and ruler.

Making a wooden spoon with your own hands

To make a spoon, you need to take a log and split or saw it in half.

Then, using a pencil, draw the outline of a spoon on one half of the log.

With a hacksaw, cut a spoon along the contour from a half of a log.

Then, with the help of a hatchet, you need to cut off sharp edges, and then roughly form a scoop.

After that, with a hatchet, it is necessary to create an angle of inclination from the side where the scoop recess will be located, and then at the base of the handle.

The place where the scoop goes into the handle must be rounded off with a file.

Then finish with sandpaper, previously dressed on some round stick.

Now, using a semicircular chisel, you need to cut a recess in the scoop, constantly checking the thickness so as not to make the spoon too thin.

Then the inside of the spoon is finished with sandpaper, which is best fixed at the end of a wooden blank, rounded at the end.

Once the final sanding is complete, the spoon needs to be treated to increase its durability. To do this, you need to immerse a wooden spoon in vegetable oil, which should be warm, so that the spoon will be protected from moisture, and after washing it will not be frizzy.

Many are interested in the question - what kind of wood are spoons most often made of? Very often spoons are made from birch, aspen, alder and linden, as they are very easy to handle. A spoon made of oak can crack quickly, while an ash one will fluff up. It is not recommended to make spoons from coniferous trees, as there is a resin present there, which gives a bitter taste. A good spoon can be made from fruit trees, but it is very important that the tree is well dried.

After a short break and an amazing vacation, we continue our publications on master classes. By the number of views and your feedback on our mail, we understand that we should not stop. Today we will tell and show how to make a wooden spoon with your own hands, read our master class.

A little earlier, we talked in detail about, and even, be sure to check and read, very interesting!

(and you can always find finished products with us) a necessary kitchen attribute in every home, it does not heat up and does not burn, and most importantly, such a spoon does not change the taste and does not oxidize your food. Having a practically minimal set of necessary tools, we will show, using the example of a master class, how to make a wooden spoon with your own hands.

The tools we will need:

- axe
- wood saw
- semicircular chisel
- rasp
- wood file
- sandpaper
- pencil and ruler.

How to make a wooden spoon with your own hands in stages:

The first thing to start with is to take a log and cut it in half, as shown in the image.


Using a pencil, we need to estimate the future contours of our product.


Now, with the help of a hacksaw, we need to cut our future spoon along the office as neatly as possible.


With the help of an ax, we cut off sharp points and try to form a ladle from the back side. After that, with an ax, we set the angle of inclination in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe deepening of the scoop and the handle of our spoon.


After that, we take a file and process it with the transition from the handle to the base of the scoop.


With the help of sandpaper (it is best to put it on something, for example, some small stick), we process the transition, make it smooth.


At this stage, we need a rasp, with its help we round and give the final shape to our scoop, grind everything with sandpaper.


Now we take a semicircular chisel, make a recess and cut out the scoop itself from our spoon, the only thing to be sure to look at is the depth so as not to spoil the product at the last stage.


After that, we use sandpaper again and grind everything, it will be very convenient to wrap it around something round, as in the photo.


After we have finished work, for greater durability, it will be best that you definitely need to heat it, just dip it in it - this is an old recipe that will protect your product. Thus, it will be perfectly protected from moisture (you can not be afraid to wash it) and will not fray.

What can you make a spoon out of? Yes, from almost any type of wood, of course, it is best to exclude oak and ash, they are not very suitable for this.

Video on how to make a wooden spoon with your own hands

Get inspired, craft and create!

Spoons are a very ancient cutlery, without which even today no family in the whole world can do without. The history of the wooden spoon dates back to the Paleolithic era. It was then that people began to use small pieces of found wooden fragments to scoop up liquid food. Spoons took root in Ancient Russia and the Scandinavian countries. They, like other dishes, were made of wood. The first mention of this cutlery is found in the Tale of Bygone Years, in the description of the feast of Prince Vladimir, and is dated 996. They were made from different types of wood: birch, aspen and maple.

Application

Wooden cutlery is still very convenient in everyday life today - they are very suitable for stirring hot food and cooking it in non-stick cookware. Do not forget also that wood is an environmentally friendly, inexpensive and common material. Often the handles of spoons are decorated with paintings. The carving can be primitive, or it can represent a whole work of art.

And this is not all its advantages, because in our country wooden spoons are an original musical instrument. Traditions of playing on it have deep roots. People have long noticed that if you lightly hit these objects against each other, you can hear a very pleasant clear sound. Nowadays, this cutlery occupies an important place among the percussions in any Russian folk orchestra. Spoon ensembles and skillful soloists make a great impression on the audience.

Manufacturing

You can make wooden spoons yourself. This will require a small set of basic tools and material. Before starting work, you need to prepare the following items:

  • Axe.
  • Hand saw.
  • File for wood.
  • Rounded chisel.
  • Rasp.
  • Sandpaper of different calibers.
  • Pencil.
  • Dry wood.

When choosing a material, it is better to dwell on such species as linden, aspen, alder, birch. They are well and easily processed and do not lint when used. For comparison: a wooden spoon made of oak with your own hands will crack, and an ash one will release villi. Conifers are not used for the manufacture of items that come into contact with food, because due to resins, dishes will acquire a bitter taste.

Step-by-step instruction

The selected piece of log must be sawn or cut in half with an ax. On the flat side, the outline of the upcoming product is outlined with a pencil. Then the unnecessary sections are removed with a saw. With the help of an ax, the outer rounded part should first be shaped. It is also necessary to cut a layer of wood to create the desired angle between the scoop and the handle. The place of their connection should be rounded off with a file.

The next step is sanding. To remove rough elements, you can use coarse sandpaper. And in order for a wooden spoon (it’s not so difficult to make it with your own hands) to be more pleasant to the touch, you need to complete the process with a “zero”. For greater convenience, we wrap the stick in the grinding element.

Next, you should start cutting out the recess. With the help of a chisel, small pieces of wood are scraped out of the workpiece. Be sure to monitor the thickness so that it does not turn out too small. Next, you need to clean the wood. To do this, you can attach two strips of sandpaper to a stick with a rounded end, placing them crosswise. After finishing work, finished wooden spoons can be soaked in vegetable oil. To improve the absorption process, the liquid is heated.

Mass production

Nowadays, wooden utensils are experiencing a new peak in popularity. The gaze of people is drawn to these kitchen elements due to their natural origin. Individual enthusiasts or entire communities even form eco-villages, in addition, people try to change plastic utensils for wooden spoons and plates. Therefore, whole sets turned on machine tools began to enjoy great popularity.

For the manufacture of dishes in large volumes, turning equipment, chisels, cutters, spoon knives, brushes with steel pile and much more are used. All this resembles tools for homework, only inventory for working in a factory is more professional. If the manufacture of wooden spoons went without flaws, then the product will be very convenient to use.

Thread

Often, wooden dishes are decorated. It can be both a simple pattern and intricate patterns. It all depends on the skill and desire of the master. If a person has little experience in creating ornaments, then you can turn to specialized sites. They contain a wide range of materials of varying complexity.

If you know that the work will be limited to one or two products, then it makes no sense to purchase a lot of different tools. Using improvised means, you can also decorate wooden spoons. Photodemonstrate various devices for professionals. These are kosyachki knives, flat, angular and semicircular chisels, kluzars, jigsaw, rasps. However, a sharpened knife will suffice for a simple pattern. It is better if the blade is short and wide.

A pencil drawing is applied to the raw handle (if geometric, then using a ruler) or an ornament is copied from tracing paper. Most often, the thread has a triangular recess. In order to perform it, you need to draw two auxiliary lines on the sides of the main line of the drawing, indicating the width of the cut. First, the main strip is cut strictly vertically. Then the knife is attached to the side marks and cuts are made at an angle of 45 degrees. The procedure is then repeated on the opposite side. The cut wood itself should come out of the resulting groove.

If the pattern is more ornate, then it is performed with the same grooves, but less deep. The main incision is made along the marking line. To perform side cuts, it is not necessary to draw auxiliary contours. Small fluctuations in the shape of the groove are allowed to emphasize the relief of the image.

Souvenirs

Like many other things, in our time, dishes are often a souvenir. Spoons and plates can be covered with traditional paintings or intricate carvings, which often deteriorate with frequent use in everyday life. To give durability to the drawing, the painted souvenirs are covered with varnishes. However, such products are not recommended for use in cooking or eating. Their function is completely different - they are exclusively souvenirs and decor items.

The process of making a spoon is simple and unchanged for many centuries.

There is enough information about the spoon business, both in carving textbooks and on the Internet.
However, we can't help but highlight how we make our spoons.

The description of this process will be a kind of "master class" for those who have never made spoons themselves, but want to try to learn how to do it.

So, we choose the material. In our choice of material for spoons, we have so far settled on linden (very soft and pleasant wood for carving) and birch (harder, harder to cut, but very beautiful glossy cut and expressive texture). Spoons can be made from different types of wood, be it oak, alder, cedar, beech, juniper, bird cherry, apple tree, etc. Each breed is good in its own way. Some spoons are very light, some are stronger, some are more fragrant. The choice is yours.
Our blanks are dry linden or birch sticks 5 cm by 2.5 cm and 24 cm long (this is for a large spoon) and 17 cm (for a child's one). On them we apply with a pencil a drawing-outline of the future spoon.


After that, we cut off everything superfluous with an ax, first in one plane, then in another. Here is a nuance. You can do this right away with a knife, but the process will be physically more time-consuming. The ax is faster and more efficient. The more we process with an ax, the less effort there is to refine with a knife.





With a knife we ​​bring the future spoon to an almost full-fledged look (the same rule - the better we bring it with a knife, the less grinding).




The next step is to choose "scooped". It is important not to overdo it here. If you choose too deep (beginner's mistake), then after grinding the walls of the "scoop" will turn out to be too thin, and this will reduce the durability of the spoon.


Well, here is a spoon, only unpolished. If you wish, you can even eat this, but we go further. We grind in several stages. First with large sandpaper, then medium, then fine and finally superfine. The most difficult thing is the scoop, so the purer it is chosen, the easier it is. Here it is, a beautiful, completely ready-to-use, little white spoon. It is not for nothing that spoons at this stage are called “underwear”.
When we started carving spoons. then we immediately planned that this work would not become routine, but be as creative as possible, so we began to make our spoons as some kind of carved miniatures. To do this, a drawing is applied to the finished polished spoon (here the imagination is limitless at the level of skill) and cut out. It makes no sense to describe the carving process, since this is a separate topic.
Each spoon has its own style, its own image. And accordingly, various types of carving: embossed, planar, geometric, ornaments, mini sculptures, etc. It depends on the type of carving, respectively, on the image of the spoon itself, whether to grind the carved elements or not. Sometimes you need gloss, and sometimes you want to see, on the carving, traces of how the master's knife was wielding.
Well, now the "Starodubovskaya Spoon" is ready. Now she began her own life, given to her. It remains to be treated with oil.



We take linseed oil, heat it slightly and put a spoon there. After soaking for a short time, dry. Some of the villi on it rear up. All this is polished. The last stage, in its effectiveness, is rather relative. Non-oiled spoons serve just as reliably (if the material is dry), with the only difference being that during the first use they are rougher, but even this is polished over time by the very process of use. So if someone likes pure white spoons, they can safely use them (by ordering untreated with oil in advance).