Friday 29 January 2016

Spoon carving tip.


I've been in the wood shed working on a few spoons and a new kuksa.
I had to curtail roughing out the kuksa due to my axe head becoming loose, the rest of the day was spent sorting out the issue. 
Now I have a few spoon blanks from green Apple I need to ask some questions.
These questions have come up within the spoon carving community lately.
Will I cook the new spoon in the oven to force dry it ? ----- No.
Will I be putting the spoon in a microwave to force dry it ? ------ No.
Will I boil the spoon in salt water ? ----- No.
Will I leave the spoon for a few days to day out naturally ? ----- Yes.
Will I pop a thin coat of food safe oil on the spoon once dried ? ----- Yes.

spoon-carving.sloyd



spoon-carving.sloyd



spoon-carving.sloyd

I have however made a small discovery.
Many folks in the past have asked if one needs to boil a kuksa in salt water once carved.
I have read that this is done with bur kuksa in Scandinavia and for the life of me I have no idea why.
Now, I have used a straight grained birch kuksa from which I drink my morning coffee for many years.
Recently I stopped adding sugar, you know why....
Any way.... after a while the coffee became very bitter.
I washed the kuksa, still bitter. One morning I remembered the boiling in salt water trick so added a small pinch of salt to my coffee.... 
hey presto ! 
No bitter taste !!!

Now, I wouldn't go boiling a straight grained kuksa as I'm pretty sure it would crack, but give it a try on your next bur kuksa and let me know how you get on.

Until the next time....

Jon Mac.









Sunday 24 January 2016

Spoon carving first steps reaches 500000.

Thank you all so much for visiting and interacting with this blog at
Spoon carving first steps.


kuksa+spoon carving+sloyd+greenwoodcarving


When I started this endeavour, sharing my progress of carving wood with basic tools, I never for one moment thought it would become so popular.
I'd like to thank you all for visiting and I hope the information you found within has helped a little in your own artistic expressions.

Yours.

Jon Mac.

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