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Thread: smoothing a spoon bowl

  1. #1
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    smoothing a spoon bowl

    I'm new to spoon carving. Great pleasure doing my first in pine. Second in cherry is coming along well. I like the spokeshave facets on the outside of the bowl and on the handle but not so much those inside the bowl. I use a 25 mm #5, 16 mm #5, and 8 mm #7 for the inside of the bowl. It has a fair curve to its depth of ~20mm, but is not truly smooth. I've tried the gooseneck scraper and think I could do better with it as I improve my preparation and technique. Small riffler files have helped. I have a Mora #164 hook knife on order. I'd like to stay with hand tools and avoid sandpaper if I can. Have you other suggestions? Thanks.

  2. #2
    I'd say - um - hone your scraper technique. I find it the easiest (next sandpaper) for getting smooth and ridgeless in tight spaces.

  3. #3
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    You won't nessecarily get a perfectly regular surface with the hooked knife, but if its sharp and you carefully pay attention to the grain and take really light finish cuts it can certainly be nearly glass smooth. I haven't managed to improve substantially on that with scraping (except to remove some remaining "ripples" but I'm starting to decide that they aren't really a problem).

  4. #4
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    I don't use a Mora knife. They usually need to be profiled before use. I use hook knives from Pinewood forge. I have three different spoon knives from them, I find I use the #2 open sweep the most. The hook isn't as big, giving a smother spoon. No need to sand.

    http://www.pinewoodforge.com/catalog.html

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Sidener View Post
    I don't use a Mora knife. They usually need to be profiled before use. I use hook knives from Pinewood forge. I have three different spoon knives from them, I find I use the #2 open sweep the most. The hook isn't as big, giving a smother spoon. No need to sand.

    http://www.pinewoodforge.com/catalog.html
    Thank you all. I cheapskated to the Mora at ~ $23, knowing I would have to work on it. Pinewood Forge has excellent reviews and I suspect I will eventually buy there. My bad.

  6. #6
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    In followup, the Mora 164 came today. I was pleased at the graduated curve allowing access to all areas of the spoon bowl. The bevel is well done with a slightly hollow grind and the back of the knife is rounded, permitting a rolling cut. The edge sharpened with chromium oxide on MDF and on a small wooden slip to permit more finesse near the tip.
    I clamped the spoon in a vise with plastic jaws and attached a magnetic gooseneck LED to the vise so the light could be directed at any angle. Micro cuts, both slicing and rolling, easily smoothed the rough areas once I found the grain direction. The crook knife is a terrific tool. I suppose if I later work with green wood it might supplant the gouges for the grunt work of hollowing the bowl.
    I'm sure many on this forum know the above, but just wanted to voice my delight.

  7. #7
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    Out of curiousity: why the aversion to sandpaper?
    Last edited by Sean Hughto; 11-12-2014 at 3:05 PM.
    ~ Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.

  8. #8
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    Just the amateurish wish to do it the old way, though from reading David Esterly I learned that Grinling Gibbons the master carver used abrasive reeds to finish his work.
    Before writing my first post I tried sandpaper, but my bowl divots were too coarse to smooth. After using the crook knife I was able to eliminate the slight striations with brief use of 180 and then 220 grit paper. I think the recipient of a spoon would want the bowl as smooth as possible if the spoon is to be used for stirring food. At least now I can choose and not default.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Hughto View Post
    Out of curiousity: why the aversion to sandpaper?
    Not the OP but a from a somewhat practical perspective because I'm lazy

    I've been slowly working on eliminating sanding from much of my related work for a handful of reasons:
    • The cut finish doesn't raise the same way so I don't have to go through a tedious sand, wet/dry, sand repetitions to get a nice finish (I don't put any finish to speak of on functional spoons so to get to a "burnished" look I have to raise and remove the grain at least 3-4 times with progressively finer sandpaper). In the end I think you end up with at least as nice (or maybe nicer unless you take a lot of time to sand) of a finish much faster. Granted its hard to completely eliminate some "ripples" but imho that leaves a nice "handmade look" and doesn't interfere with the usability.
    • Once you get rolling on it its much faster to cut to finish than it is to cut and then sand.


    This doesn't mean I hate sandpaper nor that I avoid it for all use cases (indeed its invaluable to me for a lot for other types of work) but for spoon carving in particular the cost/benefit seems relatively poor vs other methods.

  10. #10
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    I've only made a few spoons. I "cheated" and sanded 'em at the end and then gave 'em some walnut oil. The folks I gave 'em to seem to like 'em ok. I hope to make some more.
    ~ Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Hughto View Post
    I've only made a few spoons. I "cheated" and sanded 'em at the end and then gave 'em some walnut oil. The folks I gave 'em to seem to like 'em ok. I hope to make some more.
    Shiny!!

    Yeah its somewhat a question of what the desired purpose is and how its presented. For a functional kitchen spoon I tend to shoot for a more minimalist approach since any film finish tends to fare poorly in our kitchen anyway. The other spoons I do tend to be more carved, decorative and admittedly not function in any way shape or form and are a pain to finish regardless of what you do

  12. #12
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    Follow up...all suggestions were useful I use the gouges, then the hook knife (which can scrape as well as slice), followed by the gooseneck scraper and then sandpaper. The latter smooths but cannot remove ripples. Now that the mechanics are fairly settled I can try design variations. Interesting how a curve declares itself to eye and touch.

  13. #13
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    I just started doing some spoons and use a custom shaped card type scraper with a significant hook raised for the inside of the bowl. I actually use it on turned bowls as well. One end is a broad curve and the other is a tighter curve. It's made out of 1095 spring steel and ground from a piece about 1.5" x 3". Works great on removing ripples from gouges and hook knife and even tear out from going against the grain.
    Happy and Safe Turning, Don


    Woodturners make the world go ROUND!

  14. #14
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    Country Workshops has a good selection of knives for smoothing spoon bowls. Drew Langsner imports Swedish sloyd knives from Hans Karlsson and Svante Djarv. The Mini Spoon Gouge by Karlsson is very popular with spoon makers. I frequently use LeeValley's set of curved scrapers too.

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