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Thread: Clamping a spoon

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Corcoran, MN
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    372

    Clamping a spoon

    I'm working dry cherry and hand carving wooden spoons for holiday presents. I'm new to this but the shaping of handles and bowl bottoms has gone well with a spokeshave and rasps and files.
    I think my gouges (25mm #7 and 20 mm #5 Ashley Iles) are well sharpened but need to use a mallet for the early bowl cuts as arm and torso are not strong enough to remove much wood initially. My problem is that the spoon moves with the mallet blows, despite using a TWW holdfast and wooden block over the distal handle near the bowl. As the work progresses, slicing gouge cuts and the hook knife do a good job with final shaping and movement is not a problem.
    I have a heavy metalworking vise bolted to the bench which, if I removed the plastic jaws, would hold the spoon bowl steady at the price of marring the outside of the bowl. I guess I could carve the hollow first and shape the outside afterwards but wonder if there is a cradle or jig I could use to secure the spoon directly against the bench and rotate it as needed? Wooden handscrews perhaps? Thank you for any help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Corcoran, MN
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    I maybe answered my question from Paul Sellers' "Spoonmaking-Carving out the Bowl" . Paul shapes the bowl before working on the rest of the spoon. Thus the workpiece is a substantial rectangular piece that can be securely clamped with conventional methods, in my case the holdfast and a Wetzler f-clamp. I'll try it and expect nothing will move.
    Last edited by Bruce Mack; 11-23-2014 at 6:21 AM. Reason: terminology correction

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    Pennington, NJ 08534
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    Lots of ways to skin a cat.

    You can use traditional face vise, bench dogs, or holdfasts to secure the blank, but need to carve the bowl first and leave the blank rectangular until you're done.

    You can use a shaving horse-type clamping mechanism, which will hole non-rectangular parts. I have even considered getting a guitar vise, which seems like it might work.

    What I ended up doing is getting a couple of Hans Karlsson mini spoon gouges (from Drew Langsner at Country Workshops), which allows me to shape the bowl while holding the blank in my hands. IMHO, much easier than using a spoon knife.

    Steve

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Northern Kentucky
    Posts
    3,279
    I run into a similar problem and placed a small drill press table-vise in my mine vise so that it was vertical and would hold the wood horizontal so that I could saw it where needed
    Last edited by ray hampton; 11-23-2014 at 11:56 AM. Reason: wrong word

  5. #5
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    Dec 2006
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    Corcoran, MN
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    I was not aware of the Karlsson gouges. I feel my credit card leaving my wallet. Thanks.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Essex, MD
    Posts
    420
    My solution was more for riven, curved wood, but it was cheap and simple (see photos at end of thread): http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...op-Shave-Horse

    Karl

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Corcoran, MN
    Posts
    372
    I'd like to try that. We have a few trees on our property but nothing has fallen of sufficient size. Friends who farm will give me access to their woodlot when they return to Minnesota in the spring.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Essex, MD
    Posts
    420
    Once you try it with green wood, you'll hesitate to carve that dry, hard stuff again. Just takes a little while to get used to the drying process- I wrap mine in towels, not plastic bags, and they dry at a decent pace, no splitting. if you do try it, get a branch at least 4 inches in diameter; I started with skinnier branches and the bowls of the spoons end up pretty small.

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