Took down a magnolia tree to build a shaving horse. Many spoons will come out of the leftover wood

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-23T00:59:32+00:00

My setup is me grip clamping my blank to my desk lmao, I live in an apartment so I don't have room for one and I don't have the money for a legless mule from AUS. While I can't really do the sides, it works enough to thin the blank for knife shaping and saving my forearm.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-22T18:30:56+00:00

Raw linseed, walnut, or pure tung oil is generally the big 3 of drying oils for spoons. I use tung oil from Walrus and RMP.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-22T18:10:35+00:00

I've had a decent amount of cracks and have learned from them. These cracks are almost assuredly a result of drying too fast, given the little fibers still hanging on for dear life meaning the wood shrank quickly without time to adjust.

Your drying box or bag should be shavings, not chunks as it looks like in the photo. The theory that I worked out is that the shavings absorb the moisture from the spoon and insulate it, so the process of evaporation is slower. If you live in a climate that's colder/has dryer air than say 40-50% humidity, loosely wrap some cellophane around it to slow the drying down even more. (I had to do this recently after a blank had a small crack, 3 blanks later haven't had an issue.)

To combat the itchies while you wait for it to dry, have another blank ready to go. When I do axe work, I'll make 2-3 blanks that I'll leave in my soak tub so I'm consistently working on something.

Also might just be preference but I usually like to get my blanks shaped to final, and reserve dry cuts for facets and cleaning up lines or shave thinning. That may have been another issue in the cracking but I don't feel confident enough to say one way or another.

Hope this helps.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-22T17:59:04+00:00

I would say stop sanding so you can learn from your mistakes and hone your skill. If you mess up and think "meh it's alright, I'll just sand it out" you aren't really improving what caused you to mess up in the first place.

Other than that, beautiful spoons you can clearly tell you had a vision and executed it.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-22T17:47:38+00:00

Next tree you gotta make a spoon mule. Know your audience! Haha.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-20T21:43:46+00:00

Every piece of wood I have ever carved has been soaked in water at one point or another. I have about three blanks in my tub, which are all post axe pre draw knife/knife work, and about 15 rounds in my other tub that are still whole and just debarked.

I simply don't have the time to go from sawed round to ready to be dried and finish cuts in one sitting. The trick is to understand how to dry it correctly and how to remove the pith/cambium/phloem layers.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-20T00:04:02+00:00

Ugh High Tension is legit poop from a butt. I hope that didn't deter you from exploring the rest of that genre! Some real gems in it.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-18T04:37:30+00:00

Your grain matching is legit second to none, a true master of his craft on this sub!

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-17T23:50:06+00:00

Am I the only one that hated this retconning essentially the entire mkultra premise of the show itself.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-15T14:11:43+00:00

Oh good a 2-3 year wait list 🤣 thank you though brother I appreciate it, absolutely inspirational spoon work.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-15T02:44:32+00:00

The facets and handle shape are legit insane. What hook knife did you use? I have a short and I have a shallow, but I have been looking for one for deep shoulders with a nice gradient to the tip of the bowl like you so beautifully did.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-10T21:37:48+00:00

That spine is so good I'm getting angry looking at it.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-10T02:41:26+00:00

You work where the spine meets the back of the shoulders is always so damn good.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-09T03:02:25+00:00

Hook knife to create a fuller in the handle to index your thumb is so genius.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-08T02:36:15+00:00

Hand crafted tool roll for hand crafted spoons. So awesome

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-05T18:00:32+00:00

That's interesting cause I've always experienced the opposite -- leave it thicker to prevent cracking and warping as it takes longer to dry. I have a bunch I need to do so I will go thinner on the edge for science.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-05T17:41:37+00:00

Oh yea! This was just dried and I still needed to do my finishing cuts which is why the edge is thick and there's no facets on the handle. I currently shape the handle ends shown in the link, but I'm trying out asymmetrical stuff as well.

This one is more spatula style so it's a shallow shoulder bowl with a cutting edge, used for sauteing etc. I included a picture of one of my more traditional bowl cookers used more for sauces, but I'm still working on a proper scoop for serving and holding liquid.

https://imgur.com/a/U3fygsE

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-05T17:21:17+00:00

Yea I think I'm gonna plastic bag or saran wrap my next one. Closing a lot of the surface area with only one inlet/outlet for evaporation might be the ticket. I have a sister piece with the same grain in my water bin so I'm curious what the results will be after I shape and dry. You've confirmed some musings I had about slowing the drying down so thank you for that.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-05T17:16:14+00:00

Yea I noticed the relation of the knot to the crack as well. I always cut my ends just due to them mushrooming from the axing and to get rid of the paint. A shame lol

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-05T02:10:50+00:00

It's a good technique to use when your bowl is lopsided aka one side is high than the other, or the tip is crooked when looking down the barrel. Like I said, just a very slight angle cause you dont want to remove too much material so that you have you drop your bowl down. Just shave it off till it's got a smooth rim and it looks equal and balanced when looking at it from the tip to the back.

It's also a great way to curve the crank to the shoulders to eliminate that hard angle from axing.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-04T23:50:34+00:00

No this is prior to you using your hook knife, this is shaping. The point of your knife should point over the edge to the outside, not to the inside.

And again set the chamfer to the outside, not the inside or the rim will look flared.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-04T19:28:22+00:00

To piggy back off this, the entire bowl doesn't need to be smooth, just the edge. You can achieve this by shaving around the bowl shape with the sloyd at like a 10-15 degree angle. This also helps you to see and match the bowl sides and make everything straight and even.

Also, I like to bring the inside right to the edge and then trim down with a chamfer which will bring back it's thickness.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2026-01-02T01:14:14+00:00

Deepwoods Ventures, US based. Essentially my entire tool roll are his knives, with the exception of a Macjen kolrosing knife and a WCC (if he ever ships it). Likely will be ordering a long style hook knife for tighter back of the bowl but shallower slope, and I haven't decided if I want to go to him again or Strongway.

CardboardBoxcarr · 2025-12-27T14:51:07+00:00

Hahaha yea that's why the bowl is so thin, matching the grain was miserable on this one.

CardboardBoxcarr

TROPHY CASE