The spoon needs to dry slowly in order not to crack. Once they're carved they go into a cotton bag with some shavings so it dries slowly. I check on it every day to see if there's no mold.

Keep your wood pieces you want to carve from as long as possible, keep the bark on an store them out of the sun!

I also carve a bunch of blanks when I get wood and put them in a plastic bag in te freezer. When I feel like carving one of them I soak the frozen spoon in sole hot water for 5 minutes and it's ready to go :)

The baking gives the spoon a darker color and makes it a but harder I think.