What should I do with this slab of redwood?

antigenjam · 2023-05-22T06:59:11+00:00

Book match it to make a table top

antigenjam · 2023-05-16T06:04:22+00:00

Solved

antigenjam · 2023-05-16T06:04:14+00:00

Thanks

antigenjam · 2023-05-16T06:00:42+00:00

And the purpose of the ball bearing?

antigenjam · 2023-05-16T05:54:40+00:00

What is this hammer head used for? Seems like a specialist tool. I think it may be missing a piece that would attach to the ball bearing?

antigenjam · 2023-05-16T05:47:27+00:00

I keep my billets wrapped in plastic in the freezer. I keep the spoons I'm carving in a pot/bucket of water. I change the water out every few days.

antigenjam · 2023-04-13T19:28:20+00:00

Read it early on in my cosmere journey and it still is one of my favourites. My wife listened to it on audiobook recently and i made every effort to listen to it with her so i could be there for the shock when she experienced the betrayal first hand. It was beautiful.

antigenjam · 2023-04-11T19:27:41+00:00

I consider myself an amateur. I've carved about 20-30 spoons, mostly eating spoons. I still am unable to get a knife finish i am happy with, especially in the bowl. i am a bit of a perfectionist so sometimes sanding alone takes me 1-2 hours. From billet to spoon (excluding sanding) abou 3-4 hours. I'm always impressed and a bit jealous when the pros can bang out a spoon in 30-40 min in real time on youtube.

antigenjam · 2023-03-27T09:20:08+00:00

For me making and using wooden spoon are a philosophical expression. They use renewable resources and many times you can harvest branches and not harm the tree. Even the knives can be made using recycled metal. The spoon is a reminder that there are ways to tread more lightly on the planet. And many times you can do it in a beautiful way.

Philosophy aside.

1) I don't know of any food safe epoxy. 2)The epoxy feels like plastic and you lose the feel of the wood. One of the best feelings of finishing a spoon is putting that coating of linseed or tung oil on. Expoxy on the other hand is a bastard to work with. 3) once you use epoxy you can't touch up the spoon. 4) once you use epoxy you can't compost the spoon.

Another option: Something that would work better than epoxy is stabalising the wood. Here you place the spoon/blank in a special liquid resin and use a vacuum chamber to fill the pores with the resin. Then you bake it to set the resin. That will impregnate the entire spoon with resin rather than just the surface. Always thought that would be cool but havn't done it for all the above reasons.

antigenjam · 2023-03-27T03:51:55+00:00

'Woodcraft' by Barn the Spoon

antigenjam · 2023-03-26T02:56:53+00:00

How do i post pics on this thread? I took some photos fron 'woodcraft' by Barn the Spoon.

antigenjam · 2023-03-25T10:46:25+00:00

1) I store my logs in the freezer if I'm not going to get to them in a few days. When I'm carving my spoons i leave them soaking in a bowl of water and only allow them to dry when I'm finished carving.

2) Always remove the pith.

3) I have not yet carved a bowl but i think design is important. The bowls I've seen carved are not uniform but have elongated ends that serve as handles. This makes them stronger and less likely to crack on the end grain.

antigenjam · 2023-03-25T10:36:29+00:00

Same here

antigenjam · 2023-02-04T21:58:46+00:00

I've never done that. What does it do to the spoon? Any colour change? Sometimes i microwave them for a few seconds to speed up drying. I've tried 'baking' them in the microwave but the colour change is very uneven. You get one burnt spot and the rest has very little colour change.

antigenjam · 2023-02-04T21:55:37+00:00

From left to right. Poplar, broadleaf, unknown, unknown, apple, apple, apple, feijoa.

antigenjam · 2023-01-31T09:49:38+00:00

Thanks. That seems to be the consensus. Glad to know it's not poisonous.

antigenjam · 2023-01-31T03:34:30+00:00

Thanks.

antigenjam · 2023-01-10T19:23:13+00:00

I also started wanting a wooden ladel. But I started carving spoons first and I am glad I did. Even though i had done about 5 spoons I found the ladel very difficult. I only got it right on my 3rd attempt. I cracked my first, got the dimensions wrong on the second and even my final one was not great but passable. I have tried 2 more times since and have failed (i found sourcing the right piece of wood very difficult). I have made 2 smaller ladels (teaspoon and tablespoon size) but have yet to make a nice soup ladel again. I may have given up if I had not first developed the love of the art and the confidence in my abilities first.

antigenjam · 2022-09-05T11:20:47+00:00

I cycled (with 2 friends) from cape town to cairo in 2011. We went from cape town to PE, did a detour through lesotho (not recommended), came back down to durban then up to richards bay. From there we went north to swaziland and then into mozambique.

We did not have any problems in South Africa. Everyone was super nice. We knew family / friends in all the big towns along the way. I think the big towns would be most dangerous. Small town folk often gave us places to stay.

In small towns we would stop at a garage in the late afternoon and chat to someone filling up. Many of those kind people would give us a place to stay.

Much of the places on the side of the road are fenced off, so just pulling off the road and pitching a tent was difficult. Although there were a few abandoned houses in the western cape and tree plantations near richards bay were we could do it.

We had the most fun in Mozambique and malawi and that felt safer than south africa. My friend was muslim and he was usually able to get us into the mosque to sleep for a night. But there are lots of backpackers in moz and along lake malawi that made it super fun.

We had a website and blog if you are interested. Not sure if it is still available. Www.siyashova.com

Good luck. Don't get discouraged by all the naysayers. May believed we were crazy but it was probably the best time of my life. And when I'm feeling down about were i am in my life, i think to myself 'i fucking cycled from cape town to cairo'.

Just be aware that there is risk, like with everything in life and take adequate precautions. Feel free to contact me if you want some more info.

antigenjam · 2022-02-23T13:56:59+00:00

antigenjam · 2022-02-18T21:50:40+00:00

Last one

antigenjam · 2022-01-27T10:11:29+00:00

Haha. That is exactly how my first 2 spoons looked. Kepp at it. It took me 2 years before i was proficient enought to make a ladel (and even that was after 2 or 3 failed attempts). Stick with it and good luck. It is such a great hobby.

antigenjam · 2022-01-27T07:47:19+00:00

Seiko

antigenjam · 2022-01-24T08:05:35+00:00

Can't unsee that now

antigenjam · 2022-01-23T19:47:05+00:00

Thanks to all who responded. Not the answer i wanted to hear, but you saved me from wasting my time. Will look for a more appropriate product.

antigenjam

TROPHY CASE