latest hand carved wooden spoons and some other wood carvings

more finished big face from prospect park and also a 'work place' shot

little indian i carved.

another work place shot..i really like these. I make knives and other tools. here you see my very small forge. This pic is  after i've forged some of the pieces and then started the heat treatment.

here's a close up of the tools. there's some regular knives but also a spoon knife and an adze head.

here's the spoon knife after a full heat treat and polishing and handle. it works great! below are some spoons it carved.

f.herder sodbuster blade reshaped and handled with japanese pagoda.

with custom sheath. it's kind of tooled (decorated) but it wasn't actual tooling leather.

wood spirit number 47
 (not sure what number i'm at..)

wood spirit number 78

the most recent set of eating spoons(smaller). These are all very usable. something that couldn't be said about all earlier spoons.

this is my favorite eating spoon. i've been eating with it for about 6 months on average of twice a day. it's london plane tree and has held up very well. you can see that it has just started to smooth out on the little geometric corners. Remember, i don't use any sandpaper on any of my carvings. all are finished with edge tools.
Eating with a wooden spoon has been interesting. first, all my doubts and pre conceived ideas went our the window. strength, cleanliness and any practicality. There's a reason humans ate with these things for most of our history. The second thing, which is much more surprising is that my eating style changes when using a wooden spoon. Have you ever hit your teeth with an eating utensil? Bit down on it too hard?  Doesn't happen with wood? Not only that but when we remove a viscous food from a spoon with our mouths we usually only use our lips or very carefully use our teeth. With the wooden spoon you just jam that shit in your mouth and bite the fuck down. it's amazing! no eating anxiety that you didn't even know about. I think it's time for an infomercial!

These are all the latest cooking spoons(large)
Cooking spoons aren't as crucial as eating spoons. You can stir some pasta with a stick if you want. However, there is still a large refining of technique. Also my wood selection has gotten better. These spoons don't dry out as easy as some of the birch i had before. Most of it is Beech from prospect park. it's not european beech but it's still fabulous really nice. I have to carve it before it dries or it will get to hard. I love spoon carving. There's so much involved in the process. Plus it's functional. I feel spoon carving is an art. It's also therapeutic and perhaps even religious.