Finding the Spoon in the Crook

I like making spoons from crooks. It makes for strong elegant spoons that let the tree be a design partner. Besides, I like discovering the crooks.

It takes a radical crook like this one to have the grain run true through the bottom of a deep soup ladle. This one is in sycamore.

When a crook is split, the sinuous ergonomic profile of the spoon is revealed. There it is. Step back and relax. The tree has spoken

. Of course, there is still plenty of room for design within the strength of those fibers, but ideally the fibers will run through the handle and along the bottom of the spoon bowl. So when forming the “wedge” of the bowl, I remove wood above the bowl rather than below. If a crook is particularly uncooperative, there is room for compromise — as evidenced by spoons carved from straight-grained blanks.

I’ve been finding some good crooks lately. I’ve got some photos to take, then in the next post, I plan on offering some of the spoons I’ve been carving from them.

Original article and pictures take https://davidffisherblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/finding-the-spoon-in-the-crook/ site


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