got bored had some ERC layin around

[mcginnis6010]

Those are some good looking spoons David! I love the color of cherry unfortunately I have no clue where I could find any cherry trees around where I live. Cherry sorta looks like ERC in color and seems to darken with use like ERC too. Its always a pleasure to see other carver's work.

[RidgeRunner]

Thanks.
Spoon carving is something that just sort of happened with me.
I saw a wooden spoon someplace and said to myself " I can do that".
And, well the rest is history. 

I love the cherry. 
It is hard but too hard to carve with hand tools.   Once it is good and dry it does not crack.  Black Cherry absorbes mineral oil, the only finish that I use, very well.   But I would never run a cherry wood spoon through the dishwasher.

I would think you could find some Black Cherry in VA.  It is really quite easy to identify.

David

[Lee Slikkers]

These spoons and such are really great guys...have me scratchin' my head and scheming about doing the same now.  What type of knives do you guys use to carve the hollow/bowl section?  I'd love to see some pics and hear recommendations on carving tools for this...THANKS!

[mcginnis6010]

I use a Murphy carving knife for carving out the general shape ofthe spoon and then I use a scorp knife to carve and hollow out the bowl. Some people call a scorp a crooked knife. If your just starting out I would start out with a soft wood. A lot of beginners use basswood since its so easy to carve.

[JW_Halverson]

When you think you are quite a hand at carving spoons, take one and eat with it!  All of a sudden you are back to square one.  The angles and curves of a well made spoon do not look much different from one that is hard on your mouth. 

I've carved some usable spoons, but never a good one.   

[YosemiteBen]

My wife has been gettin me carving tools from Woodcraft.com   They have a wide variety of carving tools.  One of the most heavily used carvers is the crook knife - I have seen directions on making one on line and the first time I saw directions was in W.Ben Hunts guide to Indian Craft and Lore (also where I got plans for my first flute). Most recently I got a Scorp which is kind of like two crook knives welded together.  There are also some very nice sweep gouges.  Now, if only I had some real time to do some carving maybe some of my projects would get finished!

[fishfinder401]

Those are some good looking spoons David! I love the color of cherry unfortunately I have no clue where I could find any cherry trees around where I live. Cherry sorta looks like ERC in color and seems to darken with use like ERC too. Its always a pleasure to see other carver's work.

if you want, i might be able to get you some pieces of black cherry, what type of pieces would you look for?

[mcginnis6010]

i would love to work with some black cherry unfortunately i dont have alot of things to trade right now all i have is some ERC and its not gonna make good bow material although it still works great for carving and maybe tip inlays or something although im not even sure it would be suited for tips.