Spoon carving course
During our spoon carving course you’ll be guided through how to carve a spoon from green wood. There will be a variety of wood to choose from including birch, sycamore and ash. The day will be spent carving under the woodland canopy where you’ll truly be in touch with nature. By the end of the course you’ll walk away with at least one spoon that you’ve carved yourself.
Over the course of the day you’ll learn:
- How to safely use various carving tools and correct carving techniques
- How to select the correct type of wood to carve with
- How to split wood using various techniques (axe and froe)
- How to carve a spoon using various techniques
- How to finish off your spoon by sanding and oiling/ waxing
- How to keep your tools sharp
Your Day 9.30 – 16.30
|Arrive at Hands on Bushcraft|
You’ll be welcomed by one of our instructors and guided through the woodland to our basecamp where you’ll be given a safety briefing before being handed the tools you’ll be using during the day.
Tools for the job
Our instructors will also take you through the safe handling and correct cutting techniques required to carve your spoon. You’ll be splitting, chopping, and carving with a number of green woodworking tools throughout the day, so first we’ll look at each in turn.
Sourcing the materials
It’s then time to source the materials, under expert guidance you’ll source and harvest your chosen wood. We’ll take you out into the woodland in search of the correct materials for your spoon. You’ll get the chance to use a saw and axe at this point under the tuition of our instructors you’ll harvest the timber ready for the next stage.
Splitting, sawing and chopping
The time has come to split the timber in half, here you’ll use a number of tools, including a froe and axe to split the wood evenly. At this point you’ll sketch the design of your spoon onto the timber and begin to carve the initial shape of the spoon.
Shaping and finishing the spoon
Throughout the day you’ll be shown how to carve the outside of the spoon with axes and carving knives. You’ll be shown how to safely remove excess material quickly and efficiently. You’ll then be taken through how to use gouges and crook knives to remove the material from the bowl of the spoon. At the end of this stage you should have a ‘roughed out’ spoon.
Sanding and oiling
With your spoon roughed out, the next stage is to sand it removing the cut marks left by the tools. At this stage we recommend you leave the spoon to dry for a couple of days, before finishing the final stages of sanding and oiling at home. We’ll provide you with full instructions on how to finish your spoon including the different types of oils/waxes you can use.
All good things must come to an end, time to pack up and head home.
Why not checkout our Kuksa carving course which runs on the Sunday ?