Wood Carving

Back when I was a young scout, I thought about getting my wood carving merit badge. Long story short, I didn't. My indian chief neckerchief slide ended up being a very nice pile of kindling.

So when the carpenter at the Spanish Quarter wanted to train me in wood carving, I was a little concerned. He persisted though, and he walked me through the process. We took a quarter section of a log of cherry, and used a froe to whack off a nice chunk. Then he instructed me to take a draw knife and shave the wood down into a reasonably sized block. Then he did something that made a lot of sense - he took out a pencil, and drew a basic spoon shape onto the wood, both on the top, and on one side.

I worked down the block with the draw knife as much as possible, then switched to my carving knife. Next thing you know, I had a basic spoon-shape. I scooped out the bowl with a hook knife, and was feeling so confident at the end that I carved a heart into the end of the handle.

So I carved out a roux spatula to match, and oiled them with butcher block oil. They became a present for the wife.

Now if only it wasn't too late to try that merit badge again....