First Spoon

[Herebrooks]

Great spoon Hank!!! Alot of spoon carvers are using Tried and True finish. The small can of finish with oil and beeswax emulsion with last a lifetime. Spread it with your fingers(good for your hands too) and let it dry in a warm spot after wiping off the excess. All their finishes are food safe, one of them will dry hard.
You're a natural if that was your first spoon.
Bill

[Bibliophile 13]

Very nice work, especially for a first spoon! I hope there will be many more to come.

I've made, finished, and used a lot of spoons. From my own experience, here are a few notes on finishing spoons.
- A lot of woods benefit from raising the grain and sanding it back before finishing. Many woods will tend to fuzz otherwise, but raising the grain before sanding results in a smoother finish. Just rinse with water and let dry completely before the final sanding.
- Neither the USDA nor the FDA actually certifies wood finishes as "food-safe." That's a claim that a few companies are willing to put on a few of their products, but the claim is not verified by any government agency as far as I know. Here's an interesting overview from Bob Flexner, Practically all wood finishes sold in the USA these days are non-toxic when fully cured (though you probably wouldn't want to ingest a whole lot of varnish chips). So use whatever oil finish comes to hand. I use Danish oil, but tung oil or even BLO should be fine. Purists like to use walnut oil, raw linseed oil, or an oil/beeswax mixture--they all work fine.
- The finish will last longer if you wash the spoon in clear, hot water instead of soapy water. As long as you wash the utensil promptly and get all the food particles off, it should be a perfectly safe way to clean your spoon regularly, unless you've been using it to mix up raw meat or something, in which case a bit of soap is a good idea.

[Guest]

Thanks, Steve. The grain raising tip is a good one. I'm going to try to find pure tung oil or flax seed oil locally, although I'm sorely tempted to use one of the tung oil finishes I have on hand. I think they would be fine once they cure, even if not designated "food safe" by the manufacturer. I'm not into show spoons. Whatever I make will be user grade. I expect it (them) to become stained and probably wear out over time, although we have and been using some wooden spoons in the kitchen for years. They seem to last forever.
My thanks to you and everyone else for the compliments and the finishing tips and suggestions.

Hank

[Timberwolf]

Good lookin' spoon, Hank...If you can't find pure flax seed oil, you may be able to make your own in a Vitamix or other hi-speed blender...I buy it at Fresh Market or Whole Foods...I would blend the heck out of it then strain it through cheesecloth.. You know for sure it will be PURE that way....

[Guest]

Thanks, Jack. Your suggestion reminds me of the Martha Stewart recipe that begins with: blend hydrogen and oxygen and ignite ...

[Timberwolf]

[JustinTyson]

Very nice work on the spoon. I've coveted Pinewood spoon knives for a while, but mine are all mass-produced Frost and Iles knives that work very well so I hardly have a reason to upgrade.

Regarding the finish- I tend to use walnut oil, if I use anything at all. Lately I've just been leaving the wood bare more often than not. Oil make the spoon look shiny for about 10 minutes, but what exactly do you think you're protecting the wood from? It will wash out and become dull after 2 uses. Then it will naturally pick up and retain oil from your food over time. Won't make a nickel's worth of difference in the long run. Of course, I'm talking about knife-finished spoons; sanded spoons probably absorb more oil. Anyway, carry on...

[AHill]

Hank, the form of that spoon is really elegant! You've done a great job!

[eg54string]

Great looking spoon. My son made a soaker from 3 or 4 inch pvc pipe. He lets his spoons sit in the flax seed oil for about a week. He added a weight to combat the spoon's tendency to float.
Eric

[Guest]

Wow! Y'all are givin' me the big head over my spoon. Thanks for all the compliments. I just sketched out what I thought was a fair looking spoon and went to work. I was pleased with the way it turned out, but I sure didn't expect all the compliments. Thanks, I really appreciate them.

I bought some pure tung oil today at the local Rockler. The instructions advised cutting the first coat 50% with MS and letting it dry (cure?) overnight. That's where I am at the moment. I'll put on several coats of the uncut oil over the next several days and let the spoon sit for a week or so before surrendering it to LOML for kitchen duty.

Justin, only reason for wanting to finish the spoon is to (hopefully) retard some of the staining, or at least slow it down some. We already have a number of wooden spoons we've used for a long time. They are all stained and some are almost black. I hope to keep mine a little lighter, more natural color for a while. I fully expect it to end up like the rest, and that's O.K. Also, this is my first spoon and I'm just experimenting with it. Thanks for the suggestions, though. I may well end up with no finish on future kitchen ware.

Hank