Carving a Spoon (First Attempt)

Got some logs from my sister at the weekend as she's cleared out her garden and found one that was the perfect shape I'd seen Ray Mears carve in to a wooden spoon. Had the slight bend in it and everything... PERFECT! So I figured what the hell, I've always wanted to try making one even with little or no experience or knowledge carving anything meaningful.

Step 1
Split the log to get a rough thickness for the spoon using the axe, didn't take too long really and was suprisingly easy. Once it got down to kind of the right thickness I just placed the axe on the top of the log and hit it with another as let's face it, my skill with an axe isn't great.

Step 2
Once I got the thickness right I went about making a rough shape, and after a few markers to see where the spoon was, I started chipping bits away with the axe again. It's a very relaxing thing to do on a Sunday morning sitting in the sun! Once it was getting close to 'spoon-shape' I got the knife out.

Step 3
Carving the last bit out of what started as a big chunk of wood to make a spoon was a very satisfying moment. Granted the knife wasn't the sharpest in the world so it meant a few wild bits which needed correcting, but I definitely got better even just in the short time it took to carve this.

Still needs finishing off, however the little one needed to have his nap and I found the importance of a Crook Knife for making the bowl part of a spoon! Need one of those to properly finish it. But even as it stands now it is a spoon, and it used to be a log! I'm fairly impressed!! :o)