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Spoons for the Mouth
I took this picture at the kitchen table of my spooncarver friend, Tom Dengler. One is by Ville Sundquist, a couple by myself, and the rest by Tom. If you have never eaten with wood spoons notice how new these tools-of-eating look, yet they get hard everyday service. They get more polished and fine with use, not the other way around. Nothing could be more delightful to eat at every meal with. This is the rich tradition of northern Sweden, that I hope to pass along here.
The first (smallest) is by an old carver in the South of Sweden. The rest are the spoons my wife and I use every day.The 2 center ones show the decorative art of kolrosing shown elsewhere in this website. The new white one is birch, and hasn’t been oiled yet. The oil is edible flax seed oil. Soak for 3 days, dry for a few months, and it becomes polymerized inside the wood, making it nearly impervious to food stains and normal hot soapy water of dishwashing. Of course don’t ever put one in a dishwasher…the heat and steam will drive water into them.
Spoon of cow horn
Ladle, coffee scoop, serving spoon – carved by Tom Dengler
Closeup of above coffee scoop, by carving a vrill (an eyeless burl) one can folow the fibers so that there is virtually no end grain, thus it is very strong, yet thin. This was done partially by the amazing technique of northern Sweden of grabbing fibers with a pair of pliers, pulling, and the resultant form can be one fiber thick!
Eating spoon by Ville Sundquist
Spoon by Tom’s uncle, Uwe Molzen, in Denmark
A Lithuanian serving spoon, using the bark as a decorative detail and handle
These beautiful spreaders are by Barry Gordon, be sure to check out his spoon carving web site (see links page).
Two spoons by Jon Strom of Minnesota
Two spoons by Jon Strom of Minnesota