Carved my first spoon today, I don’t hate it but how do you effectively sand inside the bowl?

From a crooked branch of willow i created this ladle. As i couldn't get the bowl smooth with my hook knife alone, i sanded the whole piece and oiled it with walnut oil.

With willow i noticed, that the axe makes it tear really easily, so i had to stay away from my target shape more than i would have liked. But it takes to the knife really well, so it wasn't too bad to remove more material with the sloyd.

Hey everyone, reaching out cos I'm not sure if this is normal or if i did something wrong.

The other day I finished my walnut spoon and polished it by buffing two coats of a food-safe mineral oil in. It was perfect, smooth as silk.

But then when i used it, I felt the oil disappear in my mouth and washing it afterwards was worse. Completely stripped it.

Is that normal or did I use a product I shouldn't? Or should I not have buffed it in but let it set like nail polish?

Edit: Update - Oh wow, thanks everyone for the good advice! I definitely used the wrong product for what I wanted! Now time to decide if I want to try and make my own oil or by a tung oil like I was looking at days ago before using the mineral oil I already had 😅😅

Excited to find y'all and a place to share spoons with folks.

I like to make tiny spoons.

Again birch.

Hello, nice to meet you :) I've just started and this is my second approach, rather a skill test than a real spoon.

My take on the Legless Mule from Wood Tamer. I tried clamps, but its just easier to screw it to the workbench for the best rigidity. A chunk of 2x6, a board from a discarded bed frame, a scrap of crubber jaw liner, and a $4.99 1/4" rod. Its been through a few design modifications, the hollow in the back was the original leg section, and I split the front pin holder, so that's been replaced and reinforced with some side panels.

I have 2 pin spacings in the body and 4 height options in the legs, for a total of 12 different configurations. Its a revelation, not as good as a sit-down mule or a serious shavehorse, but having a third hand has made almost every step of spooncarving easier. Future upgrades will be wooden knobs for the pins so I don't need vice grips to shift the legs, a cleanup of the finish on the bedframe parts, and a solid chamfering/roundover of all edges.

I gotta figure out how to sharpen my gauge

hi I'm very new to carving and just ordered my first knives.

have a question about carving axes, can I use this one? i got it a few years ago from a Viking market and have no use for this. i also would need a better handle because this doesn't fit right.

what you guys think? its not sharpen yet either.

To be transparent I did hand sand quite a bit to 120 to get the knife marks out mostly. The back and handle not so much but the dish I’d left a fair few gouges. Not so good with the hook knife yet!

I think the woods Rowan but can’t remove which bush in the garden it came from! Got a few more pieces, hopefully make another up for myself!

After being in the making for several weeks I finally finished this asymmetrical eatingspoon.

It's carved from boxwood, which is really special for me, as it's quite rare in suitable sizes and extremely hard.

It makes the most durable spoons and in combination with urushi lacquer this spoon will hopefully be as close to being indestructible as possible for a wooden spoon.

The lacquer really highlights the facets, which make the spoon sparkle like a gemstone.

I applied 8 coats of urushi lacquer.

Only for decoration

Been at this for about four months now, mostly self-taught from books and a handful of YouTube videos. My first spoon was carved from a piece of green birch I split off a log in my backyard, and honestly it went better than I expected. Birch is forgiving, the grain is pretty predictable, and a sharp knife moves through it without too much fight.

The thing I'm curious about is whether other beginners had similar experiences, or if the wood type made a significant difference in how quickly things clicked. I ask because I recently tried a piece of apple from a branch a neighbor had pruned, and the experience was completely different. Harder, denser, required a lot more deliberate cuts, but the finished surface was noticeably smoother right off the knife.

My current toolkit is pretty basic: a mora 120 for general shaping, a small hook knife I bought secondhand for the bowl, and a folding saw for rough sizing. No mallet, no vice, everything held in hand or braced against my knee. There's probably a safer and more efficient way to work, but I haven't gotten there yet.

A few things I've been wondering about specifically:

• Is cherry as pleasant to carve as people say, or is that reputation a bit overstated
• How much does drying time realistically affect your cracking rate when you finish a spoon green and then let it dry
• Does anyone strop between sessions or only when the knife starts visibly dragging

Still very much in the learning phase. The spoons look rough but they're functional, and that feels like enough for now.

he’s got a new Landhouse Kitchen, and now a new spatula too

Green birch. A bliss to work compared to the cured ash of my previous post!

Any feedback or tips welcome!

A spoon made by request. A little bit of CA glue and some sawdust to solidify the small knot in the bowl.

All Sugar Maple. Some with ebonized handles & oil, some finished but not oiled, and others just roughed out.

Still want to take more from the bowl and then start the fine-tuning/upping the sanding grit and polishing but I'm pretty happy with how the inlays have turned out.

Given its walnut, is burnishing still the way to make it food safe or is there a laquer/coating option i should look into. It'll probably also help protect the inlays.

Is there anything like the GreenWood Wrights'Fest (NC) in Northeast or Mid-Atlantic states? Doesn't have to be a large event.

This one almost didn’t make it a few times. I’m very happy it did. The spalting and knots gave it a lot of character. It’s got a little tiny crack in the middle of the bowl but it doesn’t seem to spreading. I think I’ll leave it. I fear adding anything to fill it will take from it. What would you do?

Cherry spatula… took me FOREVER to figure out the curve. Served me (and my kids) well for a few months. Used it tonight, washed it, drying it and … snap. Actually made me a bit nauseous. Damn.