a lakeside village,
The hook knife and the bowl of a spoon
Dear reader,
This week I want to talk about the hook knife, because it is the tool that frightens people most and the one that does the best work. It has a curved blade, like a small hook, and its only job is to hollow out the bowl of a spoon. You pull it toward you, with your thumb braced on the handle.
I started a new eating spoon on Monday from a piece of green birch. I cut the outline with the axe, shaped the handle with the straight knife and then put both aside. For the bowl I held the spoon against my chest, rested the knife on the wood and let the curve of the blade take a thin curl at each pull. It takes patience, not strength.
The mistake I see most is cutting against the grain at the edge of the bowl, where the wood tears instead of curling. If you feel the blade catch, stop, turn the spoon around and cut from the other side. A sharp knife helps more than a strong arm, and so does a good light.
Try it this week on a scrap of softwood or a short length of green branch. Hollow a shallow dish, no bigger than a thumb. Next time I will show you how I check the thickness of the bowl without cutting through.
From the shed,
Seppo
P.S. If you want to cut your own, the Spoon Outline Templates have the shapes already drawn.
