A few new spoon carvers

A few months ago several of my students asked if I could teach them to carve spoons, and with the summer here we found a day to sit down and carve.  We went over the basics of design, axing blanks, knife grips and the idea of "stops," and even a bit of chip carving.  It was a lot to fit into one day, but they were sponges and learned a ton.  Tentative in the morning, both were making bold cuts by the afternoon.  

As with all teaching, I learned a lot myself.  For example, I realized that busting open a round is not something everyone can do quickly or easily--luckily I had prepared some blanks ahead of time so we could keep the day moving. Also, grain direction is not something that everyone immediately understands.  Next time I should spend more time diagramming the direction of the cuts.  Finally, I was happy with their progress with knife grips.  Once a student understands the technique and how safe a grip is if done correctly, they feel more comfortable using their full force in the grip. Once that happens, they make progress in a hurry.  By the end of the day they both had made their first spoons.

Look at the pride on their faces!  Happy spoon parents.  They even gave them names.

Thanks for a great day!  Super proud of you and hope we can carve again soon.