Wille Sundqvist spoon?...Ummm...No....

In a workshop at Spoonfest Steve Tomlin said that one of the best ways to improve your spoon carving is to copy someone elses. I began to implement his advice this week by copying a rather nice Robin Wood serving spoon. I used ash and was quite pleased with the results.

Then, when Ju called me up to inform me he'd managed to buy a copy of Wille Sunqvist's famous 'Swedish Carving Techniques' I remembered that I'd taken a picture of a page of Robin Wood's copy while at Spoonfest so thought I'd have a go at copying one of his spoons - not the same as actually having a spoon in my hand, but I'd give it a go.

The famous Sundqvist spoon

The Bible of spoon carving

Here's a step by step pictorial of how I got on:

A cardborad template, drawn onto a piece of ash.

Roughing out with the axe

A concealed not meant a lot of tear-out - I probably should have discarded the wood and started again
but woods at a premium.

Close carving with the axe

Cleaned up with the knife - bowl marked on

Bowl hollowed out

Sanded and oiled

Design drawn on in pencil

Carved and rubbed with cinamon - I'd like the spoon a little darker in colour and the design a little lighter - perhaps age will sort that out for me?


Not quite as good as Wille's (ok, nowhere near as good) but a fair first attempt, I thought.