"Check-out My Rack!!"

I needed some method of displaying some of the spoons I'm going to be taking with me to the National Forest Wood Fair - I have quite a few now and I don't really just want to throw them down on a table some place. So I spent some time today making this:

OK - Peter Fallonsbee it aint, but it certainly does the trick. Made from some lengths of kiln dried cedar facing - not really the best material - it looks nice, but it light-weight and brittle, snapping easily along the grain. I accidentally snapped one of the teeth off of one of the shelves but it glued right back on ok, and I still have to get it there in one piece yet.

Set at a bit of an angle so the spoons don't all come tumbling off and it wont fall over too easily. The legs are dowel and simply push into a predrilled whole.

Simple but effective tennons and pegs - it's amazing how when you put the pegs in it pulls it all together and makes the whole structure rigid and firm.

I was away on holiday last week - sweltering on a beautiful Welsh beach - so didn't get any carving done, but I made these over the weekend. They were from an unknown variety of limb that Julian had given me. When I split it, the smell of tannin was undeniable and I knew straight away it was oak. I should have given up at that point as oak is tough enough to carve when fresh - this was a few months old. But, I love the colour and texture you get with oak spoons so I pressed on and am quite pleased with the results.