ABOUT ME
Spoon carving. It all started the day an ash tree in front of my apartment dropped some branches during a bad storm. After the weather let up something told me to go down and grab a branch and make something. With an old Case pocket knife and some coarse sandpaper I carved my first spoon. I still have the ugly thing. Looks more like a corn cob pipe than it does a spoon. But from that ugliness came an obsession: spoon carving. I have no idea why I am here on planet earth but when I have a piece of black walnut wood in one hand and my Mora knife in the other all the existential anxiety that I backpack around seems to soften. This is a good thing. So each spoon that I carve has a piece of me deep inside its fibers. They are not just spoons to me. They are my wood babies. But like all children they must one day leave the nest. I only ask that my spoons go to a good home.
From beginning to end it takes me between 5-8 hours to finish a spoon. I carve slow. Often taking breaks just to admire the grain or to take in its lovely scent. The whole time fully aware of the life this soon-to-be spoon once lived. As a beautiful tree. Still and calm. In the heat. In the cold. And now in my hands. And maybe one day in yours. From design to the final buffing I find the whole process meditative. I only wish this fell upon me years ago.
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I use Mora knives: a straight and a crook. And to keep these knives sharp I use Shapton Glass Stones. I now only work with black walnut. For some odd reason I feel connected to this species.
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![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/82f71071e48ee23dd51579cbdc767a2b.png/v1/fill/w_109,h_132,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/82f71071e48ee23dd51579cbdc767a2b.png)
three dot spoons...
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hand carved wooden spoons
![purple heart + poplar](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_349e7599ce9043b1affde184d611f527~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_349e7599ce9043b1affde184d611f527~mv2.jpg)
![cherry + walnut + yellow heart](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_85c59739bb394084bd612a4dbdc3758d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_85c59739bb394084bd612a4dbdc3758d~mv2.jpg)
![zebra + poplar](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_08e4510f5a1c4f92a6267dff3dc296da~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_08e4510f5a1c4f92a6267dff3dc296da~mv2.jpg)
![cherry](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_71bb744f80fa40ff9cf1b39a8825e993~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_71bb744f80fa40ff9cf1b39a8825e993~mv2.jpg)
![me...the carver](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_0fa8f1009f184de783f97e0c4b143e08~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_100,h_100,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_0fa8f1009f184de783f97e0c4b143e08~mv2.jpg)
![padauk + poplar](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_9c39626f03794599aad3bda31cafb048~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_9c39626f03794599aad3bda31cafb048~mv2.jpg)
![walnut](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_854de00350cb4faba828cfa676837ee8~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_854de00350cb4faba828cfa676837ee8~mv2.jpg)
![walnut + maple](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_e8d4f21130344d99a48ae07dd64255fd~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_e8d4f21130344d99a48ae07dd64255fd~mv2.jpg)
![sycamore + poplar](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ab41f3_0550a336b22942418da7fb65dc1abdc5~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/ab41f3_0550a336b22942418da7fb65dc1abdc5~mv2.jpg)