Every time I went to Woodcraft I'd notice that little spoon plane
http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4867
and think about it, and move on. Last week I had twenty bucks burning a
hole in my pocket and couldn't help myself. What the heck, if I don't
like it I can always beat myself up.

Took me around an hour to get a decent edge on it. Most of that time
was finding a stance and a methodology. I don't like honing curved
blades, but I managed. It had one monster of a burr on it.

And I carved out a spoon bowl! Took me about ten minutes. It was
actually fun. Like scrubs and members of that family, cutting across
the grain, even at just a slight angle, works best. Going along the
grain, with or against it, gave me chatter.

Pretty soon I had me a nice hefty cherry spoon. Total time for my very
first spoon including unpackaging the plane, honing, staring at it,
picking out a nice piece of scrap, cutting, carving, and sanding it to
320; under three hours. Finished it with walnut oil, waited 24 hours.
SWMBO thinks it's beautiful. It looks nice, feels great.

Okay. Not bad for 20 bucks. :-) I've found me an easily shippable
Christmas/birthday present for a while, anyway. And we've got a nice
neighbor who gave me several nice chunks of her crabapple tree when it
blew down last summer. I think she'd like a spoon from that tree.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Every time I went to Woodcraft I'd notice that little spoon plane
http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4867
and think about it, and move on. Last week I had twenty bucks burning a
hole in my pocket and couldn't help myself. What the heck, if I don't
like it I can always beat myself up.


Pretty soon I had me a nice hefty cherry spoon. Total time for my very
first spoon including unpackaging the plane, honing, staring at it,
picking out a nice piece of scrap, cutting, carving, and sanding it to
320; under three hours. Finished it with walnut oil, waited 24 hours.
SWMBO thinks it's beautiful. It looks nice, feels great.


I do a few hundred spoons each year, and the sole on the plane in question
does limit you where a curved knife, open scorp, or even
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...at=1,310,41069 does
not. With a gouge for the heavy work and the others for cleanup, they get
down to about twenty minutes per. Do two water sets for fuzz before oiling.
I do one at 150 and one at 220.

Of course I do have the Lee Valley low angle shaves for the handles, too.

George wrote:

I do a few hundred spoons each year, and the sole on the plane in question
does limit you where a curved knife, open scorp, or even
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...at=1,310,41069 does
not. With a gouge for the heavy work and the others for cleanup, they get
down to about twenty minutes per. Do two water sets for fuzz before oiling.
I do one at 150 and one at 220.

Of course I do have the Lee Valley low angle shaves for the handles, too.
When I'm up to a few hundred spoons every year, I'll probably have
other favorites.

For now, I'm happy that the tool does what I hoped it would. Yes, I can
already see what its limits are but for the moment I'm nowhere near
them. :-) If I can get it down to a half hour per spoon, that would be
fine, and I think that's quite possible. And an afternoon in a lawn
chair scooping out bowls doesn't strike me as irritating. I'm not
thinking of sales and profit. Yet.

Wood Working for relaxation is truly enjoyable isn't it.
Puff

wrote in message
ups.com...

George wrote:

I do a few hundred spoons each year, and the sole on the plane in
question
does limit you where a curved knife, open scorp, or even
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...at=1,310,41069 does
not. With a gouge for the heavy work and the others for cleanup, they
get
down to about twenty minutes per. Do two water sets for fuzz before
oiling.
I do one at 150 and one at 220.

Of course I do have the Lee Valley low angle shaves for the handles, too.
When I'm up to a few hundred spoons every year, I'll probably have
other favorites.

For now, I'm happy that the tool does what I hoped it would. Yes, I can
already see what its limits are but for the moment I'm nowhere near
them. :-) If I can get it down to a half hour per spoon, that would be
fine, and I think that's quite possible. And an afternoon in a lawn
chair scooping out bowls doesn't strike me as irritating. I'm not
thinking of sales and profit. Yet.

Just curious but is the blade itself flat? The edge is obviously curved
but I'm wondering whether the blade is concave like the spoon part.

J.


wrote:

Took me around an hour to get a decent edge on it. Most of that time
was finding a stance and a methodology. I don't like honing curved
blades, but I managed. It had one monster of a burr on it.

John wrote:
Just curious but is the blade itself flat? The edge is obviously curved
but I'm wondering whether the blade is concave like the spoon part.

J.

It's flat. You can lap it like any plane blade. It's like a scrub plane
blade with a more exaggerated curve.

J.It's flat. You can lap it like any plane blade. It's like a scrub
plane
blade with a more exaggerated curve.

If anyone's interested, I just noticed this spoon plane is available at
japanwoodworker.com for $15.75. Shipping would make it more expensive
if you have a local woodcraft, but if you're going to order one, or if
you live in Alameda, CA, that's another option.
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/produ...ept _id=12757
Andy