Sycamore Ladle.
This piece was a sycamore log 6” X 2’ that sat on my drying shelf's along with the rest of my special wood stash for close to 30 years, (So it was definitely dry.)before I laid into it. To make sure the structure of the log was as strong as possible, I split it with a broad axe. Then I smoothed it out a bit on the band saw so I could do some rough sketching on it. ladle form.
With a definite ideal of the form I wanted from the sketching, I gouge out the bowl first. After I was satisfied with the bowl I went back to the band saw and cut out what I’d sketched on the wood. The results were a rough looking version of the ladle I was trying to create. With one of Del Stubb’s extra long sloyd blades, I’d just carved a handle for a month before, I carved the dry solid sycamore blank to the point where I could smooth it out with a flexible shaft tool (Foredum, power carving tool,). I hand sanded the ladle with 120, 220,and 400 grit merit sand paper to get the finished results you see.
If this sycamore would have been green I probably would’ve used an axe. Boy...do I look forward to working some greenwood. |
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