New Decorative Spoon from old reclaimed Pine

[Bundoman]

 

My dad recently removed some old built-in cabinets from their 1900 vintage old homeAnd  salvaged the wood shelves and sides from them.  This appears to be Pine based on the couple of knots I found,  but, at over 100 years old, is definitely different from today’s Pine offering at the big box stores.  The grain is tight and I love the color of the aged wood.   I found that the age and dryness of this made it a bit brittle to carve but managed to make this.  I just sketched it and chipped away.  No pattern here to follow.  

 

I am carving for the first time in nearly 20 years so things aren’t going all that smoothly.  This was a piece to get some practice.  I am getting better again but slow.  I plan to send this to my mom as a surprise during this COVID thing.

 

 

 

 

[HandyDan]

Looking good.  I like it.  Was the Pine hard to carve?

[Bundoman]

27 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

Looking good.  I like it.  Was the Pine hard to carve?

It carved pretty well, though harder than Basswood for sure.  It would chip easily though.  I think it’s because of being so long inside.  Very dry!  I have some more and plan to try a few more things with it.  The boards are amazing at nearly 20 inches wide and mostly clear.  Only bummer is that one side is painted but that can be dealt with.

[Artie]

I have come to the conclusion there are two aspects to woodworking. One is the craftsman/competence level, how good can you make it. Two is the artistic/imagination aspect. I think I can learn to make something reasonably well, but the imagination thing, not my strong suit. Just to think of making a project like that is beyond me. Kudos to you sir!

[aaronc]

Nice design,....like it.

[Gene Howe]

Gorgeous work, Brent. Worth every second and every bit of frustration. Your mom will treasure it.

[John Morris]

Now that's a spoon! Really cool Brent, thanks for sharing, and inspiring.

[Cal]

Very cool Brent.  20" wide boards, that is nice stuff.  How long are they?

Edited April 16, 2020 by Cal

[Bundoman]

3 minutes ago, Cal said:

Very cool Brent.  20" wide boards, that is nice stuff.  How long are they?

They are in the neighborhood of 6 feet long.  The spoon came from one of the short shelves which was about 20 x20 .  You dont see them like this too often anymore.

[Thad]

On 4/15/2020 at 2:28 PM, Bundoman said:

This appears to be Pine based on the couple of knots I found,  but, at over 100 years old, is definitely different from today’s Pine offering at the big box stores.  The grain is tight and I love the color of the aged wood.  

Great job on the spoon, it's a piece of art.  The old growth heart pine is a lot different than today's pine.  Today, most pines are hybrids/genetically altered for fast growth.  The fifth generation Loblolly that is being grown here in the southeast has a first thinning at about 5 to 7 years.  Tall and straight but you don't get the tight, beautiful grain pattern of the older slow growth pines. 

Edited September 3, 2020 by Thad