Step 3: Grain

Understanding grain is essential to wood carving. This is where your intuition will develop over time. While I will not go into the science behind the structure of wood, I will say that it grows in regular patterns that appear as grain. The orientation of the grain is going to determine how easily you can carve the wood. If you've ever had a splinter, you know what grain is and how its orientation matters.

You will want to start with straight-grain wood (which is exactly what it sounds like), where the grain runs in one direction. You can use the ends to determine what direction the grain runs in. The pictures below show you what to look for. Note that the grain can go down slightly. this will be important.

Basic vocabulary is as follows: when you are carving in the same direction as the grain, you are carving with the grain. If you are carving opposite the direction of the grain, you are carving against the grain. If you are carving perpendicular to the grain, you are carving across the grain.

Which way to carve:
You always want to carve with the grain or across the grain. The grain can also run up and down slightly, so make sure you are carving with the grain in the down direction. The next step contains pictures of carvings in each direction for your reference.

Step 1: Tools

Let's start with tools;

Knife
You're going to need a knife. While you could conceivably use any kind of sharp knife, I highly recommend investing in something nice. I use the chip carving knife pictured here. High quality tools are going to be hand-made with tempered steel that will cut better and last longer than the low quality stuff. There are chip carving knives with different shapes that will make difficult cuts a little easier, although they aren't necessary for the beginner.

Sharpening Supplies
You'll be putting your knife/knives through a lot of stress and thus you will need to sharpen them. You can buy sharpening stones or you can use a combination of 600+ grit sandpaper and water or oil. Any piece of leather will work as a strop. I won't get into sharpening in this instructable, however there are plenty of resources out there for you to learn.

Step 2: The Wood

The most important thing to first consider when carving a spoon is the type of wood that you're going to use. While it's possible to carve virtually any type of wood given the right tools and techniques, some are easier than others to learn. Since this is spoon carving for beginners, let's try to keep things easy.

• Basswood
• Pine
• Cedar
• Redwood
• Fir

• Oak
• Maple
• Walnut
• Rosewood
• Exotics
• Teak

• Test it out and see how it feels to try and actually carve a piece off.
• Look for short grain, not long grain patterns - long grain seems to chip away in big pieces, you want small pieces to chip off so you can carve with more precision and control. I tried carving a piece of amapola for example and huge uncontrollable chunks came off without warning. This made it hard to carve.
• Look for soft varieties when possible, maple for example is very hard and will be hard to carve by hand.

A note about wood allergies for the beginning woodworker

Finally, it should be noted that wood, like many of the substances that we live with can be a potential allergen to certain individuals. Some types of wood, like cocobolo have known respiratory and skin effects. Other varieties, such as cherry, are known to be generally safe and inert. Wood dust from virtually any species of tree can have adverse respiratory effects over a long enough time period. It's important that we all mitigate these possible risks and make informed decisions about the things we expose ourselves to on a day to day basis. While most woods are generally safe to work with, if you are just getting involved in woodworking this simple database of known allergies is worth taking a look at.

Step 3: Assemble the Shark

I made some small stands to hold up the the head and tail. Slide all of the parts together. Some sanding may be required to get them to fit. If a piece is too loose, it's easy trace it and cut another one.

Hammerheads have wicked looking eyes on the sides of the head, so I cut some knots out of the pine sort of eye-shaped and glued them on. I just left the wood as is, but feel free to paint it a gray sharky color. A few drops of red here and there might add a little drama too.

Thanks for checking out my project, Steve.

PS - I am SO tempted to make another spine with a claw hammer shape for the head. I will do that someday!