{"title":"How to Carve a Wooden Spoon With a Knife","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/woodworking-crafts/how-to-carve-a-wooden-spoon","category":{"slug":"woodworking-crafts","name":"Woodworking Crafts"},"creator":{"name":"David's Passage","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI9Jrt8SMVGWvkul7PlLmBg","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msunwm-MRaA"},"tldr":"Learn how to carve a wooden spoon from a green stick with one knife and a saw. Split, hollow the bowl, shape the handle and smooth it.","quickAnswer":"Learn how to carve a wooden spoon from a green stick with one knife and a saw. A medium project: about 1 hour 30 minutes. You need 7 things, including fresh green branch, sandpaper and food grade mineral oil. The 10 steps start with saw a Green Stick to Wooden Spoon Length, split the Stick for the Wooden Spoon Blank, taper the Wooden Spoon Blank With the Knife and chamfer the Corners of the Wooden Spoon Blank.","totalDurationSeconds":378,"videoDurationSeconds":378,"difficulty":"medium","project":{"difficulty":"medium","projectMinutes":90,"waitMinutes":null,"totalMinutes":90,"estimatedCost":null,"yield":"1 wooden spoon"},"tools":["fixed blade carving knife","folding saw","cut resistant glove","hook knife (optional)"],"materials":["fresh green branch (birch, cherry, maple or alder)","sandpaper","food grade mineral oil"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Saw a Green Stick to Wooden Spoon Length","text":"Find a straight, fresh branch. Grip it in your fist to judge the size, then leave a little extra beyond where you want the spoon to end. Saw it to length with a folding saw. Dave uses a Bahco Laplander, but any small saw works. A blank a few inches longer than the finished spoon gives you room to fix mistakes."},{"number":2,"title":"Split the Stick for the Wooden Spoon Blank","text":"Look at the end of the stick and find the pith, the dark center. You want it on the top face of the spoon, and a natural curve in the stick helps. Set the knife blade across the end, a little off center, and tap the spine with a piece of wood to split it. This is called batoning. Keep the half with the curve you like."},{"number":3,"title":"Taper the Wooden Spoon Blank With the Knife","text":"If you do not have a pencil, score a line with the knife to mark where the spoon will stop. Then start removing wood. Carve long strokes away from you to taper the blank toward the handle end. Leave the handle area thick for now. You will need something solid to hold while you work on the bowl."},{"number":4,"title":"Chamfer the Corners of the Wooden Spoon Blank","text":"Take the sharp corners off so the blank starts to look round. Put your thumb against the spine of the knife and push the blade with it, like peeling a potato. This gives you short, controlled cuts. Work along every corner until the blank looks octagonal when you look at the end."},{"number":5,"title":"Score the Outline of the Wooden Spoon Bowl","text":"On the flat top face, lightly draw the shape of the bowl with the knife tip. A pencil works, or a piece of charcoal from the fire if you are outdoors. Go lightly until you like the shape. This line is your guide for hollowing, so give the bowl a nice oval with a little wood left around the edge."},{"number":6,"title":"Start the Hollow in the Wooden Spoon Bowl","text":"Put the knife tip in the middle of the bowl and push down. Then sweep it around toward one edge, like drawing a quarter of a circle. Repeat from the middle toward each quarter of the outline. These sweeping cuts lift out small chips and form a little dimple you can keep working deeper."},{"number":7,"title":"Hollow Out the Wooden Spoon Bowl With the Knife Tip","text":"Keep whittling away the inside of the bowl with the knife tip. Work from the edges toward the center, and from both ends, so you always cut with the grain. This is the slowest part. Take your time and check the depth often. A hook knife makes this step much quicker if you have one."},{"number":8,"title":"Carve the Wooden Spoon Handle to Shape","text":"With the bowl roughed out, shape the rest of the spoon. Carve the handle down from the thick blank into a slim, comfortable stem, and round the back of the bowl to match the inside. Take long, steady cuts along the handle and shorter ones around the curve of the bowl. Now it starts to look like a spoon."},{"number":9,"title":"Smooth the Rough Edges of the Wooden Spoon","text":"The spoon will have lots of ridges and rough tips. Take very light cuts with no pressure and let the blade shave off the high spots. If your knife has a square 90 degree spine, you can scrape with it to smooth the surface further. Go over the whole spoon until the facets are small and even."},{"number":10,"title":"Sand the Wooden Spoon With a Stone or Sandpaper","text":"On the trail, Dave finds a clean, rough rock and rubs it over the spoon like sandpaper. At home, sandpaper does the same job faster. Work over the bowl and handle until the surface feels smooth. Let the spoon dry slowly, then rub in food grade oil before you use it."}],"commonProblems":[],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-11-10T15:22:01.049Z","published":"2026-11-10T15:22:00.727Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit Show Me Step by Step with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure. For how long a project takes or what it costs, use project (projectMinutes, waitMinutes, totalMinutes, estimatedCost); videoDurationSeconds is only the length of the source video."}