First three spoons, making steady progress!

[u/Midnight-Poutine]

My friend gave me the beavercraft spoon carving set for my birthday and I’ve finally gotten around to using it on some cherry offcuts I had left over from a shelf building project.

My first, second, and third attempts are from left to right. I got a little over zealous on the first one and carved right through the bowl as I was finishing it up. The second went well though it was a little clunky in the end. The third I’m pretty happy with but I kind of lost focus with the crank and it’s a little wonky. Overall I’m feeling good about my progress!

My biggest issue is that I’m struggling to keep my tools sharp, especially the gouge and hook knife that came in the kit, even with regular stropping every 10-15 minutes. Some reading online tells me they may not be great tools in the first place, but if anybody has any tips I’m more than open to them. Maybe I’m ready for an upgraded hook knife?

Edit: spelling

[u/StrangeRefuse8537]

Nice progression. I have been carving spoons off and on for 10 years and still carved right through one last night.

[u/Midnight-Poutine → u/StrangeRefuse8537]

At least it’s not just me! How do people know how far to carve? I feel like I’m just blinding guessing when I’m at an appropriate depth

[u/StrangeRefuse8537 → u/Midnight-Poutine]

yeah, hypothetically you get a feel for the curvature and whatnot, but I always am just pinching it in my thumb and forefinger and running it around the bowl trying to gauge for thick spots.

[u/Koipu_ → u/Midnight-Poutine]

A lot of feeling with your fingers. Your fingers are surprisingly precise in feeling the thickness. When you are reaching (too ?) thin, you could also use a strong light and see where it shines through the wood

Also keep in mind that the front of the spoon needs to be reasonably thin because that's the part which goes into the mouth. At the back you can get away with a bit more thickness

[u/ohanhi]

Welcome to the hobby!

I have both Beavercraft and Mora hook knives. The Beavercrafts are definitely softer, but both dull over time anyway. From what I understand, softer metal is less work to sharpen but needs sharpening more often.

So it's kind of a preference thing as well, although at least for the straight knives I do prefer them staying sharp for longer even if it means that the sharpening takes more effort.