When selling at markets, I often get asked if I have any salad servers. I noted the demand, but it’s not something I have ever tried to make until this Spring. As with any duplicate, they require precision and that takes time. So when a client specifically asked me to make some, it was time for me to accept the challenge and get to work.
As with any new item that I make, and especially with client work, I have to make a practice set first. My plan was to make the handle and outside profile of the bowl on the lathe and then hand-carve the rest. With some still-green red maple wood that came from a friend, I made the first set with a rounded rectangle bowl and long cone-shaped handles. The overall form needed a lot of refinement with my carving knives to balance the taper of the handle with the size of the bowl. When it came time to drill out and cut the slit for the fork, I tried a quarter-inch bit, but the hole size ended up too big, and set too far back. These are all design preferences, but in the end, I wasn’t happy with how they turned out. They are too short, the bowls are too small and the fork placement was unpleasing.
I updated my very patient clients to let them know that I had to make a second practice set. Working again with the red maple, I made the next set longer and larger. I used a smaller drill bit for the fork and placed it closer to the center of the bowl. I rounded over the ends of the handles and left a faceted finish on the bowl. Already it was a big improvement without any finish applied.
I started on the cherry wood that the clients supplied and quickly ran into a problem with a break in the neck on one of them. For a moment, I considered gluing it back together, but the break was telling me that it would never have good stability due to the diagonal grain in the weakest spot.
It was best to start fresh. The odd shape of the wood chunks that I had left meant that the look of the grain in the bowl of each would be different. One would be striped, and the other would have rounded concentric shapes. Though originally unplanned, I decided to go with it and, taking into consideration everything I learned from going through the first two sets, I’m really happy with how the final set turned out.
After making three sets, I was not sure it was something I should add to my regular inventory because they were so time-consuming to make and the cost didn’t make sense. So, when my local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners hosted a Learn & Turn on how to make salad servers using a hand-made jig, I was quick to sign up.
We met up at a member’s shop and after a demo, everyone got to try out making their own spoons using his jig. Being the quietest member in a group gives me more time to make things and I came away with three spoons and the inspiration and knowledge to make my own low-cost setup at home.
Some of my hand-carved spoons and hand-turned honey dippers are featured in the current issue of The HOOK Magazine.
Next Sunday, April 23, I will be selling my woodworking at Bartlett Arboretum’s Arbor Earth Day Festival in Stamford, CT.
May 6, I will be returning to Bethany Arts Community for the second annual Wood Fest. I’ll be demonstrating how I make spinning tops on the lathe throughout the event.
You may have been the quietest member but we’re also the best spindle turner in attendance and with a skew no less!
Great issue about your process!