How to Make a Wooden Cooking Spoon

Cherry-Wood Cooking Spoon

Todd Wolfe of Made by Wolfe demonstrates how to make a cherry-wood cooking spoon designed for both mixing and holding and ladling liquid. Unlike his flatter spatulas, this spoon has a carved bowl. The process combines template-based shaping, power sanding and carving, hand sanding, and a food-safe oil finish.

Process and Techniques

1. Prepare the blank: Mill cherry to approximately 1¾ inches thick, 2⅝ inches wide, and at least 12½ inches long.
2. Lay out the shape: Trace two templates onto the wood: one for the side profile and one for the face. The templates give the spoon a handle shape consistent with Wolfe’s spatulas.
3. Cut the profiles: Bandsaw the outlines using a ½-inch blade. Make relief cuts where needed for tight curves. Reattach a cut-off piece with double-sided tape to guide the second set of cuts.
4. Shape and smooth the exterior: Use a pneumatic sander to remove bandsaw marks. Keep the spoon square at first, shape the handle into a slightly broad octagon, then round and contour the back of the spoon. A flap sander brings the surface close to its final shape and reduces hand sanding.
5. Carve the bowl: Use an Arbortech Ball Gouge in a power-carving unit to cut a depression into the spoon’s face.
6. Refine and sand the bowl: Shape it with an Arbortech Mini Turbo sander, then use an Arbortech Contour sander for the interior’s final sanding.
7. Hand-sand: Sand up to 320 grit. After sanding to 180 grit, wet the wood and let it dry, then sand it back. Repeat this process before the final sanding.
8. Finish: Apply a food-safe finish. Wolfe typically uses two or three coats of Wako Butcher Block Finish, with light sanding between coats. He also mentions mineral oil-and-beeswax finishes and oil wet-sanding with 600- or 800-grit paper to build luster.

Creator

Todd Wolfe, Made by Wolfe.