Wood Turning First - by Power or Pole Lathe
Choose a wide enough piece of wood for the finished width of your desired spatula. If it's not you'll end up simply turning another spurtle or thieval! I've been using some of that wonderful fresh green Sycamore I found in one of the dry ditches around by the Abbey church. So not only did I have to check size carefully I was also keeping an eye out for that green fleck staining that I don't like the look of on utensils.
Allow enough wood at either end to give enough to remove as you finish the work so you're not getting a small indentation where the centres of the lathe grip. We don't want unsightly or nasty unhygenic little indentations in our cooking implements do we. Then let the imagination flow - I find doing these little things most therapeutic, gently changing the sweep of a handle the slight nuance of a curve - only thing is once the wood's cut you can't stick it back on. I like to turn gently, not like a maniac racing away that removes all the pleasure and I think you should be able to enjoy your work and not feel that I'm on an assembly line. Yes I do need to make a certain number of products to earn my living but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying my chosen profession.
Once the handle is fashioned to your taste then it's time to get those carving implements out. Sometimes it's simply a 2.5 inch carpenters chisel for a good flat cut or perhaps a series of knives and then a few sweeps with the spokeshave. Most important is to take your time and if the grain doesn't seem to be co-operative maybe it's because you're not working with it but against it. So turn the work around or if it's the spokeshave or drawknife try a push cut instead of a pull or use the tool at an angle to the work - it's very important to be flexible and try different things out. And remember there's not definitive right way - it's what's right for you and what's comfortable and what works...
