The paradox of spoon carving is that the same technology supporting the culture is the very thing leaving us thirsty for a connection with something physical. We want to touch wood because we are inundated with digital images of forests even while we are stuck, many of us, inside. The precise simplicity of a knife feels good after a day stumbling through the bewildering infinity of the digital landscape. The slowness of the craft is the appeal. It is an antidote to the modern dilemma of overstimulation and virtual reality. But rather than a turning back to some nostalgic, rose-colored idea of what spoon carving was, I see this beautiful community claiming spoon carving as something that matters now, perhaps...
After two years of blood, sweat, and tears, Emmet Van Driesche (who is a leading teacher in the spoon carving world) has completed his latest book, Greenwood Spoon Carving. This book contains the fruit of his early years struggling through the isolated beginner stage to his successful career as a professional carver. Not only are his spoons some of the very best we’ve seen (they’re elegant, strong, masterfully executed), but he is also one of the best teachers on the subject. Emmet is clear, level-headed, and thorough. His passion to teach the art of carving wooden spoons led him in 2018 to launch his own print publication, Spoonesaurus Magazine – the periodical on spoon carving. I’ve been a subscriber...
Besides having a particularly fitting (and frankly awesome) name for a rugged 19th-century trapper, Manly Hardy was a celebrity of sorts. He had gained fame in central Maine and beyond for his knowledge of plant and animal species of the North Woods, and for his almost legendary exploits of wilderness skill and endurance. In an era of lumbermen, river drivers, and hunters, Hardy knew the woods and waters better than anyone. In the fine style of 1800s naturalists (such as John James Audubon, whose taxonomical methodology for studying new or rare species was shoot first, ask questions later), Hardy put together an extraordinary collection of more than three thousand mounted specimens of North American birds. And he knew how to...
It’s Greenwood Week in the Mortise & Tenon Apprenticeship Program, and our students from around the world have been felling trees with axes, riving, hewing, and carving their woodworking projects! In our Apprenticeship Forums, there’s been a lot of discussion about different greenwood projects that we can do. One of my favorites is making balsam whisks. I use balsam fir for these because it’s the most prevalent conifer in our woods, and because it’s super easy to find nice, symmetrical whorls. Five or six branchlets is ideal, and hunting for just the right whorl is half the fun. After finding a few good whorls, I bring them home, peel them, and bind them to dry a bit. This step helps...
“Wood is a wild material not easily tamed,” I wrote in “A Tale of Two Trees,” featured in Issue Six of M&T. The point is that even as we use the latest technology to prep and process the living daylights out of a piece of lumber before it gets stacked at the home center, we can’t fully remove its rowdier inclinations. Wood is hygroscopic, so it absorbs and releases moisture based on environmental conditions. The nature of grain structure causes wood to expand in warmer, more humid seasons, but it often does so unpredictably. Trees rarely add growth rings with perfect uniformity; instead, they are built in response to stresses the tree perceives through the growth cycle. Prevailing winds cause a...
As we mentioned in the podcast yesterday, we are excited to offer Danielle Rose Byrd’s new book, The Handcarved Bowl, for sale in our store. Danielle is an amazingly talented artist – her work speaks for itself. Whimsical and beautiful, her bowls, trays, and panels push the boundaries of practical art in new directions, while maintaining a connection to the age-old practice of carving woodenware. The Handcarved Bowl is the best book we’ve seen on the practice of creating a carved wooden bowl from beginning to end. From selecting and maintaining the proper tools, to harvesting material in the woods, to design and execution, Danielle has knocked it out of the park with this reference. There’s even a chapter full of stretches...
Green woodworking with hand tools isn’t just about carving spoons or turning Windsor chairs. The method is immensely practical for building all kinds of outside-the-box structures in the woods, whether a log footbridge to span a stream or a lean-to for a quiet resting place. A few months ago, we heard from Seth Gebel, owner of Backyard Trail Builds, LLC, and proprietor of the popular (with millions of views) “Backyard Trail Builds” YouTube channel. Seth constructs incredible mountain biking features in the woods, and lately has been focusing his efforts on what he calls “Primal” builds, utilizing only hand tools. These creations involve clever hand-cut joinery, timber that is harvested, rived, and hewn on-site, pegged decking, and even incorporates reverse-twisted cordage from...
“What we call green woodworking today carried no such particular distinction in the past. Vernacular woodcraft began in the forest, and made great use of the metamorphosing properties of wood as it changes from soft and saturated to hard and dry. Most everything a typical household needed, from treen to transportation, was produced through this process. Nowadays, much of that intimacy with this raw material has been lost as modern woodworkers turn to machines that rely on tame wood and massive infrastructure to function properly. But trees are not tame, and require knowledge and patience to work in the old way. There are valuable returns for the effort, not just in terms of fulfillment for the individual maker, but in...
In this episode of our podcast, Mike discusses his article “A Tale of Two Trees: The Radical Efficiency of Green Woodworking” in upcoming Issue Six. Mike presents a big picture view of procuring lumber by comparing industrial logging and milling with harvesting your own with hand tools. He makes the startling (and compelling) case that green woodworking is more efficient in the big picture than highly developed industrial processing. We discuss the value of curved branches, the genius of coppicing, and working the material before it dries.
Items Mentioned in this Podcast:
Issue Six
Dawson Moore – Michigan Sloyd
