more persimmon

[Porkbrick]

couldn't find the old persimmon thread. i finally got a camera, so, here is a spoon i made from a persimmon limb. the mottling is interesting. i carved it green, let it dry, then sanded and finished with tung oil. jaime

 

[pantheraba]

That's beautiful!!! Good work..show more when you have it.

 

[Porkbrick]

thanks! these are my every day cooking spoons, all manzanita. only olive oil on those. the bottom one is an unfinished apple wood that i put my wedding ring in when i take it off( i don't work with it on).

 

[woodworkingboy]

Nice work, and very useful!

 

[Treepreacher51]

Very nice. My wife liked them too.
I am so inspired to try and make one.
What kind of carving toolls are you using.

 

[Porkbrick]

i use a hatchet, a small carving knife, gouge, and a hook knife. i made the knives, they are in my shop, but ill get some pics. these are similar.

 

[Treepreacher51]

Thanks. I look forward to pics of your hand made knives.
I'm a whittler and spend hours making nothing but shavings.
I know you said you carved the persimmon green, the same for the others?

 

[Porkbrick]

i dont do spoons much any more (im hooked on the lathe currently), but when i did i always used green wood. limb wood, split, then roughed out with a hatchet, carve the outside and handle, then used gouge and mallet to rough out the bowl, hook knife to fine tune. dry slow in a plastic bag (turn the bag inside out every so often), then sand and oil. there is an excellent little article on the back page of an old fine woodworking mag that describes perfectly the process i use. sorry but i don't remember the issue, but it was back before they were in color. ill try to find a copy or link.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Those manzanita spoons rock! I would love a set of those!

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's a awesome skill!!!

 

[Cut4fun]

I been trying to grow persimmon trees for years and they never make it through a winter in this part of Ohio. The ones on my land 3.5 hrs south in southern Ohio are just fine.

Havent tried anymore for about 5 years up here in north central part. I think there is only 1 zone different.

 

[rskybiz]

Nice work! You let the Persimmon dry in the bag per your other post?

 

[Porkbrick]

Nice work! You let the Persimmon dry in the bag per your other post?

yes. i found that it dried very quick, and it darkened quite a lot when exposed to the air. when fresh cut it is creamy white.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

How did you dry the Manzanita to keep it from splitting.. ??

 

[Porkbrick]

How did you dry the Manzanita to keep it from splitting.. ??

within minutes of cutting, i put it in garbage bags. usually i would work on several spoons as a group, split and hatchet all of them, then carve them, etc, always keeping them in the bag when not working on them. sometimes i would keep them in a tote full of water instead. once they are carved the go into smaller bags (the kind you get in the produce section), then i just turn the bags inside out when condensation starts to build up. when condensation stops building i leave the bags open for a couple weeks, then they come out and get put in a cool, dry space. i check by feel to see when they are dry enough to sand. over the years ive cracked a lot, even had them crack in the time it takes to carve them. manzanita is the toughest (and my favorite to carve) to dry, olive, plum, and madrone are not far behind. apple, sycamore, rhododendron, and most of the softer woods are easier. ive made spoons out of just about every wood i can get my hands on in the pacific northwest (used to live in eureka, grew up in sonoma). my favorites are, manzanita, olive, and apple. jaime

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I cut a manzanita burl once for Jay... I had left it on the stump (so to speak) to start dying slow.. Then hiked back in after a sort and cut it and brought it home. Next day it was almost 2 pieces.
Dang thing would have made a nice bonzai stand or something.
See if the bag trick will work. Touchy stuff.

 

[stig]

One thing about the bag trick is, it allows fungus and bacteria to attack the wood, since the surface is kept moist.

That is what makes some of the whiter woods, maple, holly etc. grey and mottled.

Woodturners face the same problem, when drying rough turned bowls: if you dry them too fast they split, too slow and they get discolored.

Years ago I started working on a solution. First I tried dipping them in a solution of potassium sorbate, a food preservative. That worked ok, but a simpler solution turned out to be dipping them in a solution of citric acid.
That makes the surface ph so low, that fungus cannot grow on it.

When I re-turn the bowl, I cut the treated part away. In the case of a spoon, just wash it before drying it out before applying the oil finish.

I was goint to write an article for American Woodturner about this and did some maple bowls, both treated and untreated for pictures. Then we had a fire and I lost the bowls, so the article never got written.

Stephen, just boil the burl for a couple of hours, that should keep it from splitting.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

WOW... Good info.. Thanks

 

[Porkbrick]

ive read about the citric acid trick and have wanted to try it. for spoons, fungus was not really a problem unless the stock was left un or half carved for too long. they are thin enough that they dry fast. drying bigger items is another story.

 

[Porkbrick]

these are the tools i use

 

[Treepreacher51]

Cool. Thanks for shairing.

 

[vharrison]

Very, very cool. Lots of good information as well!

 

[stig]

Would have been fun to do a project together, if it wasn't for all the water between us.
I would have enjoyed doing an off-set turning of the outline of a spoon and then have you carve the rest of it.

 

[Porkbrick]

Would have been fun to do a project together, if it wasn't for all the water between us.
I would have enjoyed doing an off-set turning of the outline of a spoon and then have you carve the rest of it.

im honored you would say that, thank you. that would be fun. id love to attend one of the tall tree climbs here in the PNW one of these days, meet all the legends here in person. jaime