Food safeness and wood selection for making a spoon?
June 9, 2013 9:23 PM Subscribe
Can I use found wood to make spoons for cooking? How can I know whether it is food safe or not?
My neighbor threw out some very good looking old wood (parts of a director's-style chair, apparently made in France). I'd like to learn how to whittle, so I was thinking I could use this wood as the material to make a couple of wooden stirring spoons. Of course, it then occurred to me that this might not be food safe.
What I'm wondering is how it can be determined if this is wood safe or not. It's very old wood and does not look like it has been chemically treated, although it may have been stained (I'd have to carve below the surface to be sure).
Is there any way for me to test the wood or check if it is safe? Also, what sort of knives are best for whittling wood?
Note that I am not sure what kind of wood these scraps are made of; they have the old faded look of old, unfinished wood. I can take some photos tomorrow if that will help determine it suitability.
Also, the pieces of wood are long and square, I'm going to have the get them broken down into thinner pieces somehow.
My neighbor threw out some very good looking old wood (parts of a director's-style chair, apparently made in France). I'd like to learn how to whittle, so I was thinking I could use this wood as the material to make a couple of wooden stirring spoons. Of course, it then occurred to me that this might not be food safe.
What I'm wondering is how it can be determined if this is wood safe or not. It's very old wood and does not look like it has been chemically treated, although it may have been stained (I'd have to carve below the surface to be sure).
Is there any way for me to test the wood or check if it is safe? Also, what sort of knives are best for whittling wood?
Note that I am not sure what kind of wood these scraps are made of; they have the old faded look of old, unfinished wood. I can take some photos tomorrow if that will help determine it suitability.
Also, the pieces of wood are long and square, I'm going to have the get them broken down into thinner pieces somehow.
Best answer: One toxin used for treating wood (say, for railroad ties or older decks) is arsenic. There are kits you can buy to test wood samples for the presence of arsenic — hit up your favorite search engine for keywords like "arsenic wood test".
You'd probably only do this kind of test if you think the wood might have come from this kind of source, which seems unlikely but you never know.
In addition to removing as much of the surface, stained wood, you might also apply a food-safe finish at the end of turning a spoon, perhaps something like mineral, linseed or tung oil or shellac, which adds a protective coating that helps reduce the likelihood of adulterants from getting into your food.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:51 PM on June 9, 2013
You'd probably only do this kind of test if you think the wood might have come from this kind of source, which seems unlikely but you never know.
In addition to removing as much of the surface, stained wood, you might also apply a food-safe finish at the end of turning a spoon, perhaps something like mineral, linseed or tung oil or shellac, which adds a protective coating that helps reduce the likelihood of adulterants from getting into your food.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:51 PM on June 9, 2013
Best answer: Here is a how to on spoon making that specifically advises that you not use aromatic woods like cedar. And this thread has lots of advice about wood selection but neither source has much specifically about using found wood.
posted by logonym at 10:10 PM on June 9, 2013
posted by logonym at 10:10 PM on June 9, 2013
Yes, make some (sharp) photos, that might help.
For the record, it is quite unlikely that some toxic species were used for this piece of office furniture; more likely we're talking about the usual suspects, ash, oak, fruit trees of some sorts, or walnut. What you want to know more about is if, or how the wood was treated. If it was, for example, just steamed, or soaked/pressure cooked/vacuum treated with anything to prevent its changing shape or developing cracks.
posted by Namlit at 10:47 PM on June 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
For the record, it is quite unlikely that some toxic species were used for this piece of office furniture; more likely we're talking about the usual suspects, ash, oak, fruit trees of some sorts, or walnut. What you want to know more about is if, or how the wood was treated. If it was, for example, just steamed, or soaked/pressure cooked/vacuum treated with anything to prevent its changing shape or developing cracks.
posted by Namlit at 10:47 PM on June 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Also, what sort of knives are best for whittling wood?
For traditional American whittling, many folk seem to use a carefully chosen three-bladed folding knife, or a small number of fixed-bladed knives.
This set should do what you need. Note the gouge which you'll want for the hollow bowl of the spoon. (Not shown is the protective glove / finger-wrapping tape you'll use on the gripping hand.
Chip carving uses a slightly different set of tools, Haida-style carving uses another set, etc.
Also, the pieces of wood are long and square, I'm going to have the get them broken down into thinner pieces somehow.
With a saw, probably. Or two - one to break it down into small planks and a coping saw to rough out the shape of the spoon.
If you like this stuff, pick up Carving Japanese Netsuke for Beginners and
Art of Carving Japanese Netsuke, along with this free pdf: Carving Netsuke.
You may want to visit a local wood-workers club.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:52 PM on June 9, 2013
For traditional American whittling, many folk seem to use a carefully chosen three-bladed folding knife, or a small number of fixed-bladed knives.
This set should do what you need. Note the gouge which you'll want for the hollow bowl of the spoon. (Not shown is the protective glove / finger-wrapping tape you'll use on the gripping hand.
Chip carving uses a slightly different set of tools, Haida-style carving uses another set, etc.
Also, the pieces of wood are long and square, I'm going to have the get them broken down into thinner pieces somehow.
With a saw, probably. Or two - one to break it down into small planks and a coping saw to rough out the shape of the spoon.
If you like this stuff, pick up Carving Japanese Netsuke for Beginners and
Art of Carving Japanese Netsuke, along with this free pdf: Carving Netsuke.
You may want to visit a local wood-workers club.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:52 PM on June 9, 2013
Best answer: I'd suggest watching Carving Swedish Spoons and follow along.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:10 PM on June 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:10 PM on June 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You probably have very little to worry about in terms of safety. Most hazardous woods are sensitizers or iritants, but that's more an issue if you're using power tools and inhaling lots of wood dust. (Most of the truly hazardous woods out there are exceedingly rare.) The real issue is that the wood you're looking at might be far too hard for a beginner to get decent results with. Most people start out with something softer like basswood, which is probably too soft to make a chair frame out of.
For a spoon you're going to want a knife with a short straight blade and either a gouge or a hook knife to manage the bowl of the spoon. You're also going to want the equipment to keep a razor sharp edge on these.
For shaping your initial billet you're going to want a draw knife, but you could us a hatchet or a batoning chisel as well. The people I linked to for knives will sell you one of these, but they're really cheap on e-bay.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:42 PM on June 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
For a spoon you're going to want a knife with a short straight blade and either a gouge or a hook knife to manage the bowl of the spoon. You're also going to want the equipment to keep a razor sharp edge on these.
For shaping your initial billet you're going to want a draw knife, but you could us a hatchet or a batoning chisel as well. The people I linked to for knives will sell you one of these, but they're really cheap on e-bay.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:42 PM on June 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you havent watched any of the Barn the spoon videos yet they are well worth it. ( youtube search on "Barn the spoon" ).
"i cant imagine a life without making spoons"
"Barn the Spoon, the professional spoon carver" both from Spitalsfieldslife.com
posted by stuartmm at 1:08 AM on June 10, 2013 [3 favorites]
"i cant imagine a life without making spoons"
"Barn the Spoon, the professional spoon carver" both from Spitalsfieldslife.com
posted by stuartmm at 1:08 AM on June 10, 2013 [3 favorites]
As whittling is your goal maybe consider decorative love spoons that are traditional in wales.
posted by BenPens at 3:46 AM on June 10, 2013
posted by BenPens at 3:46 AM on June 10, 2013
Best answer: I recommend the book Swedish Carving Techniques by Wille Sundqvist. I stumbled on it at a library almost 20 years ago, and it's still one of my favorite craft books.
For this sort of work, it's hard to do better than a Scandinavian-style laminated knife like the ones Kid Charlemagne linked to. I have a few made by Frost, and they are amazing pieces of steel, reasonably priced. They sharpen easily and hold an edge for a long time.
If you're going to cut wood with knives, there will be no getting around the need to learn to sharpen. Hand-held wood cutting tools are not like kitchen knives and sewing scissors, where you can get away with occasionally taking them to a shop and having a professional sharpen them for you. Carving knives dull comparatively quickly, so you will need to do the sharpening yourself. You'll need at least a couple of sharpening stones (flat stones, not some crazy E-Z Sharpening Jig with slots and guides and levers), but that's probably outside the scope of this question.
As has been said above, it's very unlikely that the wood itself is hazardous. So long as any traces of stain or surface finish are cut away, there's not much to worry about.
For spoon carving, the easiest way to get the stock cut down to a roughly spoon-shaped blank would be a bandsaw. Ask around and see if you can find someone who has one. Even a small, cheap hobbyist model is sufficient for this project.
posted by jon1270 at 4:13 AM on June 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
For this sort of work, it's hard to do better than a Scandinavian-style laminated knife like the ones Kid Charlemagne linked to. I have a few made by Frost, and they are amazing pieces of steel, reasonably priced. They sharpen easily and hold an edge for a long time.
If you're going to cut wood with knives, there will be no getting around the need to learn to sharpen. Hand-held wood cutting tools are not like kitchen knives and sewing scissors, where you can get away with occasionally taking them to a shop and having a professional sharpen them for you. Carving knives dull comparatively quickly, so you will need to do the sharpening yourself. You'll need at least a couple of sharpening stones (flat stones, not some crazy E-Z Sharpening Jig with slots and guides and levers), but that's probably outside the scope of this question.
As has been said above, it's very unlikely that the wood itself is hazardous. So long as any traces of stain or surface finish are cut away, there's not much to worry about.
For spoon carving, the easiest way to get the stock cut down to a roughly spoon-shaped blank would be a bandsaw. Ask around and see if you can find someone who has one. Even a small, cheap hobbyist model is sufficient for this project.
posted by jon1270 at 4:13 AM on June 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by mlis at 9:50 PM on June 9, 2013