Whittle Bench Spoonshttps://whittlebenchspoons.com/A spoon carver's notebook from Šiauliai: splitting fresh birch and alder, axe work at the block, knife grips, stropping, slow drying and oiling.enDrying slowly, oiling once, and what the cracked spoons taught mehttps://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/drying-oiling-and-the-cracks/https://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/drying-oiling-and-the-cracks/Why green spoons crack and twist as they dry, runout in handles, finishing cuts on dry wood, oiling with linseed, and the danger of oily rags.Sat, 11 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMTKnife grips I use every evening, and keeping the edge alivehttps://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/knife-grips-and-keeping-the-edge/https://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/knife-grips-and-keeping-the-edge/The sloyd and hook knives on my balcony bench, the chest lever and thumb-pull grips, hollowing a bowl across the grain, and stropping little and often.Sat, 06 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMTAxe work at the chopping block: roughing out a spoon safelyhttps://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/axe-work-at-the-chopping-block/https://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/axe-work-at-the-chopping-block/Block height, how I hold a small carving axe, stop cuts at the neck, the order in which wood comes off, and the ways axe work still goes wrong for me.Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:00:00 GMTSplitting a fresh birch log into spoon blanks in a shared yardhttps://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/splitting-a-fresh-birch-log/https://whittlebenchspoons.com/journal/splitting-a-fresh-birch-log/How I pick green wood as a flat-dweller, what birch, alder and cherry are like under the knife, splitting through the pith, and keeping billets wet.Sat, 19 Oct 2024 12:00:00 GMT