can anyone give me some ideas on how to scoop out the bowl portion of a salad spoon. carving is not an option as I have no carving tools and arthritic hands do not lend themselves to doing it that way. I need a way using some kind of power tools. thanks for any and all help.
If you don't have a dremel tool, you can pick up a wood rasp bit at the hardware store for your drill and try that. Also, its easier to shape the inside of the spoon on a secured flat board and then cut the spoon shape out around it afterward.
I went on a treenware kick and made spoons, spatulas, turners, mixers, and other goodies of all shapes and sizes.
Everything was a snap except spoons. It takes a while to carve out the bowls, which became pretty tedious. I went to Woodcraft and picked up one of these:
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a finer, less aggressive cousin to cut down on the sanding. Dremels are too small and take forever. But these are 1/4" shank and can be mounted in a drill or handpiece. I made about 10 more spoons once I got this bit and it is still very sharp.
local woodcraft had a shaft sold separately. And yes, I put that fordham shaft on my griz and it works. And it's a lot better than the original.
And a Saburr Tooth bit
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use the medium grit 7/8 sphere followed by the fine 78 to get it in better shape for sanding. I found a larger or coarser sphere is too aggressive.
Takes about five or ten minutes to zip out a bowl. Hope you've got a good dust collection system. Setting it up so I don't cover myself in sawdust is the longest step.
With that setup your biggest worry is hogging off too much wood before you realize it. Practice on scrap first. :-)
The saburr tooth bits are fantastic. They never clog and they hog off wood. I can't remember which of the dealers they list that I bought mine from. I also note that other rasp bits work fine, just not nearly as fast and take more effort.
I prefer the flexshaft because the dremel is so fat. Easier to do detail with the flexshaft. And the grizzly has lasted about three years now with no problems.
I bought one of those metal toolkit suitcases from Harbor Freight to hold it all.
I have carved numerous spoons. I start with a block of wood, draw top and side views on the sides, then carefully cut one face with a bandsaw. Tape the pieces back together and cut the other side. The rest is done with carving tools and sandpaper. I'm sure you can use a Dremmel tool. Some sanding can be done with the Dremmel too, but finish up with hand sanding. With power tools you need a light touch--it's easy to remove too much or burn the wood.
How about using a die grinder with a "ball-profile" router bit in it. I'd get a solid carbide one and carve out the inside of the spoon while held in a vise or clamped to a work table. regards, Joe.
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