Oh, that’s unfortunate. Plum wood is durable, non-porous and incredibly colorful, with orange, yellow, purple and green layers. I was planning to make spoons from a gnarly old plum stump that’s been seasoning under my joiner table for years. I guess I better taste it first!
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Hmmmm, interesting. Haven’t heard of it either, if it is in the same vein of Blackadder so i may have to give it a whirl if i can find it.
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I wonder if one could soak or boil the wood in something to change the taste?
Baldrick, so yes?
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The colors oxidize into relative dullness within a day or so, so you want to carve and then seal the object pretty quickly anyway. But given that any coating will eventually fail, I think I will taste the wood before I start, and find out what I’m dealing with.
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Emil didn’t need one either.
Didn’t know that one. If I got another childhood I’d read more scandinavian children’s books. My favorite picture book was an obscure 1960 single printing called “The Marsh Crone’s Brew” based on a scandinavian folktale. Exceedingly strange. My son who doesn’t like weird and creepy hated it, but my daughter loved it.
There is always a worry that things from childhood don’t age well, and I haven’t seen it in years.
At least the Beast of Bolsover jokes are still relevant, as Dennis Skinner is showing no desire to retire from politics.
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It’s (was?) very popular. The films (some sort of trailer, start 1:18, Emils name in the german dub is Michel btw) even more so than the books. They hold up quite well. They were dubbed into french and german. Can’t find anything in english though. There is even a Lindgren/Emil museum in Stockholm. I loved it as a kid.
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John Cleese
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He undoubtedly used a Mora, just not a hooked one.
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One of the greatest voice performances ever, IMO. Though the legendary Peter Ustinoff did also voice King Richard at the end of the film, this image is of Prince John. Aha! Aha!
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My fiancee’s wilderness education school gave these out to their staff as a holiday present last year. They also sell the basic carbon steel Morakniv to campers/students at an awesome discount. It is an incredibly impressive knife for the price.
@frauenfelder, have you ever tried burning the hollow out with a coal? Really fun and gives the “bowl” a beautiful burnish.
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I have wanted to try the hot coal method!
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They say he carved it…from a bigger spoon.
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Sean Connery
Great movie, but a lousy trailer if you ask me.
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I have not experienced any taste from plum spoons. We have been using half a dozen of them for about 7 years now. Whilst the colour does dull a little it can easily be brought back with a light oiling or waxing. I make a beeswax paste with jojoba oil as it is edible. Flax oil is better I gather but I think it may go rancid faster. It is a beautiful wood to carve but you may struggle if it’s dry as the heartwood is very hard. Still you can make beautiful spoons with machine tools.
The knife itself is incredible value for a starter blade. Once you become proficient you will like want a different bevel or hook size. I started out making the bowl of the spoon with a curved gouge which is also excellent.
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I have a drawer full of these puppies. They are light-weight, waterproof, and impervious to metal detectors. And while decisively non-artisanal by virtue of having been injection molded, the metal die that formed them was lovingly sculpted by a machinist in China called Zheng. I think of him when I remove a bunch from a plastic bag and place them carefully beside a fresh stack of paper plates.
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Mark, it’s great that you’re getting into spoon carving, but I’ve really got to tell you that the Mora knife you’ve linked to sucks big time. I persevered with one just like that for months and hated it.
It’s a shame, because Mora straight knives like the 120 and the 106 are pretty much perfect for green wood carving - I use 'em all the time and there’s absolutely no need to spend any more than the £15-£20 that they cost. Which is all the more annoying because their hook knives are so, so bad!
I started carving here in London about five or six years ago and I’ve been at it ever since. I first got turned on to green woodwork by a lovely guy called Barn The Spoon (his book is just out, by the way - and it’s brilliant: https://barnthespoon.com/courses-books-gifts/spon-learn-to-carve-spoons-with-barn-the-spoon)
My friend Robin Wood has pretty much the last word on the best bent knives to use for spoon carving. Please do check out what he has to say (and maybe get one of his wonderful blades for not much more than a Mora) because you’ll really appreciate how lovely it is to scoop out a bowl with a tool that’s utterly fit for purpose and makes the job a joy and a delight:
Happy spooning!
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