The Artful Wooden Spoon: How to Make Exquisite Keepsakes for the Kitchen

Inspiring.

I love this book. Well written with gorgeous pictures and lots of info whether you like green or dry wood to work with or hand vs power tools. He has it all.

First let me say that I have some experience carving wood and I own many of the tools used in the book. Having said that I think this is a great book from beginner to expert if you want to try your hand at spoon carving. The author drives home the point that you do not need every tool he is showing and there are many ways to "skin the cat". The book has three different projects, or three different ways to skin the cat. What makes the projects different is not so much the shape of the spoons but the tools and manner in which they are carved. This book opened my mind on how I can use ALL my tools for spoon making. The book is excellently written and covers the history of spoons and the creative process in general. It is a great confidence builder. The photography is also superb in this book. Lots of solid info on working with green and found wood. Buy this book before it goes out of print!....Jack Hackle

This author has a very artsy and evocative writing style. The book reads almost like a poem, which is quite pleasant once you get used to it. Unfortunately, the how to part of the book becomes diluted among the flowing descriptions.The author does cover the basics of spoon making, both from green wood and from seasoned wood. The process is disjointed in parts, and certain steps get repeated. It seems as though the process of making a spoon gets in the way of flowery pargraphs about being connected to nature, and the birth of something new through the destruction of something old.This book would be best for a person approaching carving as an experience, rather than a skill. This is not a bad thing, but I'd have preferred more focus on the nuts and bolts of carving, and less of a holistic look at carving as an art form.I did very much appreciate that the author does not approach carving as some manly-man survival skill that any "real man" needs to master. It's a fun thing to do that is accessible and enjoyable for anyone.The Kindle version of the book has quite a few editorial issues, but none of them are severe. Fonts change randomly between sections, the captions for pictures are cut off and displayed on the next page. None of this makes the book less enjoyable.Notably absent are detailed discussions of tools, brands, and sources. This info is easily found elsewhere, but it would have been a useful addition to this book.

Oh yeah happy with this book. I've always been afraid of using green wood, expecting destructive checking and splitting. The author does a good job explaining why to carve green wood and how to properly temper it. I've carved spoons before. His steps describing the process from begining with a piece of a tree to finishing the carved spoon is thorough and clear in description. He is first to admit his is not the only way to carve spoons. Looking at other techniques by other carvers is sure to help beginners to find their own best personal carving style. It is good to read the works of carvers from countries with a history of hand carved wooden utensil use.

Very nice book, I like the top quality hard cover. Great book of information with details on how to carve a beautiful spoon. This is a top contender for me in choosing the one spoon carving book.

I bought this book as I am starting to learn how to spoon carve. It was a great blend of both the ideology of spoon carving and the art as well as procedural information and different techniques. Overall, it was a great read and the pictures were really nice!

What a great little book! I'm not a woodworker, but after reading this I can imagine getting obsessed with carving wooden spoons. At the very least I will never look at a wooden spoon the same way again.Ultimately, and more importantly, this is a valuable meditation on the value of making things by hand. A lovely, beautifully written book, with lots of elegant photographs. Loved it!

I have bought the British books on spoon carving Spon (Barn the Spoon), The Urban Craftsman (Max Bainbridge) and Spoon Carving (EJ Osborne). This is different as Vogel works in hardwoods as well as greenwood, whereas the Brits focus mainly on greenwood.Vogel has sections on using power tools such as air-powered burrs and band-saws whereas the Brits are more into knife and axe craft. Vogel has, as a consequence, a higher level of finish on his spoons. He runs a gallery in Upstate New York and is selling to what is, I guess, an affluent and demanding market whereas the Brits, I would speculate, are producing for fellow hipsters and artisans and they are expressing a simpler, rustic aesthetic.The book shares the same new wood, spiritual vibe that the others do. The photography is great.Best of all are Vogel’s shapes and designs: they really are different and beautifully executed.So if you are on your spoon carving journey like me I would get a copy of this to see another way of doing it.

I now have three books on my bookshelf about spoon carving after buying this book (is that too many?) The feel and style of all the books are similar as they are all part of the craft up rise (the other books in my collection are Urban Woodsman and Spon).The Artful Wooden Spoon follows other books in discussing materials, tools and projects. However Vogel does discuss a wider array of tools that include more power tools than the others. He tends to favour working with dried wood which probably explains this.For me I prefer to focus on hand tools although it is difficult not to admire the collection of toys Vogel has if you have a penchant for tools. Overall I like this book but my one criticism (and this is the same for the other books I have) is the lack of templates. What we often get in these books are pictures of the template or the finished article where the size is distorted. I would like to see templates that can copied or removed from the book to help beginners get started. I appreciate that part of carving is creating new designs and exploring what works but I think a little help here would help improve basic knife skills.

Unlike a lot of the other spoon carving books available, the philosophies and approach of the author seem to be engrained in the instruction.Other books seem to concentrate on either the dry a-b-c of carving with a biographical element of how the author came to carve. This book seems more to relate how the author feels about carving and why. Ultimately it makes it more engrossing and readable than most out there.Also some of the other books do give the impression that if you use anything other than blade and hand to carve you are cheating.For spoon carving I would recommend this book, the Wille Sundqvist and Barn the Spoons book. Others are good but with these three you’ll have spoon carving pretty well covered.

I bought this thinking it would just be a few pretty pictures to look at. However, I've since invested in a couple of craft knives and a hatchet, planning to get started over Christmas on making my first spoon! The author explains his experiences of whittling in such a calm and relaxing way, whilst still getting across the point that he gets such satisfaction from making these beautiful tools from almost nothing. Oh, and there are a lot of pretty pictures!

I love this book which is an inspiration for my own work! It's such an in-depth study of spoon making and raises the craft to a different level. The practical instructions are clear and easy to follow, and the information including photos of tools is very informative. The instructions also take you all the way through the finishing techniquesThe incredible variety of spoon shapes and designs is stunning and they are all very beautiful.The book has a special feel for crafting in wood and I love even just looking at all the wonderful quality photos. It is folksy and intelligent, and a credit to Josh Vogal.