Jam Spoon

A while back, I thought to myself - "Why get my fingers sticky with a short knife that requires four or five dips into the jam jar to make a sandwich?  I should make a jam spoon instead."  (I was also antsy for a new project that was different from what I have already done.)  So I made one.  Well, kind of.  I cut one out and carved it and even sanded it mostly.  But I didn't like it, and it is hard to finish a piece that I don't like.  Here is a picture of it. It still isn't done.

It is made of bloodwood.  As you will discover, the difficulty in making a jam spoon of blood wood lies in carving a small spoon head out of very hard wood.  It would have been easier out of maple, but not nearly as interesting to look at.  With all the maple in my spoon holder, I needed some contrast.  But, alas, I just don't like it.  It seems rather boring to me.  Maybe I should make the end of the handle skinnier.

But there is better news, and better photos to see.  A few weeks after getting bored with the first jam spoon, I thought of a different design.  I like it much better.

side view

backside view

This one is also bloodwood, but with a totally different shape.  I based the head on the shape of an oar.  Because it is just used for scooping and spreading jam, it doesn't really need a normal bowl shape, so I just did a scoop shape, as you can see in the side view.  This spoon is beautiful and not boring.