The best sandpaper and the shape of a spoon handle

This post has two purposes: to show you evidence of the best sandpaper ever and to show you the shape of a pretty spoon handle.  First, look at the before photos and notice the knife marks.  Then look at the after photos to see how my Norton 3X sandpaper took off the knife marks in 3 minutes of sanding.  That is fast!  Finally, feel free to appreciate the shape of the handle.  I don't have much to say about the shape of it now, other than the fact that it looks really good and it feels great in my hand.  It feels nicer to hold than a regular cylinder shape.

Three "before" photos:

Three "after" photos:

It isn't just the fact that the sandpaper was 80 grit that made it fast.  All of the grits of Norton 3X that I use are fast.  They are faster than other kinds, and they last a lot longer.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the sandpaper has changed my approach to sanding.  I no longer hate it as much as I did, and I can use the 80 grit to do the last shaping of my pieces because it is so fast.  Where I would have to use a knife very carefully before to get that last hairbreadth of material off, I can now use my sandpaper and it is almost as fast and a lot less likely to take off too much material.

My first attempt at making spoons for eating

Here are my first eating spoons, halfway done.  I cut the blanks on my scroll saw and then soaked them for a few days.  I took them out of the water the night before carving so they wouldn't be too wet.  Maple carves much easier when it has been soaked.  The blanks were are a lot heavier, so I could tell they had sucked up the water.  I carved them with a knife and my gouge.  I carved the bowl by cutting across the grain, using the gouge more like a knife than a chisel.  It was fun to do it all by hand after having made several utensils all by machine lately.  I am going to give these two days to dry, and then I will sand them and oil them.  I already tested the size by putting them in my mouth as I was carving.  That was yummy.