So a dirty grey chunk of wood becomes this.

I am trying to get a spatula spoon combo that works well.

Wow! What a great project!

My father is a wood turner, so I'm used to seeing cracked bowls in the fireplace, but carving firewood is a new one for me. Your utensils are gorgeous!

I hope you also found your orange water. I find it at Middle Eastern markets. Love tortas de aceite, especially orange, but I've never made them.

How beautiful. What a great project. We make many of our own utensils as well.
Pasta drying rack, cutting boards, etc.
Ruth Reichl had a large ladle type thing on her blog a while back that i can't find.
(more like a canoe paddle, lol). It is her go-to favorite.
Wanted to show it to DH.
I use some cheap bamboo ones that i toss in the dish washer but have a favorite with a beautiful grain that we made. I cherish the homemade ones and need to make more.

We just bought a new big-boy chainsaw last weekend and about to tackle an enormous maple tree than we lost last winter....

Here are the utensils we have been making. They are much simpler to make than the spoons. We have a lot of fun playing with designs. And using up some scrap wood of which we have lots of piles.

Just lovely!

You are very talented! And artistic too.

I have found that food taste much better with kitchen tools you made yourself. :-)

dcarch

agmss, those are beautiful.

When Dad was still alive, he and I spent some hours making wooden spoons, as I couldn't manage to buy one I couldn't break. We ended up making several, but mine weren't as delicately carved as yours....

Annie

Agmss, beautiful wood, beautiful spoons.

~Ann

Yes, beautiful spoons and kitchen utensils!

The best application for orange flower water, IMHO, is the classic New Orleans cocktail, the Ramos Gin Fizz. Google that term and you'll find lots of recipes; the one at the link is traditional.

I don't bother with a cocktail shaker; I double or fourple the recipe and make it in a blender.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ramos Gin Fizz

Looks like you've found your calling. They're absolutely beautiful!

I seem to use the wooden spoons with the blunt edge most. But I love them all, really.

Sol

I just rediscovered this thread. I am happy to say that though I still have a lot to learn I have improved.

I guess!!!!What's the wood??

Walnut.

agmss, that's lovely. Since Dad passed away, I haven't made a single utensil. All of his woodworking equipment was sold at the farm auction and I haven't replaced it. Maybe I will.....

Annie

I am sorry you don't have any of your dad's tools. Sometimes secondhand old ones are not too expensive. Just need a few. To start. I am very happy we could afford to buy my dad's tools and lumber.

If you ever come to Maine we will put you right to work. We sand a lot. A whole lot. Lol.

Very impressive! I have been looking for a pretty log...but it's to put in my fireplace decoratively as here in Florida I don't use the fireplace. That's the extent of my talent.

Right now the decorativeness of logs is lost on me. It is below zero. I am burning wood fast. And the logs are messy before and after burning. Bark chips and ashes make for a mess.

I wish I had your talent. I so very much admire your spoons - wish I could have a spurtle of your tiger maple (like my spurtle of Graham Kerr's - Galloping Gourmet TV fame and similar to Mad Hungry's spurtles which is one of the most beloved of all my gillion tools, the first "gotta have" tool I ever bought - 1975 I think. If you could make one like that I would stand in line to get one or three. You and your sister are creating useful beauty. Keep it up, it's rare.

My son had to cut down a 100-yr old pecan tree and saved several burls and had the local mill cure some big 10 inch wide x 4 inch thick x 6 foot long slabs from the top quarter. After a year there they should be about ready to mill into counter tops or bench seats for the 1906 house he is restoring. A lot of the wood was lost because using a magnet they found that the lower half of the tree (at least) had had big nails and/or screws in it - probably to attach clothes lines, outside flood lights, no trespassing signs, party lights, pinata's, or whatever, and the tree grew around and over them during those hundred years. They would not use their big milling saws to cut them for fear of hitting one and ruining the blade. If it were mine I'd get out my chain saw and a suit of armor to have at it. But, little old ladies don't so such things.

"---I still have a lot to learn I have improved.----"

I am not sure I agree. That spoon looks so perfect, not much improvement is possible.

dcarch :-)

Now I need to figure out what a spurtle is...

A spurtle is a spoon with a hole in the center. That spoon is stunning!

Wow! I agree, beautiful items and you and your sister are truly artistic.

Madonna

If you lived here in California, you'd be carving a lot of spoons out of your firewood, as woodburning fireplaces are about to be outlawed.

The spurtle I'm talking about is one that evolved from a baton shape (like a round stick) in Scotland for stirring oatmeal to one like a paddle with a curved side and a flat side, made smaller at the handle. It does not have a hole in it. Galloping Gourmet Style Spurtle

My sisters thought is if we can get 2-3 pieces of interesting fire wood to mill per cord then those pieces pay for the rest of the firewood. That said it is time consuming to get a chunk of firewood into very small boards. Not worth it unless the wood is very interesting.