The history of the Welsh love spoon is rich. Suitors would painstaking hand carve intricate designs into the wood to convey their feelings to their intended brides. Some suitors could not read or write so used their carvings as the medium for their romantic messages. The skill in creating the Welsh love spoon also demonstrated to the father of the bride that the suitor would be able to provide for the family. The heart featured on most designs to signify that the suitor’s heart had been captured. Two hearts indicated that the suitor was confident that his intended shared his love. The twisted stem, chains or knots were commonplace in many designs. These symbolised togetherness as well as showcasing the suitor’s skill. The lock and dragon were both associated with security and protection. Bells indicated an intention to marry, diamonds, good fortune and the horseshoe, good luck.
What you need:
2 blocks of pine (approx. 25cm * 7cm * 2cm) – squared paper – pencil – coping saw – drill (drill bit wider than saw blade) – workbench and vice – wood carving chisel – firmer chisel – sandpaper (coarse, medium & fine) – hammer – linseed oil – cloth
Method:
Preparation
- Check the wood to ensure that it is not split or cracked and avoid using a piece with a knot in the wood.
- Draw around the block of wood on your squared paper so that your design can be drawn to the scale of the wood. Sketch out your design on the paper incorporating as many of the Welsh emblems as you fancy. If you are attempting wood carving for the first time, stick with a simple design.
- Cut out your paper design and place the design on top of the wood. Trace around your design with your pencil, directly onto the wood.
Drilling and sawing
- If there are any central holes in your design (e.g. twisted stems, chains or knots), clamp your wood in the vice.
- Use your drill to make holes in these areas so that you can fit your saw blade through these.
- Use your safety goggles when drilling.
- While the wood is clamped, use your coping saw to cut around your design.
- Keep the saw slightly outside of the lines rather than directly on the line to allow for errors.
- For the internal cutting on the design, undo your saw and thread the blade through the first of the holes that you have drilled.
- Secure the blade at both ends on the saw and cut around the lines of your internal design.
- Undo the blade after you have finished each internal section. Repeat the process until you have cut around your whole design.
Chiselling
- Place the second block of uncut wood into the vice and place the shaped wood on top of this (decorative side up). Tighten the vice to secure both pieces of wood (you may need to resize the second block of wood if the love spoon shape is much narrower). The second piece of wood is needed to help absorb some of the impact of your chiselling and prevent the love spoon from splitting.
- Use your woodcarving chisel to scoop out the wood to form the inside of the spoon. Turn over the spoon in the vice and use the woodcarving chisel to shape the back of the spoon.
- Turn the spoon back over so that the decorative side is facing you in the vice and use the firmer chisel and hammer to make stop cuts on the pencil lines. Test out your stop cuts on the other block of wood. Stop cuts serve as a barrier for when you are chiselling by hand so that you cannot chisel beyond them.
- Use your woodcarving chisel to add shape and definition to your design by rounding off the edges. Work slowly and remove small chips of wood at a time. If you notice that your stop cuts are disappearing as you carve deeper into the wood, redo them.
Sanding
- Some people like the chiselled look and finish their project here, but if you would like a smooth finish, start with a 5cm by 5cm square of the coarse sandpaper to smooth out the chisel marks on the spoon.
- Once the chisel marks have disappeared, use a 5cm by 5cm square of medium sandpaper to give a second smoothing down. Use a 5cm by 5cm square of fine sandpaper for the final smoothing down.
- To finish your love spoon, soak the end of your cloth in the linseed oil and rub this into the wood. Leave the oil to soak into the Welsh love spoon for an hour and apply a second layer. Leave the Welsh love spoon on the cloth to dry overnight.