spooncarving course with Fritiof Runhall

Fritiof Runhall is one of Sweden's best spooncarvers, which also probably makes him one of the best spooncarvers in the world. It has been a real pleasure then to learn from him as he came to teach a masterclass course for us in Edale.

I feel spooncarving in the UK has come a long way in the last 5 years but has reached a sort of plateau, the spoons that are being produced have reached a good level but I know that much more is possible and wanted to share the inspiration I have found in Sweden with others. Fritiof is teaching 2 courses and we have many of the UK's top carvers and teachers coming, professionals alongside dedicated amateurs.We all learnt a lot on the first course and had a great time too. Fritof and I started with a day spent visiting my favourite wood collecting haunts from tree surgeons to this lovely birch woodland planted by a friend 20 years ago.

 Frtiof was very pleased and we picked out 2 birch which had lots of natural crooks in to fell. We made the felling cut high so we could get a really low cut to get the best from the bottom crook.

After a quick run through the various knife grips Fritiof gave us all a blank to carve, an interesting way to teach. He knocked out blanks at great speed.

 One of the things I picked up from him was the great benefit of being able to carve left handed, often it allows him to get the blank symmetrical and to see the line he is cutting to where if you were to turn the blank over to carve right handed then you can not see the line.

 I thought I was pretty skilled with the axe but I do have to look what I am cutting.

 These are the roughed out blanks, you can see where Fritiof has hollowed the bowl with 3 cuts with the axe, I sometimes do this with an adze but it takes a second to swap tools and it is quick and easy with the axe, saves a lot of time and wrist strain with the hook knife.

 close up of a blank.

Here are a few shots of Fritiof carving a spoon, flattening the upper surface of the bowl.

 Marking three points along the centre line, top of handle, narrow part of neck and centre of bowl, get these 3 in line and everything else will follow.

 powerful controlled carving onto a block.

 smoothing the line across the end grain.

 a grip I use very little hollowing with the hook. Native American carvers use this grip a lot pushing and pivoting with the wrist is very powerful.

 starting the distinctive grooves in the bowl.

 and finishing them off.

The proof of the value of any spooncarving course is in the work of the students and I was very impressed.

 The course was a useful mix of time spent carving

 demonstrations of technique

and individual attention to help tweak our designs to get the best out of each piece.

 Fritiof really enjoyed teaching a bunch of folk who already had a good skill level and were at the stage where they could understand the difference between an OK spoon and a great one.

 Last few shots of students work

 Thanks all for a great time.

edit to add post course comments

"many thanks for a truly inspirational time with you and Fritiof, it
took the craft of spoon carving to a new level. It will take me some time
and much practice to approach that level of skill but, it is great to have a
high pinnacle to aim for" Richard Charles

"I think this was/is a seminal course.  Spoon carving in the UK will improve.
Fritof is a great teacher, like you, he has an amazing laid back style, but with the steel of hard production." Richard Law

"inspirational examples, challenging techniques, considerate help, fine weather, convivial company, good food, blood-free zone ... I'm sure the list could go on
For me, some of the key advances this week were:
Extending my mental model of what understated elegance is possible
Seeing potential spoons within surprisingly small stock
Appreciating the disproportionate visual effect of very subtle features, e.g. chamfers
Completing more of the spoon with the axe
Reducing the fluffy bits where the grain reverses
Nibbling less and making longer cuts with the knife
Realising that I can develop a reliable, left handed draw stroke" David Atkin

"thank you Fritiof it was inspiring meeting a true craftsman, I know for a fact that my work will improve immeasurably for the experience."
John Mullaney

one of Sweden's best spooncarvers Fritiof Runhall

Meet Fritiof Runhall one of Sweden's best spooncarvers.

Sweden is known amongst green woodworkers for spooncarving largely through the writing of Wille Sundqvist and teaching of his son Jogge. There are very few professional spooncarvers though and Fritiof is one of the best.

Here is some of his work.

 salad servers

 The top eating spoon is made from spruce and has worked well in long use.

 This small bird bowl was carved from the buttress of a spruce where the tree joins the roots so the grain follows the form.

 gold leaf finial

 very large 18" ladles

and this is his makers mark though when you see the distinctive clean cut grooved surface of the bowl you don't need to turn it over to see the mark. Fritiof has a range of characteristic forms too, a style that is immediately recognisable, traditional yet modern at the same time.

Fritiof is in the UK at the moment and has just finished teaching a spooncarving class in Edale, he has one more next week before heading home. I'll post pictures of him at work and the course in the next blog post.

a lovely little gem of a craft book

I want to share a little gem of a book and you can be one of the first to own it as it is hot off the eco press.

Most craft books start by selecting the best, the last, the most famous craftspeople in each trade, this produces a particular type of book that has it's place but it has been done many times. How would it be if instead you selected a bunch of artisans at random, say by cycling round the coast of the British Isles and interviewing and photographing folk you met along the way?

That's was Nick Hand's idea and the results are wonderful. What I love most about this book is the humility of actually quite ordinary artisans chosen by chance as they came into focus on one man's remarkable journey around the coast. What we learn is that when you take the time to look, even the apparently straight forward lives of a bicycle repairer, hat maker or basket weaver are driven by passion and a deep seated love for their work. It is inspirational.

The book is a joy and you can see thoughtfulness and passion in every aspect of it. I have no idea how Nick conducted his interviews but the folk open up in a deep and meaningful way and share the inner drive that makes them do what they do. Nick would say it is the bicycle that wins folk over, I guess when someone has ridden 1500 miles to your door you recognise the fellow dedication and that empathy comes through the pages. As you would expect from a top photojournalist the images are sublime.

It would have been easy to publish this as a coffee table book with big glossy pages printed cheaply in China, instead it is a small book printed on FSC paper made in the UK and printed and bound in Wales. It's difficult to spot just why it works but it has that lovely quality of the original Beatrix Potter books, I guess it is loving attention to detail, caring, craftsmanship.

I would really very highly recommend it as gift to yourself or a friend. Just £14 or £16.50 inc P&P, a few clicks and you can use Paypal if you like. Here is the link to the order page.
Oh yes and £1 of every sale goes to Parkinson's UK

how to carve fan birds

fan birds are a wonderful traditional craft of eastern Europe. I first became aware of them when my friend Del Stubbs in the US wrote to me about them in the mid 1990's he carves very fine ones.

I saw lots of them when I visited Russia in 1998 including some huge ones in the Ethnographic museum in St Petersburg, I remembered these as being almost 4 foot wingspan but they could have been a little less. I took photos in poor light and they loose quality through transfer to digital but I shall put them up here anyway because I know folk that will be interested.

Around that time my friend Owen Jones the swill basket maker started making small ones from skip wood, recycled old pine. This is one of his.

I had a brief play about 4 years ago, this is as far as I got, too many other things on the go stopped me having time to play further.

I posted about them on the green woodworkers forum and my friend Sean Hellman followed it up, researching and experimenting until he now makes really very wonderful fan birds. Last weekend I visited him and photographed the process step by step. Sean carves them mostly from ash which is boiled first. The eastern European ones are mostly very slow grown pine. First 2 saw cuts.

chisel down into the saw cut, nice wide stance.

 smooth out the little hollow with a knife.

 Start riving off the feathers less than 1mm each.

 most of the way there.

 initially the base of the feathers was left at about 7mm or so for strength whilst riving, now it is taken down to about 1mm, Sean judges the thickness by holding it to the light, when it is see through it is thin enough.

 This shows the profile you are aiming for well.

 Next carve the head of the bird first rough sawing it then carving.

 Now if you have done all that right the feathers should twist and pivot back quite happily.

 Each one locks into the groove in the one before.

 nearly there

 The finished bird

 Sean is one of the few green woodworkers I know who really puts the hours in to experimenting and working out new (or old) techniques. It takes a lot of dedication, he is currently working on large shrink pots.

 and here are a few more of his finished birds.

I bought one from him a couple of years ago and it hangs above my stairs where I see it every day. This new one will hang from my mirror in the van. You can buy them from Sean mail order here

More on fan carving here


and related but different Japanese fan carving here