soup stirrer mk 2

Dan Noren

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as mentioned in another post, at a recent fundraiser, one of the other ladies at the wife's :blah: church wanted a similar soup stirrer that i had made for another lady. well, the design has been laid out, the lumber selected, and the lines transferred to the wood. i think i may make the stem of this a bit more slender, not liking too much of what i saw. i may not be in the shop quite yet, but i will be ready when it happens.
 

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:lurk:

I'd probably agree on going thinner, its helped the look of my spoons a fair bit but takes a little courage and the willingness to break a few figuring out where the weak points are.

One thing that helps is to try and to keep the transition points where the grain moves direction strong enough. You can do a few things to help the appearance and keep up the strength.
  • Leaving the center of the piece a bit thicker and thinning the edges gives the illusion of it being thinner than it is, this is also nice because you can sneak up on the final thickness without committing up front.
  • Another technique is moving the position or direction of thickness around to where it doesn't detract from the apparent delicateness. A good example of this type of re-enforcement is how a lot of hand carved spoons have a thin "keel" that goes from the underside of the bottom of the handle onto the bowl of the spoon and provides a re-enforcement point for that point of leverage.

I'm not sure that the second technique would be easily applicable to a paddle design, but you might be able to do something kind of akin to that and leave a somewhat thicker section in the transition from the handle into the blade but only as an extension of the handle itself (think of it as the handle portion continuing into the blade for a little while).
 
I'll have to try something like this, for making my famous soups. One of the TV chefs years ago used to sell a line of wooden kitchen tools. One was a stirrer that had a couple of large hole in it. I thought this would give a little more action to the stirring, and I think I'll try that. I like your pattern, overall. How long do you make them?
 
now that the shop is open (somewhat), and i can get at my tools, got a bit more done with this today. got it rough cut, then sanded to the lines. tomorrow it will be taking it for a ride on the planer to reduce the thickness a bit.
 

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got a bit more done today. rounded over all of the edges, drilled the hanger hole, and rounded the edges of that over. all that is left is final sanding and finishing.
 

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Maybe you could use a burning tool and quote the witches at the caldron in Shakespear's McBeth play. I'll bet someone would pay handsomely for that one.

I hate to admit it but most of Shakespear has dibbled (another use for "dibble"---see thread about dibble) away from my poor old brain..

It is the Witch's song while stiring the caldron. I was thinking of the first two lines. I think most people would recognize it. Even if they didn't I think it would still go over.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.



Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.


Enjoy,
JimB
 
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took it for a ride on the planer today after finishing up the dining table top boards. took about 1/3 off the thickness, and rounded off the edges again. now i am quite happy with the fit, feel, weight, and balance. all that is left to do, is sand it a good one, oil it, and fit it with the leather hanger. it will be presented on mother's day.
 

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Looking pretty paddleishious (yep I just made that one up, I'm blaming Jim for mentioning Shakespeare who was apt to do such things) there Dan!

I'd probably go even thinner on the handle but I like to push my luck as loml can verify so YMMV.
 
finished hand sanding it to 220 last night, and hit it with the mineral oil tonight. added the strap, and its all set to be delivered.
 

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