Bone Part 2

There are so many things that a nice piece of bone can be made into. Before I made the crochet hooks I made two shawl pins, one for my mom and one for my sister, who both knit. The Dremel tool was quite handy here especially the spherical carving bits that they make.

One of my mom's favorite animals. I tried to make the pin itself look like a tusk.

One of my sister's favorite animals, this time I tried to make the pin look like a branch.

Bone

Bone is a great medium to work with. You can create a very polished and glossy tool that will last for a very long time as it is naturally strong. I just use cow bone from the pet store. It is marketed as something for dogs to chew, but is a very nice piece of leg bone that is pure white and clean of all flesh and cartilage. Be sure to wear a dust mask if you sand because a very fine powder permeates the air around you. (If you are squeamish from dentist smells, reminds me of drilling teeth, then chew some nice minty gum!)

Here I made two crochet hooks for my mom who is an avid and very skilled crocheter. It is important that the neck remain a constant diameter. After shaping and sanding, I ran them on a buffing wheel with a fine compound, they turned out very shiny and smooth. I noticed that all of my mom's hooks were skimpy in the handle, so I went for an ergonomic design.

If they get the stamp of approval from my mom then they must work quite well! Here is a work-in-progress blanket made solely from my bone crochet hook, which has become a favorite.

A bone folder is a very useful tool and often they are not made from bone, but plastic...yuck.  Here is my one made from bone with a very shiny and glossy feel.

Using the New Hook Knife

I made two spoons for friends of mine out of a very nice piece of maple that had been freshly cut near a baseball field. This was the first true test of the hook knife I made.

Maple with my Gransfors carving axe and an old-timer that I use for splitting and bark removal

I am trying to become more proficient with the axe and remove some of the bowl wood, I find the lower end of the cutting edge works well for this.

Well I guess this was the first spoon that I made from the billet as I used the hook knife to hollow the entire bowl. Also on my lap is a leather sheath, which I wet-molded around a wood core for my Mora that I put a stacked leather handle on. 

Works quite well I think, definitely satisfying knowing that I'm making something with a tool I made.

Here are the two finished maple spoons with some chip carving in. The smaller one to the right is a sycamore eating spoon