Every woodworker who has kids or grandkids has probably experienced the feeling of wanting to share our love of making things with the kiddos, but we also don’t really know the best way to do it. If you have a shop full of power tools, those are obviously “right out” for a seven-year-old. They’re hazardous and loud and pointless unless you’re in some mode of production. Hand tools are more approachable, but they harbor dangers of their own. Giving that seven-year-old a sharp chisel or hatchet is equally foolish. Working through the final copy edits of M&T’s newest title, Greenwood Spoon Carving by Emmet Van Driesche, I couldn’t help but be struck by Emmet’s clear and thoughtful articulation of this...
The paradox of spoon carving is that the same technology supporting the culture is the very thing leaving us thirsty for a connection with something physical. We want to touch wood because we are inundated with digital images of forests even while we are stuck, many of us, inside. The precise simplicity of a knife feels good after a day stumbling through the bewildering infinity of the digital landscape. The slowness of the craft is the appeal. It is an antidote to the modern dilemma of overstimulation and virtual reality. But rather than a turning back to some nostalgic, rose-colored idea of what spoon carving was, I see this beautiful community claiming spoon carving as something that matters now, perhaps...
After two years of blood, sweat, and tears, Emmet Van Driesche (who is a leading teacher in the spoon carving world) has completed his latest book, Greenwood Spoon Carving. This book contains the fruit of his early years struggling through the isolated beginner stage to his successful career as a professional carver. Not only are his spoons some of the very best we’ve seen (they’re elegant, strong, masterfully executed), but he is also one of the best teachers on the subject. Emmet is clear, level-headed, and thorough. His passion to teach the art of carving wooden spoons led him in 2018 to launch his own print publication, Spoonesaurus Magazine – the periodical on spoon carving. I’ve been a subscriber...
