Class: Bowl Carving & Spoon Carving with Mike Cundall (2 Days)

Over two days students will have the amazing opportunity to learn the fundamentals of carving wooden bowls and wooden spoons. Students will start out learning about green woodworking tools, and then the basics by carving a traditional spoon, and will move on to carving two different styles of wooden bowls from a log. Students will also take a walk in the woods to learn how to spot ideal wood for making spoons and bowls. Because these bowls & spoons will be carved from wet, green wood, they won’t take home completely finished items, but will learn how to properly dry and finish the bowls and spoons in their home shops.

DAY ONE:

• Learn about different bowl & spoon carving tools
• Brief discussion on proper tool sharpening techniques
• Layout and carve a wooden spoon
• Walk through the woods to identify ideal trees for carving
• Layout bowl blanks
• Start working on the first bowl

DAY TWO:

• Continue working on the first bowl
• Start working on a second bowl (if student is able)

About the Instructor:

Mike Cundall builds furniture, and carves his lovely wooden bowls & spoons out of his home workshop in North Carolina. He is also a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina A&T. He also teaches bowl and spoon carving at the John C. Campbell Folk School. He loves hanging out with his wife and three sons, and practicing the Japanese martial art of Aikido.

Materials Fee & Required Tools:

The class material fee is $45, and is payable to the instructor before or on the day of the class. Students are encouraged to purchase their own bowl/spoon carving tools before this class, but a few extra sets of tools will be available for those who are unable to bring their own. Below are recommended tools:

• Short bowl carving adze (also called a “Gutter Adze”). This is a good one.
• Hook knife
• Carving knife (like a Slöjd Knife)
• Carving axe/hatchet
• Carving gouge (#7 sweep long bent gouge…between 25mm and 35mm…like this one, this one, or this one)
• Spoke shave

You can read our Green Woodworking Tool Buyer’s Guide (here). You can also read this article by David Fisher on which tools you need for bowl carving. Also, registered students of our school receive a discount from Lee Valley/Veritas & Lie-Nielsen (contact us for a form).

How to Get Here & Where to Stay:

The address of the school is 5700 Buffalo River Rd. Earlysville, Virginia 22936 (Google Maps here). The school is convenient to quite a few hotels, stores, and restaurants, and is only 8 minutes from the Charlottesville airport. Many more details are listed on the school’s main page here.

Class Policies, Liability Waiver, & Cancellations:

A PDF document with the full class policies and a liability waiver will be sent in the order confirmation email. All students are required to sign and return this document prior to attending the class. Anyone can cancel a class up to 2 weeks prior to the class for a full refund (minus a $25 fee that covers credit card processing fees and administrative work). Cancellations under two weeks before a class begins will be given a refund (less $25) if we can find someone else to fill the slot. If we have to cancel a class for an unforeseen emergency, inclement weather, or low number of registrations, a full refund will be given to students.