Ercc Glaison: spoon

Final push in the final weeks before Pennsic. The projects are getting faster and faster so this is clearly not my best work. What I was looking for was a passible option for feast gear. I simply wanted a period looking bowl and wooden spoon. I called a friend who had chopped a tree down last fall. The pear tree was still in a pile of firewood in the back yard so it became my next project.

Here is the log before splitting.

This particular species of wood split very nicely and I love almost everything about this log. If I had other options I might look for a slightly wider log and perhaps one with less cracks in it. That will cause a problem you will see later.

Here is a smaller branch from the same tree. It split just as easy as the larger log. I looked for a small log with a slight curve to it. As I planned to make this one into a spoon, I wanted a slight curve so that when I split the spoon along the grain it would have a natural bend to it.

Split log. Only took about three good wacks to get it done.

I did as much carving as I could with just the axe you see in the image below. I have seen some videos of period spoon carvers and it seems that the most of the work was done with an axe. It is much tougher than I thought. To hit hard enough to cut and yet control the stroke really stressed the muscles in the forearm. I really look forward to trying more of these when I get back. I hope to try it again on a greener branch next time.

This is where the work with the axe ended.

Time to start the bowl. After spliting the log I used the axe to smooth out the bottom of the bowl. I then took a hand planer to the bottom to make sure I had a smooth flat surface to place the piece on to start carving the top.

Here is the bottom smoothed out and ready to flip.

Did the same thing on the top. This time I paid a bit more attention to making sure that the top and the bottom were parallel.

Once the top and bottom were smoothed out to my satisfaction I started carving the shape of the bottom with the axe. The basic shape you see below was done primarily with the axe and cleaned up a little with the plainer.

Ready to start dishing out the top of th bowl.

At this point the project was going a bit slower than I liked and I didn't have the proper tools to do this in the period manner. I didn't have any deep gouges or spoon chisels so I opted to cheat and use some power tools. I used a router with a rough bit to hollow out the inside of the bowl.

Done with power tools now, I switched back to my small carving tools to try and finish it off.

Not too bad actually. Still couldn't get all the small cuts smoothed out sufficiently.

The biggest regret I have with this project you'll see below. I had seen how some folks would use fire to hollow out logs to make them into canoes and such. I thought the same idea would work here. Well, it worked. The problem was with cleaning out the burnt wood to then use the surface to eat off of. Yuck. The inside was smoothed out nicely but the char was so bad I spent more time trying to scrape it out.

I finally settled on filling the bowl with clean sand and using a mortar to grind it in. That worked as a sort of sand paper to grind out the burnt wood. I then rinsed it out a bunch of times until no more soot came out. I had to settle with a burnt looking bowl though. Very unhappy with this project and will not likely use it after Pennsic.

On to the spoon.
Some further carving done with the three knives you see here.

At least I didn't have to use any power tools on this part of the project. I am very happy with the spoon, so all is not lost.

The slight natural bend along the grain made the spoon fit in my hand nicely.

The finished pair of items ready for feeding.

What:

There is a living history experiment in the making.

This coming July I plan to attend the biggest SCA event of the year. I will be attending the Pennsic War in Pennsylvania. There are thousands of other anachronists who attend the annual event as well. The varieties of personas that will be displayed are almost as vast as the number of people who attend. I've been in the SCA for over 10 years and this year I decided to try something new to add a little bit more depth and flavor to the experience.

I am working on a very small kit of things to bring and I plan on attending the War as a Franciscan friar from the 13^th century. I plan on only bringing items which are proper period items constructed in a period manner. Technically speaking, friars did not have any property of their own. Whey then set out on a pilgrimage they would travel in small groups and one member of the group would have community property (belonging to the church) which they could all use. That collection of items might include things such as quills, ink, parchment and personal hygiene products. Since I am the only friar that I know I have constructed the following back story which I shall use on my trip.

Who:

My Name is Brother Matthew. I was once known as Ercc Glaison or simply Ercc (pronounced Eric). I lived a long and sinful life of various inappropriate indulgencies in various regions. At one point I found myself donning the grey wool of a friar with the less than wholesome intention of misleading people and by doing so relieve them of any moneys that they saw fit to allow me to relieve them of. I robbed, conned and stole whenever I could. Shortly after donning the robes of the order I felt a change in my life. I felt less than whole even after my acquisitions were successful. I reached a point in my life when I desired to understand more of why I was put on this earth. There had to be more to it. As I had already donned the robes of the order I began seeking out knowledge of my true brothers. While doing so I found a new life. I shed all my worldly possessions and fled from my sinful ways. I sought redemption and when I found it I sought to repay the many debts that I accumulated. My life has changed since I donned the grey wool of the Friars Minor. I hope that it shall continue to change on my pilgrimage back to my homeland of Hibernia.

Why:

Number one question I get when I inform people of my decision to make this trip is: "Why?" That is a long and complicated question although it has been posed to me as a simple single word question. I decided to capture a response to that question here so that I can simply refer inquirers to this information.

Here are some of my reasons:

· Listening: While I am an anachronist, I am also a struggling Christian. I am not a Catholic, although I play one on the weekends. I have always loved the saying that goes something like this: The man who refuses to listen when you scream will often struggle to hear when you whisper. I feel that my life has always been too cluttered. Years ago life may have been simpler. I don't know for sure. All I know is that now I often feel that I am too busy to simply sit and listen for the whispers of God. I have long desired to set aside such a time to allow myself to listen. For that reason I will shed EVERYTHING modern and focus on what I would have focused on in the 13^th century, as a friar. I will serve silently and listen.

· Service: My life has too long been made up of tasks which revolve around servicing my own needs and desires. I hope that by devoting a week of service to others it may spark a desire to continue down such a path when I return home. Life is too short to live it for oneself and I'm hoping that this week will help me change my focus in life.

· Inspiration: By my actions and my complete immersion into the "role" I hope that, in passing even, I inspire one person. If my actions, service and sacrifice serve as an inspiration for one other person to take a bigger step towards authenticity, service or faith I will be contented.

· Shoes: I love to go barefoot. I always have. The reason I often give most people is that simply "I hate shoes". That is correct, but there is more. This may sound corny so I won't admit it in person, but is closer to the truth that simply "I hate shoes". When a child sleeps on his father's chest he might notice that he can hear his father's heart or feel his father's breathing. I think that the earth is a gift from God and when you make physical contact with it, you can hear it breathing. Sometimes when I walk through the woods (barefoot) I stop and simply touch a tree. If you focus your thoughts you can feel the life in the tree. In some strange way I have always loved the closeness I feel to the earth when I am barefoot. I feel constrained and filtered when I have to wear shoes like a music lover might feel if forced to wear ear plugs his whole life. Yes, walking on rocks and hard earth hurts. Yes my feet get toughened up, but it still hurts. I don't exactly know why Brother Francis chose to go without shoes most of his devoted life. I sometimes wonder if he felt closer to God by doing so. I do.

Personal Inventory:
- Grey wool robe & hood, rope belt and cross