Woodworking Asked on February 26, 2021
I was asking a question on the cooking SE site about best utensils for cleaning and scraping pans w/o damaging them (particularly nonmental utensils) and realized that I probably have all the tools I need to make my own wooden utensils, which I’ve found to be very good.
Only thing I don’t know is what kind of woods would be good (and what kind to avoid)? I have access to some free oak (I believe it’s Live Oak), so I’m hoping that would be good. But if not, what would be a good wood available to someone in North Texas?
Only thing I don't know is what kind of woods would be good (and what kind to avoid)?
Some features you want in wood for utensils:
I've seen a lot of utensils made from woods like boxwood, maple, cherry, apple, olive, poplar, and beech. Avoid woods like red oak (very open grain, so hard to wash), teak (oily), cedar (strong flavor), and pine (resinous, flavored, soft). Woods that are suitable for cutting boards are probably also fine for utensils. I don't know what live oak wood looks like... if has large open pores like red oak, skip it; if it's more like white oak, with its fine, closed grain, it'd probably work well.
You don't need a lot of wood to make a cooking spoon, and it doesn't need to be straight or free of defects because you can work around problem areas. Branches that are too small to yield even a small bowl can still be cut into blanks for utensils, and offcuts from other projects that would otherwise go into a burn pile may be large enough to make spreaders and such.
Correct answer by Caleb on February 26, 2021
America White Oak (Quercus alba) should be available most places in North America (though it is not as plentiful as it used to be) and is one of the traditional species used for kitchen utensils in the Americas.
Mostly logged out and turned into railway ties (!) but it can still be found at select lumber yards. Given you only need smaller pieces, you could get friendly with a place that sells off-cuts, and look for "quarter-sawn" or nearly so off-cuts suitable for spoons and the like.
Answered by jdv on February 26, 2021
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