Spoon Mule
During the early days of UK Lockdown 1.0 I made a spoon mule based on on a design I saw on Instagram by iseilnam. Following a nasty bout of tennis elbow the year before I wanted to use draw knife and push knife more, and sometimes hold larger hook knives with both hands, to spread the load. I also need something neat and tidy to fit in the kitchen where I do most my carving. I've tried making spoon mules and shave horses before, rarely with any success, so thought I'd give this a try.
My son Joseph had arrived home from the theatre set builders where he works with some nice birch laminate and helped me put the front box that holds the mechanism together. The frame, legs were just bits of wood lying around. The benefit of this mechanism is the pulley system giving a 1:2 torq ratio on the rope that holds the work - it really grips tight. Add to that a bit of leather and some pegs to hold stuff in place when making side cuts, and this is how I carve all my spoons now.
There's definitely a benefit to the traditional spoon mules that grip the work either side like a vice - you can cut down the whole length with a draw knife whereas mine has a but of rope in the way ... which has been known to get cut through! But ... the benefits I have with portability and storability of this design work for me. I wouldn't swap it for the world.
Measurements wise ... Its about 50cm tall to the seat, the front post is about 80cm. I used a pulley wheel from a hardware shop, bit of 10mm bungee cord for the spring loading. The rope is something like 8mm fairly rough sash window type cord. Lastly glued some rough leather onto the top to help grip and a couple of holes for dowels for stabilising the spoon
More images on my IG:
My son Joseph had arrived home from the theatre set builders where he works with some nice birch laminate and helped me put the front box that holds the mechanism together. The frame, legs were just bits of wood lying around. The benefit of this mechanism is the pulley system giving a 1:2 torq ratio on the rope that holds the work - it really grips tight. Add to that a bit of leather and some pegs to hold stuff in place when making side cuts, and this is how I carve all my spoons now.
There's definitely a benefit to the traditional spoon mules that grip the work either side like a vice - you can cut down the whole length with a draw knife whereas mine has a but of rope in the way ... which has been known to get cut through! But ... the benefits I have with portability and storability of this design work for me. I wouldn't swap it for the world.
Measurements wise ... Its about 50cm tall to the seat, the front post is about 80cm. I used a pulley wheel from a hardware shop, bit of 10mm bungee cord for the spring loading. The rope is something like 8mm fairly rough sash window type cord. Lastly glued some rough leather onto the top to help grip and a couple of holes for dowels for stabilising the spoon
More images on my IG:
- https://www.instagram.com/p/B-zVX7cjw89/
- https://www.instagram.com/p/B9OWGS3Dvff/
- https://www.instagram.com/p/B9cuSVxDb2U/
