SPOON-MAKING.

There is one problem in art metalwork spoon making that has a distinctive charm of its own. Every worker in metal sooner or later wants to make a spoon. Handmade spoons are invariably of copper or of sterling silver, altho I see no reason why aluminum should not be used in some cases. Copper is usually used for the large nut spoons and silver for all other kinds.

There are five different methods of making spoons, the method varying according to the material used and the use for which the spoon is designed. The first and easiest method is often used in making nut spoons of copper similar to those shown in Figs. 151 and 152.

A design is first drawn on paper. Both sides should be made exactly alike by folding a piece of paper down the center and drawing one-half of the spoon on one side of the center line. Fold the paper and rub the design on the back with some hard object, and the drawing will be transferred to the other side of the center line. Transfer the design on to a piece of 18-gage copper, and cut to the line with the shears, or saw it out with the jeweler's saw. Then place the spoon bowl over the hollow in the block of hard wood that was used in making bowls, and with the ball-pein hammer beat the spoon bowl into the hollow as smoothly as possible.
The handle, if it were left flat, would not be stiff enough to serve its purpose, so a ridge is raised down the center of its entire length for the purpose of stiffening it. This is done by laying the handle face downward on a piece of soft wood and using a thin neck hammer to beat up the ridge. This ridge can plainly be seen in Fig. 151; in Fig. 152 it is not defined so sharply, but it may be seen that the narrow shank of the handle is well rounded to give the required stiffness.
After the spoon is beaten into shape on the wood, it is carefully planished, polished, colored, and waxed. When using this first method, great care must be taken to make the spoon stiff. If this is not done, the spoon will bend when used, and there is no greater abomination than an object that is so poorly constructed that it breaks down when put to the use for which it was designed.
Fig. 153

shows a group of copper nut spoons made by the second method, which is somewhat similar to the first method, the chief difference being that in the second the spoon is sawn out of 15-gage metal. This does away with the necessity for the ridge in the handle, but the spoon is somewhat heavy and feels rather clumsy to handle. The illustration shows an effective means of decoration for nut spoons that of saw-piercing a design on the handle or in the bowl. Enamel could also be used to advantage in small designs on the handle, as the cells could readily be etched out in such thick metal.

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