Thoughts on Hand Carving Witch Hazel to Make Eating Spoons and Art Spoons

This is what I think about witch hazel as a spoon wood.


First thing I noticed about it was … it smells kind of weird. Personally I don't like the smell of the green stage of witch hazel but that's just me. After it dries then it had no noticeable smell. The next thing I notice is how easy it is to carve! Super easy! That is a good and bad thing. It is good because it lets me spend more of my focus on the shape I'm going for and less on how I'm going to get there. It also means that if I get careless or push to hard a lot of wood is coming off and I might have to rethink my shape. Along with this little caveat the wood is very stringy. It likes to split and run the length of the spoon. This has caused some very awkwardly shaped spoons and makes for some frustrating carving sessions. If at any point I'm carving away from a knot or along an uneven wood grain I risk the chance of over stepping and running a splinter along the spoon. The other thing I like about witch hazel is how light it becomes and how it feels once it is finished. I'll talk about the finish first. It is smooth but almost in the same way that velvet is smooth. Other spoons are smooth like granite but not witch hazel. Now back to the weight of witch hazel. It is surprising how light it is. People when they come up to my table have addible responses when they pick it up. But it does come with a down side. Being that light also means it is very weak. It has a good counter to its inherent weakness with added flexibility. This is more so a warning to stop what you are doing then a safe guard so don't push it too far. Though most woods don't have this warning sign and will just break, so that is nice of witch hazel.


Overall I would not go out of my way to get witch hazel for spoon carving. It does have health uses and the carving scraps can be used for that (what a great added bonus). But, when it comes to spoon uses I don't want to go out and find downed or injured witch hazels for carving. The brilliant white color and softness don't out way the easy of splintering and weakness of the wood.

Until next time!