How wooden spoons are made

People have carved spoons from wood for so long that the word spoon itself once meant a chip of wood.

stations: 5
things upstream: 10
raw sources: 7
steps from the ground: 4

The short version

A wooden spoon is shaped from a single piece of hardwood, usually beech, maple or birch. Factories kiln-dry the wood, saw it into blanks, and let CNC machines cut the bowl and handle. Hand sanding reaches the tight spots, and coats of food-safe oil seal the grain.

Dry the hardwood

Hardwood such as beech or maple is kiln-dried to a low moisture content, so the finished spoon will not warp or crack.

6 to 8% moisture

Goes in
Timber
Saw the blanks

Band saws cut the wood into standard blanks, with the grain running along the handle for strength.
Carve bowl and handle

CNC machines cut the bowl and the handle profile from each blank, so every spoon in a run matches. Craft makers do this with an axe, knife and gouge.
Sand it smooth

Machines and hand sanding remove tool marks in stages of finer grit. Wetting the spoon raises the grain, so it is dried and sanded again.
Soak in oil

Oil sinks into the grain and protects the wood from absorbing liquids. Drying oils such as walnut, flax and hempseed polymerize and make a durable finish, but ordinary cooking oils can go rancid.

Goes in
Vegetable oil

End of the lineWooden spoon

Worth repeating

Wooden spoons were in use among the Iron Age Celts of Britain, and the Romans and Vikings made them too.
Unlike metal spoons, wooden ones do not scratch non-stick pans.
Wooden spoons soak up strong smells, such as onion and garlic.