Pittosporum Spoons - Update

A few weeks ago I wrote about cutting a branch of a pittosporum and that I'd hoped to make some spoons from it.  Well from the 6 blanks that I partially prepared, I ended up with 3 spoons.  Three of the blanks got some pretty bad splits.  I probably should have gotten them to a MUCH more completed shape before letting them dry for a few weeks.

An example of one of the spoon blanks

The spoons I made are nothing special - no fancy carving like Follansbee or Fisher.  Just simple spoons.

Some creative clamping was needed when working on the bowl

Three spoons with two rejected blanks

This is the blank on the right in the above pic.
With a nice natural curve, I had hoped this would make a ladle.

Here are a few of the cracks on that blank

For a finish, I wanted to use a curing oil that was nontoxic.  I've thought about (non-boiled) linseed oil for a while and decided to use that.  It's sold in grocery stores as flaxseed oil, a nutritional supplement and/or cooking ingredient.  I know it will take a fair amount of time to cure, but that's OK with me.  UPDATE: The spoons have been drying outside for 3 days now and I still get an oily residue on my hands after handling them.

Flax oil = Linseed oil
Not sure why both names evolved

Here are the three spoons.  Like I said, nothing special.  But they'll be fully functional and that's what matters to me.  This was an interesting exercise.  The odd thing for me is that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  Didn't hate it, just didn't think it was as fun as other stuff.  Maybe I'm just not cut out for spoon making.  Time will tell if I get back to it later.

Note the little pin knots in the bowls of the two lower spoons

As far as the pittosporum wood is concerned, it worked fine, but there were a lot of little small knots.  The color is very pale.  The oil only darkened them a tiny bit.  Maybe the sun will darken them as they dry.  And maybe time will alter the color.  We'll see.