Walnut Wood and Oil

I received a special present for my nameday: a few blocks of dry walnut and oak wood. First I tried to carve from english walnut wood. I documented the carving process, one picture a day.

The walnut block after sawing with jigsaw.

Carving, day 1.

Carving, day 2.

Carving, day 3.

Carving, day 4.

Carving the bowl.

Sanded.

Finished spoon sealed with oil.

In the meantime, I found a few spooncarving blogs (e.g. here), which inspired me to try other spoon designs. I also found long discussions about what was the best oil to treat the finished spoons. Some people use mineral oil, some use shellac, others walnut oil, linseed oil or tung oil which is made from some chinese nuts. Walnut oil seemed the easiest option because it can be bought in many food stores. So far I'm quite content with it. It does not give the spoons yellow tint as olive oil did. However, it is quite thick and slow to penetrate the wood.