People love the opportunity to show off their hard-won possessions. That's probably one reason why spoon racks have been popular for hundreds of years. The original rack held a collection of Canadian-made pewter spoons and included a drawer for broken utensils until they could be fixed by a travelling repairman. While most 19th-century racks were similar to this 1845 design from Lanark County in Ontario, the scrollwork is more complex than on others. It may have been made for a more elaborate home or displayed in a church. The builder clearly worked carefully at cutting the wavy scrolls precisely, without a power tool in sight.
The original spoon rack was made from wavy birch, which is plentiful in Central Canada, but harder to find on the West Coast where I live. Instead, I chose figured maple. It has a similar colour and appearance, but it's easier to find.
You may be thinking that this rack is the ideal piece to hold your collection of small souvenir spoons; however, the original was made for regular-size spoons. To adjust this project for smaller spoons, tweak the size of the cutouts by experimenting with scrap first.
Download the project plans for the heritage spoon rack here!
| YOU WILL NEED | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Parts | Material | SIZE (TxWxL*) | Qty |
| Back panel | maple | 3/4" x 13 5/8" x 29" | 1 |
| Sides | maple | 3/4" x 4 1/2" x 9" | 2 |
| Bottom | maple | 3/4" x 5 5/8" x 14 1/4" | 1 |
| Shelf | maple | 3/4" x 4 1/2" x 12 5/8" | 1 |
| Bin front | maple | 3/4" x 3" x 12 5/8" | 1 |
| Drawer face | maple | 3/8" x 2 1/2" x 12 5/8" | 1 |
| Drawer front/back | maple | 3/8" x 2 1/2" x 11 15/16" | 2 |
| Drawer sides | walnut | 3/8" x 2 1/2" x 4 1/8" | 2 |
| Drawer bottom | maple | 3/8" x 3 5/8" x 11 7/16" | 1 |
| Spoon holders | maple | 5/8" x 1 3/8" x 13 1/4" | 2 |
| Knob | pewter | 1 3/16" | 1 |
| *Length indicates grain direction. | |||
Begin by milling enough boards to make up the back panel. The back is a prominent part of the project, so take your time. If you're using figured wood, as I did, do your best to line up the grain where these boards meet.
After milling your back boards to 3/4" thick and jointing the edges square, edge-glue a blank for a back panel that's at least 14" wide. Once the glue has set, remove the clamps and scrape any beads of glue from the joints. Try to do this within a couple of hours and the glue will peel away from the wood easily. If you wait too long, you run the risk of tearing off chunks of wood along with the hardened glue.
It's important that the scrollsawn edges of the back panel end up square and crisp in the finished project. That's why you should sand both sides of the back panel now, before sawing the scrollwork on the edges. Begin with a 100-grit abrasive, then move up to 120 and then 150 grit.
Trim the panel to its final width on your tablesaw, then transfer the curved pattern to your wood.
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