CNC Woodworking: The Wok Spatula
Video Link: Wok Spatula Build Video.
One of my friends asked if I could make a spatula for him. I thought this would be a good opportunity to add some more designs to my catalog, so I combined the basic handle shape I did for my previous utensils with a long and thin spatula front end.
But, it was more than that. I originally designed my utensils in Blender, which is a 3D mesh program. Mesh editing is like pixel-editing in Photoshop, but in 3D. You manipulate points, lines, and triangles/quads in three dimensions to get the shape you want. It takes a lot of time, and it is difficult to manipulate things in…precise….mathematical ways. I mean, moving pixels and points is precise, but it is hard to keep the shape I desire. Instead, I feel like a shape like this better suited to surface modeling. So, I drew cross sections of the shape and used surface lofting to create the overall shape. That’s probably greek to most people, unless they speak 3d modeling.
The end result is that I have a shape that is easier for me to work with in CAD. I can somewhat re-use the basic handle shape and add on different utensil ends to make various kitchen things: spoons, spatulas, and forks.
Woodworkers tend to hoard wood, and I’m no exception. It’s hard to throw away those extra scrap pieces that might be “good for something someday”. So, I picked up some of my scrap pieces of cherry and one piece of walnut, and cut some fun curvy shaped out on them. Of course, I used the CNC, and those shapes precisely mated together with some waterproof wood glue and made one starting block of wood.
In my last post, I talked about Curved Inlays with the CNC. One of the reasons I wrote a Fusion plugin was to create inlays on my utensil designs. I used the plugin to make these inlays, and I did some batch runs of spatulas to create a stock pile for a craft fair. I’m hoping to actually do a craft fair sometime in the future…probably next spring. At this point I’m just building up some stock of the things I have designed. I do sell a few things online, but it is hard to sell a ~$30 spatula and add on an additional $10-$15 for shipping. Even at $30, I’m not sure it’s really worth my time to make them, but I do enjoy the process.
I do like making plans and digital files for other people to re-create my projects, and selling $10 files helps support my website. I spent a while making toolpaths in Vectric VCarve just so other people could easily create this project. My typical workflow is to use fusion for toolpaths, but I have found that more people like VCarve and prefer it. I think this is simply because it is easier to use and get into, despite it being more expensive (Fusion can literally be free, whereas VCarve Pro is like $800).
Anyways, digital files to make this wok spatula are available on my workshop page:
