Coffee Scoops
Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:13 pm
Working on some smaller and simple/easy projects to build my skillset a bit with various tools on the Shopsmith, I came across wooden coffee scoops on YouTube and decided to give it a try. I made these two from a piece of ambrosia maple (soft), and used an existing 1/8 cup metal coffee scoop as the template. 1/8 cup = 2 tbsp = the "perfect" amount of grounds for every 6oz of water in your coffee, at least thats how I was raised in south Louisiana where "Community" brand dark roast coffee is King :-)
To get the volume of the scoop correct, I used a 1-1/2" forstner bit and drilled 1" deep. This gave me a cylinder with volume of 0.008 gallons which is very close to the 0.0078 gallons measurement of the 2 tbsp measuring cup. The only issue with using the forstner bit is that it left a dimple in the bottom, but c'est la vie !
I experimented with handle length and width a bit, and if I make more I would probably opt for the longer shape and maybe even a little skinnier, but both of these sizes worked fine.
I finished them both with 2 light coats of Odie's Oil burnished in, which once dry provides a nice food grade oil/wax barrier. For a higher sheen I could have easily built it up by continuing with a coat of Odie's Wood Butter and then a coat of Odie's Wax, but I decided for this purpose that just the oil would be perfect.
I can tell you that both scoops are in active use in 2 coffee cans in my close family ... exactly where I wanted them to be - which makes me pretty happy :-)
In a few of the pictures below, yes I"m aware that my bandsaw blade is nowhere close to centered in the insert slot ... it has already been fixed !! (performed a full bandsaw re-alignment using the manual and several posts in this forum, have noticed a HUGE difference - will be good for the next project)
To get the volume of the scoop correct, I used a 1-1/2" forstner bit and drilled 1" deep. This gave me a cylinder with volume of 0.008 gallons which is very close to the 0.0078 gallons measurement of the 2 tbsp measuring cup. The only issue with using the forstner bit is that it left a dimple in the bottom, but c'est la vie !
I experimented with handle length and width a bit, and if I make more I would probably opt for the longer shape and maybe even a little skinnier, but both of these sizes worked fine.
I finished them both with 2 light coats of Odie's Oil burnished in, which once dry provides a nice food grade oil/wax barrier. For a higher sheen I could have easily built it up by continuing with a coat of Odie's Wood Butter and then a coat of Odie's Wax, but I decided for this purpose that just the oil would be perfect.
I can tell you that both scoops are in active use in 2 coffee cans in my close family ... exactly where I wanted them to be - which makes me pretty happy :-)
In a few of the pictures below, yes I"m aware that my bandsaw blade is nowhere close to centered in the insert slot ... it has already been fixed !! (performed a full bandsaw re-alignment using the manual and several posts in this forum, have noticed a HUGE difference - will be good for the next project)