May I show you my spurtle?

[Jim Bow]

Since I got my lathe during covid, I’ve been “practicing” with chunks of 2X2, and found pieces of green wood.
So, now I went and invested $11.95 + Tax on a piece of walnut.
I made a spurtle. Came out kinda pretty.

8087A01B-28B4-4FDB-9A5B-40F5DBCFE6E3.jpg

[Jim Mahan]

Nice. I don't mean to be personal, but how long is it?

[David G]

Fun!

The very first thing I made out of wood, after I dropped out of UofO, that started me down the path to being a professional woodworker, was a spurtle. Started as the slat of a chair I was dismantling for lumber. Probably dark red meranti, but who knows. Surprisingly... still have it. Most of the things I've made for myself over the years have been sold to an admirer, or gifted to same.

[Nicholas Carey]

Since I got my lathe during covid, I’ve been “practicing” with chunks of 2X2, and found pieces of green wood.
So, now I went and invested $11.95 + Tax on a piece of walnut.
I made a spurtle. Came out kinda pretty.

8087A01B-28B4-4FDB-9A5B-40F5DBCFE6E3.jpg

Next thing you know, you'll be making oatmeal

[Jim Bow]

14.5”
368mm

[John B]

Is it made to fid anything in particular?

[cathouse willy]

Now that we've seen your spurtle, and a mighty fine spurtle it is, show us your lathe.

[Rich Jones]

When stirring your porridge with your spurtle, do you stir in a clockwise direction with your right hand in the traditional way?

I had to google that!

[Jim Bow]

When stirring your porridge with your spurtle, do you stir in a clockwise direction with your right hand in the traditional way?

I do, unless I’m in Australia.

[JayInOz]

Your spurtle would make an excellent dibber I think the first household stuff I turned were spatulas made from apple wood. We're still using them. It's funny the pleasure you get from using a simple tool you make from a stick JayInOz

[Dave Lesser]

It's funny the pleasure you get from using a simple tool you make from a stick.

Indeed. Here is one I picked up in Tasmania. Huon pine. Apparently the thistle was lost in translation. Made my first oatmeal of the winter this morning.

[Tom from Rubicon]

Perfect example of why Hadrian's wall was built to no effect it would seem.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

“…which, in England, is given to horses, but in Scotland forms the food of the people.”

I’m just sulking because I cannot get oatmeal, all I can find is rolled oats.

[MushCreek]

I never realized that I'm preparing my daily porridge wrong! We eat steel-cut oatmeal 5 days a week, so I make a lot of it. It became hard to find during the plague, so I turned to ordering it 25 lbs. at a time online. It turns out that it's MUCH cheaper in large quantities. Now I'm wondering if I can make an effective spurtle on a metal lathe...

[TomF]

I think you should at least take me out for oatmeal and a movie first.

[TomF]

If you mount a spurtle to a metal lathe, it may be really effective for stirring 25 pound batches of porridge...

[Jim Mahan]

You want a drill press for oatmeal, because if you try to do it on a lathe it'll just mostly spill out on the floor. Which is why the old saying, 'never lathe your oatmeal.'

Seriously, what the difference between oatmeal, rolled oats, and steel-cut oatmeal? And why is Hadrian's wall significant to a discussion about oatmeal?

[TomF]

I confess to liking the steel-cut version better than rolled, though the real object of my derision is the dust marketed as "instant."

Steel cut, if you do the cooking right, retains texture. Not just undifferentiated but oddly tasty glue.

[CWSmith]

Perhaps you can show everyone your spurtle once a month when the air raid system is tested?

[David G]

Perhaps you can show everyone your spurtle once a month when the air raid system is tested?

<snort>

[jpatrick]

Show of hands.... How many reading this knew what a spurtle was before googling it?

I didn't. Upon encountering the OP, I thought the tool might be for weaving.

I keep my first lathe project near my lathe for posterity's sake. It's a spindle with a lot of poorly made beads and coves. I guess it would make for being a poor spurtle since their value is in their minimal surface area. (At least according to the computer generated definition I got.)

Lathes can be a lot of fun.

Jeff

[Jim Mahan]

I know what a spurtle is. We've had an earlier thread or two about them, and I'm sure that's where I learned the term. I know it's traditional, and that it is a relatively easy beginning lathe project. I don't know why a person cooking oatmeal would prefer one to a spoon. Except that you can't make a spoon on a lathe. I haven't made a spurtle. As far as efficient stirring, think about an oar or a paddle—would you want to use one that was only an extended loom without a blade?

My early lathe project was this baseball bat.

[CWSmith]

Show of hands.... How many reading this knew what a spurtle was before googling it?

I didn't and I still don't know why it works better than a spoon.

[David G]

Yes, I knew what they are. I made mine before I did, however. My woodworking teacher told me later. As long as we're edumacating ourselves... there are two styles. Earlier ones were more flat-bladed --

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle