To make butterknifes is a fun project that everyone can do. With the help from an adult the children can help shaping their own butterknife!
This is also a project that can be varied in different woodspieces and the chosen shape of the butterknive.
These butterknifes is made from Brasilian teak, which in Sweden are refered to as "Cumaru", and often used as outdoor decking. As a template I used a ugly plastic butterknife that I liked the shape of. The shape was quickly traced on to the wood and I manage to fit four of them on the width of the board. It doesn't require much material and scraps can tranformed into usable pieces!
How I made it:
In my case I used a jigsaw to cut out the shape of the butterknife but you can just as easily use a bandsaw or a scrollsaw. I cut close to the line and then sanded the last part on the oscillating spindle sander. A good alternative could be to use a belt sander strapped to a worksurface. If you don't have the machines you could allways use hand tools for all the operations, it will only take a little longer.
When I was pleased with the shape i sliced it into narrow pieces and for this I used the table saw. This is not the recommended tool for this opertation and a bandsaw would be a much better choice, which I didn't had at the time.
I did the final shaping of the butterknifes on the belt sander, which I had strapped to my worksurface upside down. The knifes got some rounded edges and I also "sharpend" them a bit. After that I sanded them by hand by grit 120 up to grit 240.
Teak is a good choice when it comes to things close to water, which is shown by the common use in the boat industry. Despite this i wanted to protect them a bit more in order to not let them get greyish and dull looking. I chose to use mineral oil, which is a food safe oil that are non-toxic and therefore a good choice for things that are going to be in contact with food. I applied the oil with a piece of paper and let them soak for a while before i whiped of the acces. I repeatedthis after 24h and then they were ready for use!