Finished!

I am a little excited today because this week, I get to report that the spoon is finished. Last week, I'd begun the sanding. Through the week, I filed, and sanded, and sanded, and filed, and sanded, and sanded some more. Front, back, nooks, crannies.... lots of filing and sanding. I like to sand to rather a high polish before beginning the oil & wax process, so I sanded to 3200 grit. I don't know why I like to go to such a high grit - the sheen begins to appear at 600. But, I never seem to be able to stop there. Overkill, I am sure. Anyway, the spoon was very pretty, and quite whitish after all this sanding. I went over Dave's part, too, although his part was already to a nice sheen. Then, I put on the first coat of Danish oil (2nd coat for Dave's part), and all the pretty modeling and color of the grain began to appear. What a beautiful piece of wood this is! Seeing the first coat of oil is one of my favorite parts of the whole process. It's very dramatic for a few moments, and then, you sit there wondering - is it really almost done? Hmm. Pretty. :)
I followed with another 3 coats of oil over the next 2 days, drying about half a day between each coat. I also sanded once again before the last coat of oil. The spoon now has a very soft, polished finish. For the last couple days of the week, I let the oil finish drying. Then, this morning, it was time for the wax. Having sanded it so smooth, the wax polished up very nicely with a soft cloth. I use a natural beeswax polish by Briwax. I had to wax it in sections, so the wax wouldn't harden too much to polish off. Finally, though, I was done. Now, the spoon sits before me, all finished, and again, I wonder to myself - is it really done? But, I stare and stare at it, and yes, it is done.