Argetam

8 pieces

Spoons and Small Tools

Bowls sunk from flat sheet and handles forged from the same piece, made one at a time and finished by hand.

Spoons and Small Tools on a dark ground

A spoon is the hardest simple thing I know how to make. The bowl has to be sunk and raised so the metal thickens rather than stretches thin, the handle has to be forged so it balances in the hand, and the join between the two has to look like it was always there. Getting all three right in one piece takes practice and it takes time, which is most of what you are paying for.

Where a spoon is made from one piece, I say so. Where the bowl and handle are made separately and joined, I say that too. Neither is dishonest, but they are different amounts of work and they should not cost the same. There is a note on why a soldered seam stays findable.

Salt Spoon in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Salt Spoon

Sixty-five millimetres long with a small round bowl. The smallest thing I make and a good way to own something hand-raised without spending much. Made in small batches of six because the setup takes longer than the spoon.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishSatin
Weight6.8 g
Detail65 mm long, 16 mm bowl. One piece, bowl sunk and handle forged.
£95From stock
Caddy Spoon, Shell Bowl in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Caddy Spoon, Shell Bowl

A short handle and a broad shallow bowl with fluting worked out from the centre. Made for loose tea, which is what caddy spoons were for, though most of them now sit in a drawer looking handsome. This one is sturdy enough to be used.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishPlanished
Weight18.4 g
Detail85 mm long, 38 mm bowl. Bowl and handle made separately and hard soldered.
£245From stock
Coffee Spoon in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Coffee Spoon

Ninety-five millimetres, an oval bowl and a plain tapered handle. Light in the hand on purpose. If you want a set of six, the price per spoon comes down because the batch work does.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishPlanished
Weight14.2 g
Detail95 mm long, 26 by 20 mm bowl. One piece.
£150Made to order
Teaspoon, Plain Handle in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Teaspoon, Plain Handle

The everyday one. A hundred and thirty millimetres, a deep oval bowl, and a handle that widens slightly at the end so it does not slide through the fingers. Satin because a teaspoon lives in a cup and a mirror finish on a teaspoon is a promise nobody can keep.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishSatin
Weight24.6 g
Detail130 mm long, 34 by 25 mm bowl. One piece.
£220Made to order
Teaspoon, Rat-Tail in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Teaspoon, Rat-Tail

The same spoon with a rat-tail worked down the back of the bowl, a raised ridge that runs from the handle into the bowl and stiffens the join. It is a structural feature that happens to look good, which is the best kind. It adds about an hour to the work.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishPlanished
Weight27.1 g
Detail132 mm long, 34 by 25 mm bowl, rat-tail 22 mm. One piece.
£265Made to order
Preserve Spoon in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Preserve Spoon

A round, fairly deep bowl on a short handle, meant to go into a jar and come back out without scraping the sides. Matte finished because preserve spoons get sticky and sticky things get washed hard.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishMatte
Weight31.8 g
Detail115 mm long, 32 mm round bowl. Bowl and handle made separately and hard soldered.
£290Made to order
Serving Spoon in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Serving Spoon

Two hundred and ten millimetres, a large deep bowl raised from 1.5 mm sheet, and a heavy forged handle to balance it. This takes the best part of two days. It is the piece that most clearly shows what raising does to metal, because you can feel the bowl is thicker at the rim than the sheet it started as.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishPlanished
Weight74.3 g
Detail210 mm long, 66 by 48 mm bowl. One piece.
£560Made to order
Letter Knife in sterling silver, shown on a dark ground

Letter Knife

A forged blade with a rolled spine and a blunt edge, on a round handle. Silver is soft, so this is a paper knife and nothing more. Forged rather than filed from sheet, which is why the blade is stiff enough to be useful.

MaterialSterling silver 925
FinishSatin blade, planished handle
Weight42.5 g
Detail185 mm long, blade 22 mm at the widest. One piece.
£340Made to order

Weights vary by a gram or so between pieces of the same pattern because the metal is worked by hand. The figures below are actual weighed values, not nominal ones.