Looking for opinions.

[artful bodger]

Another alternative if you want them whiter would be to bleach them. Use the strongest household bleach you can find, slop it on liberally in a shady area, wait for some time then rinse off with water and let dry. If household bleach doesn't make it white enough get your hands on some sodium hyperchlorite and use in the same way. Just be careful to wear rubber gloves,eye protection etc. This gives timber a finish like really well bleached driftwood.

[raav]

I agree with everyone else.
While I don't like painted wood myself, the white ones seem to work in the contemporary white kitchens. What other people like is an eternal mystery, but the source material is cheap enough to experiment with I should think?
People always tend to like the things I want to throw in the bin - you never know.

[Robson Valley]

raav: isn't that the truth? What the public likes and what I like are usually quite different. I get compliments but everybody seems to have short arms and deep pockets. Carving the kitchen stick/spoons is meant to explore that.
So
Rob, the replies that you got on Facebook lend some support.
If those pod-things have been well weathered, what do they look like?

[Robthechisel]

Artful bodger, I like the bleach idea I'll experiment with that, less time & money.
Raav, your right about people liking things made from rubbish, the first one I did I found on the road, I don't have palms but when some people saw it, it was wow, I throw those things out all the time, now they give them to me. So they don't cost me anything but time and a little varnish etc, time I have plenty of these days.
RV, I get they all shapes, sizes and conditions, some are perfect size and shape, the others I will keep to experiment with & I have a few ideas of cutting up & incorporating in carvings. Once they are cleaned up they are just like a piece of wood RV, they should stand the test time well.

[Robson Valley]

Rock on , Rob! Those pods are so cool. But, as we have PM,
the shipping would kill me.

As an interior decorating concept, they are brilliant.

[Robthechisel]

Thanks RV, I sold one similar to the big spoon one to a lady in Sydney and she was quite happy to pay $138.00 freight from Perth and sent me a message saying she loved it. The freight to Canada would be way too much, shame there's no palms where you are, you'd be selling them too.

[Robson Valley]

Yeah, the shipping is a real bummer. I want one. Not that there's a whole lot of space for it but that's not an issue. That the customer in Sydney is pleased comes as no surprise. I'd be happy to pay the same.

I see from your post #1 that, in the main, they have an elongate axis with a reasonable left/right symmetry. Do you get odd-shaped ones, too?
Any which might be ground for relief carvings?

[Robthechisel]

Hi RV, you do get some very odd shapes but they are all too thin for any relief carving, I tried cutting out a pattern in one but just messed it up.
I'll keep experimenting with them and see what happens.