Executive Chef Robert Hesse And Carving A Hell's Kitchen Spoon

Last week we were privileged to have a real celebrity, an accomplished executive chef, and a graduate of our program many years ago visit our camp to share his story when he was a 15 year old troubled young man.

Just who is Robert Hesse you ask? Just enter his name and Hell's Kitchen into any search engine and you will find plenty because he was a star contestant on Fox's reality TV show in 2009. Yes, today he owns several prominent New York restaurants, caters regularly to the likes of Mariah Carey and Sting, is a multi-millionaire, and continues to appear on various VH1 and HBO shows but this week he wanted to give back to a program where he spent 3 years as a boy during a very troubled time in his life. During the last week he has traveled around to several of our camps for at-risk kids telling his compelling story and signing autographs. It isn't often that I ever see our 60 boys tuned in with total silence but it was just that way when Robert revealed  one of the roughest childhood testimonies that I've ever heard and how he overcame those overwhelming odds to the success he is today.

At the end of his talk I presented Robert with his very own "Hell's Kitchen" spoon that I carved the week before from a tulip poplar tree limb that I found on the mountain. He was very honored and accepted it with great appreciation and said that he looked forward to displaying it in his Brooklyn, New York office.

As you can see from the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) biography below, Robert also contributes his initial interest in cooking to a day when his counselor put a potato piller in his hands and said, "Do you know what to do with that?"

Mini-Biography

"Celebrity Chef Robert Hesse first got his love for cooking by watching his grandmother and mother in the kitchen as a boy growing up in Long Island, NY. While shuffling back and forth between New York and Florida, That love for cooking laid dormant as an emotionally challenging upbringing caused him to make some poor life choices, often seeing him in the presence of a judge. During one of these judicial experiences, a 15 year old Robert was sent to Eckerd Academy in Brooksville, Florida to spend six months and hopefully, put his life back on track and to provide him with the positive male role models that his life was thus far lacking Eckerd Academy is an outdoor program for troubled youth. The kids live out in the woods, receive alternative schooling, therapy and learn life skills. Once a week, the kids are responsible for all the cooking for the day, which teaches them math and writing skills, responsibility and planning. For Hesse, those meals changed his life. A camp councilor handed Robert a potato and a peeler and asked, "Do you know what to do with that?" Hesse was blown away by the responsibility of cooking for the camp, but by the end of it, he realized this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. After his Eckerd Academy experience, Robert had some struggles with readjustment back into everyday life. Reflecting upon what he learned at Eckerd, combined with some "tough love" from his mother, Robert picked himself up by his bootstraps and took his new found passion for cooking into a career by getting kitchen jobs at area restaurants. One day, a twenty year old Robert heard a radio ad for a culinary school in Lakeland, Florida. He quickly signed up, obtained financial aid, hopped a bus and off he went to take his dream to the next level. After receiving his degree in Culinary Arts, Robert toured the country, working at various hotels and resorts under some well known chefs, sharpening his kitchen skills in the process. In 2005, Robert returned home to New York as the Executive Chef of Q Restaurant in Quogue. Robert then brought his "Strong Island" street-honed personality to the hit FOX reality show, "Hell's Kitchen" and into the hearts of America as Season Five's overwhelming fan favorite. A health issue forced an early exit for Robert from the show, as most, including host, Chef Gordon Ramsey, thought that Hesse would easily glide into the finals. After the completion of Season Five, FOX was flooded with mail in support of Robert, urging the network to bring him back. That remains to be seen as Season Six is set to premiere on July 21, 2009. Currently, Robert Hesse is the Executive Chef of Georgica Restaurant in The Hamptons, partnering up with Hell's Kitchen mate, Seth Levine and continues to do personal appearances, cooking demonstrations and autograph shows."
IMDb Mini Biography By: Pat Tortorello

Profile: Remembering Cliff

At first glance I didn't believe that it was possible to gain a meaningful relationship with someone whom I'd never met nor would ever meet in a world where we were connected only by computers. But by chance that is exactly what happened via the cyber technology of the Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board when one of our most prolific woodcarving posters from Ontario, Canada known by the name of "tucker1931" decided to go public with his battle with cancer. (That's a picture of Cliff and his wife Vikky to the left)

Cliff was one of those amazing posters who somehow found the time to compliment just about every carving that was posted. Most folks can't find that kind of time or are only there to elaborate on their own niche branch of carving, like myself, but Cliff was all over the place. Some of my fondest memories were in the "Off Topic" room where I enjoyed seeing the pictures of some monster carp that he enjoyed catching and sharing the stories with all of us across the continent and the globe. You could just feel that this was the kind of man that you'd want for a grandfather if you were a kid. He always shared such a zeal for living that was contagious... even at the age of 78!

Cliff also posted some of the most beautifully carved spoons that I've ever seen right up to the time of his passing and it was obvious that he wasn't going to let no dreaded disease get the best of his living life to it's fullest. I was amazed at how an impending death didn't seem to phase him and that he was only interested in what he could do "today". That concept about how to face life's ultimate challenge so courageously and honestly really touched me in a powerful way. To the right is a picture of just a few of the magnificent spoons that Cliff carved and shared with our community. His drive to produce such wonderful spoons greatly inspired me and many others to go on a spoon carving frenzy ourselves. I now think of Cliff every day when I use the cherry wood coffee scooper that he inspired me to carve.

Most people would have a hard time just facing their impending death much less talking openly and honestly about it. Cliff and I had several very "wordy" public conversations on his situation since my own father had died from cancer years earlier. These conversations weren't easy for me but they made me a stronger person as Cliff's amazing courage was a lesson in life that I will never forget. Cliff openly discussed his situation because it was his hope that other men would be screened for prostate cancer and a lot of men went in for a first-time screening because of his words. Cliff also continued posting threads on the amazing carvings that he was producing until his lack of energy finally confined him to a bed. For me, therein lies the real story of Cliff's character and the legacy that he leaves behind for his wife, children, and friends.

Cliff's last post on the message board was in mid-July but his daughter Janis continued to keep us informed with regular updates until early in September when Cliff slipped away from us. I will miss looking for his words and his carvings on the message board but he will not be forgotten... even by those of us who never personally met him. That cherry coffee scooper that he inspired me to carve will let his memory live on in my heart forever.

(I will shortly be posting pictures of a totem pole "angel" that I carved and mailed to Cliff right after I learned of his illness back in the springtime. I would have added it here but thought that Cliff deserved his own space.)

WIP-Part 3: A spoon to nourish the body & soul

The "Beast" is finished!

Yes, the beast is now complete and prepared to turn the eyes of many an observer for hopefully many years to come. I've decided that I'll most definitely find a special place for it in my kitchen and although it can be used at meal time, I think that I just want to observe it for now.

As you can see in the pictures I decided to go with a green tone for the extensive vein system. I felt that green best represents the life blood of plants or at least it does in my own twisted mind. For the three hearts I went with a red tone of course. I applied thinned down acrylic paint and put on several layers until I was happy with the final look. At first I thought that I'd accent some of the detail work but saw quickly that it wouldn't be necessary since I had rounded all of the raised relief detailing which created a shadowing that gave the spoon a natural accent and feeling of depth.

I then completed the spoon by applying several coats of mineral oil which is food safe and it seems to get a little darker with each application allowing several hours between coats so that it penetrates deeply. Bob Tinsley described an interesting method in the comments of the last posting about a friend who preserves his spoons like this: "He melts the beeswax in a double boiler and submerges the spoon until the air bubbles stop rising. He then removes the spoon and lets it drain." Thanks for this interesting tip Bob and I'd like to do a little experimenting with this method. I bet that wax gives the spoon a nice feel and also a beautiful sheen

You might also notice that the spoon has three significant darkened areas that appear to be knots or where a limb might have once branched out. I don't believe that I mentioned it before but those are artificial knots that I added to the spoon as I was carving it. At the time of carving I wasn't sure if they would end up as knots and several ideas went through my head but yes, they did end up as knots. The pictures I posted don't give a close up view of the knots but I used my Detail Master IV woodburning pen to incorporate a series of old looking growth rings as though a limb had once been there. I think that the knots make the spoon a little more interesting but a lot of creative things could be done with this idea depending on the theme of any particular spoon.

Well, this has been the most delightful project and I'm going to miss having it in the cargo pocket of my pants after a month's habitation! Oh well, I've already got some new ideas and I'll probably be working on a walking stick for my next project. I've already pulled down a fine red maple stick that has been curing for 6 or 7 years now and I'm developing some interesting new ideas for the carving that will certainly make it unique. Stay tuned and I'll keep you up to date when the carving starts!

WIP-Part 2: A spoon to nourish the body & soul

Finally finished the carving & sanding phase

Upon a close examination of my new spoon today one of my students said to me, "Chief Dave, that spoon is a beast" and I had to agree with him. Yes, it's certainly not any ordinary wooden spoon... it most assuredly is a beast! I mean this thing has a protruding vein system that stretches from one end to the other, top and bottom, and these aren't just surface veins but you can actually feel their hold on the spoon as they encompass the entire project as though it were a living animal.

A little zoom in shot of the intricate vein system

After several weeks of riding around in the cargo pocket of my pants the "beast" is finally ready for a final finish but I feel that I need to sleep on it for at least one full night before I make the decision that will carry it forward for hopefully many generations ahead. After the carving phase was completed I then proceeded to use the medium 150 grit sandpaper followed by 220 grit, and then finally I gave it a nice polishing with a piece of steel wool.

Top view

The spoon has a great feel to it in the hand and this time I even got the curved bowl at just the correct angle for a right handed person. Unfortunately, when carving a spoon with such twisting in the handle it's probably going to end up for use by only a right or a left handed person. Also, notice in the picture above how beautiful that the grain turned out on this piece of found wood... a piece of wood that was blown out of a tulip poplar tree about a month ago and now it will be joining my kitchen arsenal of eating utensils. Taking something from the wild of the forest floor then turning it into an interesting and practical object is the kind of thing that energizes the core of the human spirit and literally norishes the well being of the soul. It's an activity that makes me feel the entire human experience.

More of the protruding raised relief detailing

At this point I am now looking so forward to seeing if I can get the right finish on the spoon because the wrong finish would be devastating after spending sooooooooo many hours of effort with the carving and sanding. Speaking of the time spent working on this found wood spoon, well I'm not sure just how many hours went into it but you can bet it was a bunch! Yesterday one of my students asked me how much money that I'd sell it for and my reply was, "I wouldn't take a hundred dollar bill for it... just too many hours of labor went into it." Of course the typical teenager has a duty to take the question one step further and then asks, "Would you take a thousand dollars for it"? As usual, I then put the ball back in his court and told him that the only way to find out was for him to put a thousand dollars on the table and then he'd find out. I think that he got the point that I highly value the time that I spend creating a unique piece of art and that is what I also encourage and expect from my students. When they begin to take pride in creating their own carvings then they can begin to take pride in themselves as the successful people that they are capable of becoming.

I'll post new pictures of the spoon when I get the final finish completed and sure hope that it won't end up embarassing me. That's the chance you must take when posting a WIP (work in progress)

WIP-Part 1: A spoon to nourish the body & soul

A funky vein system connects hearts with bowl

This will be a WIP (Work-in-progress) and I will update when more progress is made. From the picture above you can see that this spoon project is something quite different from your ordinary twist-handle spoon, and that is exactly what I was looking for. However that is all that I was looking for because this spoon was begun with literally no plan in mind and I just wanted to let it discover itself for the most part. A second goal on this carving was to make it as complicated and complex as possible, you know... something that was really interesting to look at and would surely generate a lot of conversation from onlookers so it would have a lot of detailing. Thirdly, I wanted this carving to have some kind of central theme that brought everything together "full circle" and that mission has also been laid in place as you will see.

The bowl is still rough and I've just begun
extending the "veins" into the spoon bowl.

Like a lot of my recent spoons this one was also cut from a found wood poplar limb with my bandsaw. It measures exactly 10" long and the bowl is exactly 2" at it's widest point and I have been carving it with my Flexcut Carvin' Jack knife. Found poplar makes excellent wood for spoons and I've been carving it almost exclusively as of late. When I started the carving I made one wrong push of my blade and sadly broke off a little chunk of the forming bowl. I always teach the kids in my woodshop class that mistakes should be looked at as opportunities to discover a great new idea in the creation of their projects and this is advice that I follow too. After a bit of study and a little further shaving on the tip of the bowl I was delighted to now have a much flatter scooping surface and I also saw it becoming a "spork" by adding a few teeth to the tip.

On the tip of the handle I carved a heart then later I began to see a theme form. After looking at other folks spoons I saw one where the fellow carved in an interesting thin brace-looking extension of wood from the base of the handle and into the bottom side of the bowl. That was so neat and I began to do the same thing. Later I was led to carry this "extension" all the way down the underside of the spoon and connected it with the heart at the opposite end. I really liked that and thus my theme had been found. The central idea here would be a spoon that had a vein system to connect it with the bowl of the spoon so that when a meal was consumed I would not only be nourishing my body but the heart would nourish my soul. Cool!

A shot of the floor at today's carving class

Today I was able to work on the spoon just a little but I had it on the floor in front of me which gives me a lot of extra energy when I'm helping the kids create their own carving creations. This week the woodshop has been closed temporarily because of North Carolina state testing. I wasn't needed as a proctor so I've been spending some great quality time with the 9th and 10th graders helping to facilitate various projects such as woodcarving. Although I'm really into my new spoon I get just as much contentment from teaching and helping them with their own projects and teaching new skills is where the real joy of carving can always be found.

This has been a rainy day but also an absolutely great day for carving and I will keep you updated as more progress is made on my new funky love spoon because new ideas are always dancing forward in my head. Stay tuned!

Carving a sunflower spoon

Since my life is mostly "on the go" from sunrise to sunset, it seems that most of my carving projects end up in the cargo pockets of my pants at one point or another. This particular spoon rode 1st class in one such pocket for the most of the last month and I would carve on it when I could with my highly portable Flexcut Carvin' Jack.
I just now finished it and I'd have a hard time parting with this one because I really liked the twisted handle that only God could design, I liked the light and dark core contrast markings that God also threw in for good measure, and I love the little sunflower that just plain ole me added. It measures 8-1/2" in a straight line from the tip of the bowl to the handle, not accounting for the great twisting which probably adds a bit more "actual" length.
I made it from a fallen tulip poplar limb that was bone dry so it was some hard wood for carving but heck, when it's just riding in my pocket all day I really wasn't in a big hurry to finish. This is the kind of stuff that gives me a reason to wake up another day and gets me into a contented sleep at night dreaming about that next cut. It's these kind of connections with simple things that give all the reason to live.

I cut a chunk of the limb to the desired length then split it right down the center with my bandsaw, just like a log is fed into a sawmill. This left me with two sides of the limb to make two spoons. This particular limb was greatly twisted which provided an interesting project. On the flat side of the cut limb I sketched out the spoon I wanted then once again took to the bandsaw to give me a rough-out that my carving knives could then handle.
Finally finished I decided that it needed a little decoration so I burned my favorite flower into the base of the handle and that was a sunflower. I lightly stained the colors of the leaves and flower with highly watered down acrylic paint. I then applied several coats of mineral oil which gave it a nice luster and was the food safe finish I wanted since I just might eat my oatmeal with this one.

Spoons are the greatest carving projects ever because no two ever turn out the same. They are all unique in their own way if you just let the wood tell you how to find the spoon. Spoons are also great beginner projects for new woodcarvers providing a just right challenge and introduction into carving in-the-round 3-D projects. Hey, they're also practical because this is a carving that you can actually use to do something instead of just retiring it to the nick nak shelf.

Carving whimsical spoons

Like a lot of my carving friends on the Woodcarving Illustrated message board, I've been on a spoon carving marathon lately. I used basswood scraps 7" long X 1-3/8" wide X 1/2" deep. I didn't do any spoon in one sitting and just pulled them out on the whim and let the designs invent themselves. Now that is what I refer to as relaxing carving!

I think that my favorite one is the "Womble family". The one with the long red and turquoise hat is a cross between a wizard, circus clown, and Dr. Seuss... so how's that for whimsical?!? I won't be using these spoons to eat my cereal tomorrow morning as they are more in the "decorative" folk art category.

I used thinned acrylic paints and polyurethane for the finish.