Simple Butter Knife - Swedish Style

A very simple wooden butter knife/butter spreader (smörkniv). Classic Swedish style made of juniper wood. Most school kids do these in woodshop. They are simple, easy to make and does not take a long time to do.

The butter knife is a really good beginner project. Especially for practicing your bandsaw skills.

These knives makes a great gift too.

For this instructable (that is my first) I use :

- Juniper wood
- A (small) bandsaw (but you could use a jigsaw or ar saw). But the bandsaw is really the tool of choice here.
- A sander and/or a sanding block with 80 to 240 grit.
- Food safe oil

Oh! and a pen for tracing the shape.

Here goes... Butter up! If you want to see this in moving pictures I have a little video above and below.

Step 1: Tracing From a Template or From an Old Knife

I have ripped the wood to about 5 mm thick strips that are wide enough to trace the butter knife to.

I use juniper wood (and for the classic Swedish butter knife, this is the go-to material), but other hardwood may work. I guess wood from fruit trees like cherry, apple or pear may work excellent too. I would not recommend using pine or fir.

I made the template I'm using a while ago (you could use cardboard, but I made mine in masonite) so I can use this shape many times over. I really like this shape of the butter knife.

Step 2: Cut It Off!

And then I'm cutting close to the line using a small bandsaw. You could also use a jigsaw for this.

Step 3: Sanding the Final Shape

I'm starting to make the final shape using a small sander with grit 80 sanding paper. Then I go to 120. I round the corners and make the handle nice to the touch.

Also I'm sanding the thickness of the blade so it cuts the butter like.... well... like butter I guess.

Step 4: The Final Step

After the sanding and when I feel happy with the shape. I "sand" the surface with steel wool. I'm aiming at silk smooth here. And then I use food safe oil that I apply with a rag.

Step 5: And the Finished Butter Knife

Thats it. Ready to be used.

Yes, It may be simple. Yes - there is not many steps. But its a nice beginner woodworking project me thinks.

I also made a little video that shows the same steps.

Now go and make a sandwich with your new butter knife!

You could also find some more projects on my Website : www.dekeros.com