How to make fun salad tongs

 Hi everyone.   Today I have a fun and silly yet possibly useful project.   It's hard sometimes getting the kiddos to eat their vegetables isn't it?  Maybe this will help.  We are going to make some salad tongs that hopefully appeal to the kids.   Hoping they have fun using the salad hands, and this will get them to eat more salad.  Farfetched??? maybe, but one could hope.   Anyway it is a fun project, and features the Proxxon long neck angle grinder.   Lets get started.

Equipment and supplies

5/8 -1" pine board

Proxxon mini bandsaw

Proxxon long neck angle grinder

Proxxon OZI/E delta sander

Plaid paints

Butcher block non-toxic food safe sealer

Wood glue

Dust mask

The first thing I did was to pick out some scrap wood, this is 1" pine left over from some other project.

I drew an outline around my hands onto the wood pieces.  (If you have kids, get their hands involved).

Next we cut out the hands using the Proxxon Mini bandsaw.  I love that it is so easy to use.

Next we will use the Proxxon long neck angle grinder to grind the hands slightly concave and the tips  of the fingers into a grasping position.   (see photo below).   Caution,  be careful and keep your hands away from the grinder.  This step is NOT for children!  Please use a dust mask for this part, It gets a little messy and a lot dusty.

When I got the basic shape, I took my hands over to the Proxxon disk sander and continued the shaping, ie smoothing the joints of the hand and rounding all the edges.

To add handles, just cut out a half circle from the leftover wood.   Optional- grind out the middle a little bit to make hand holds.   Then glue it on to the back of the hands.

Finish the smoothing process using the Proxxon OZI/E delta sander.

I used watco butcher block sealer on the palm side of the hands (non-toxic and food safe) and I used Plaid paints on the back of the hands for decoration.  

Once dry we are ready to dig into the salad, or better yet the kids will dig into the salad!

Thanks for visiting.  Hope you enjoyed this little project

Thank you Proxxon and Plaid, 

See ya next time....meanwhile, eat your vegetables!   Carol