Upcycled Spoons: How do you make hooks from old spoons?

After cleaning out our overflowing cutlery drawer, it became evident that there were many unnecessary spoons of unknown origin. These miscellaneous spoons were making it quite hard to access the spoons with which I preferred to eat. So it was time to take action with an upcycled spoon project.

First things first: Will anyone miss these spoons?

I removed the spoons from the drawer and hid them deep in the pantry cupboard for a time…to check that no one would miss them. Guess what? No one even noticed they were missing. I like to think that all opened the cutlery drawer were delighted at the ease with which they could access their desired objects.

I’ll admit, the extra spoons were hiding in that cupboard for quite a while. Now that I had established no one missed them, I still didn’t have a plan for what I would do with them. Eventually I thought I could take them to an op shop for someone who would know what to do with them, but I just didn’t get around to it. (If you want some miscellaneous spoons for a project like this – but don’t have any, your local op shop is a good place to look!)

Inspiration hits: How to put some upcycled spoons to use

So the spoons were just sitting there minding their own business until one day when I took a stroll with a friend to a local second-hand clothing shop. The shop owner was very creative and resourceful, and I noticed in the dressing room that she had fashioned old cutlery into the clothing hanger hooks. I LOVED THEM! (Unfortunately the shop no longer exists, otherwise I’d be sending you straight there with a link!)

How to flatten spoons to make hooks

Next, I hit up youtube. After all, I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to flatten a spoon…all I knew is that I had some spoons and a perfect place to put some hooks.

Here’s what I found thanks to Upcycled Stuff’s channel:

Improvising with available resources

I wasn’t going to stamp the spoons like in the video, which makes my job even easier. All I have to do is flatten the spoons and bend the handles. But there was a second problem – I didn’t have an anvil. I just thought they were things to be found only in Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote cartoons. But, it turns out they are a real thing. Even so, I wasn’t going to get a hold of one for this one project. So time to find another solid metal object with a flat surface.

The winner of my find-another-solid-metal-object-with-a-flat-surface competition was an old hand planer. Unfortunately the flat surface was on the bottom, but that issue was remedied by turning it over in the garden so that the top was nicely wedged in the dirt and the bottom was facing up. Now just time to follow the instructions on youtube!

Of course, I still needed to drill holes in the spoons. But since I was a little lacking in confidence with drilling metal (even though flattened spoons have a fairly thin surface), I marked the spots and passed this job onto Isaac.

And the upcycled spoons for hooks on the inside of the cupboard door were born!

Thank you local recycled clothing shop and youtube!