Every Sunday for as long as he can remember, Mike Bonin’s entire family has gathered after Mass on Sunday to visit, cook and break bread together. It’s that imagery of multiple generations bustling around the kitchen, stirring pots and serving meals, that inspires him as he creates his own line of wooden roux spoons and serving utensils.

“It kind of gives you a good feeling knowing that something you made is going to help people cook God knows how many meals down the road,” Bonin muses. “Especially in Louisiana, where everything you do revolves around food.”

That inspiration has paid off for the native New Iberian. His line of 40 different wooden spoons (and one pasta fork) has become so popular with locals and tourists, he makes and sells up to 120 pieces in a week.

It All Started with a Video

“It was the best twenty dollars I ever spent,” Bonin recalls of the online video that taught him the basics of spoon making. The former high school principal had been woodworking for years, building most of the furniture in his home and the cypress cabinets still hanging in his kitchen. In fact before he bought that video, he was already showing at local fairs and festivals and had begun developing rough ideas for a roux spoon.

Although he winces at the thought of his daughter still using one of his first spoons, he admits his early attempts were formative and led to the successful technique he uses today. He describes his early pieces as “plain and flat with no curves,” so much so the spoons could be used by both left-handed or right-handed people. Then, he recalls, a customer at one of his shows asked if he made left-handed spoons. He went back to his design and discovered there were several pieces he could make both ways. This discovery allowed him to carve more curves and angles into his spoons —and has become the hallmark of his line.

Not Your Typical Spoonmaker

Bonin is quick to point out he’s not like most spoonmakers who generally whittle by hand—a slow, arduous task that makes it impossible to mass produce. Instead he uses four to six different types of machinery, depending on the spoon, to carve, sand and finish each piece. Nothing is automated, though, and his personal touch is still the main driver of his craft.

Over the years Bonin tried using different woods, like maple, walnut, and beech, to make his spoons, but he landed on cherry because it always sells the best. His multi-step process is as close to an assembly line as you can get while still maintaining the craftsmanship of handmade items, averaging one spoon every 4 to 6 minutes. He prefers to do one process at a time, taking dozens of spoons through each step as a group. Starting with locally supplied pieces of cherry, he traces directly onto the slats using a pattern of his own design. One after another, each tracing gets an initial rough cut on the bandsaw, then another on the side to cut away the excess. A disk sander knocks out each spoon’s squared edges, then a pneumatic drum sander sands them into their final shapes.

The smoothness of his products are paramount to Bonin, so all of his spoons go through additional steps, including wetting and drying them to pull out the loose fibers and “fuzz,” then sanding them each again with a fine 220 grit sandpaper. Lastly all of his spoons are dipped in mineral oil and hung to dry, which draws out the deep, rich color and reddish undertones.

Growing the Business Spoon By Spoon

While his craft started as a way to relax after work and on the weekends, it’s now a thriving business. He quickly grew out of his first workshop, which was in the carport storage area, and now works out of a massive detached workshop.

Bonin was one of the original vendors when the Lafayette Farmers and Artisan Market began, and he’s been showing there on and off ever since. Other shows he likes to attend regularly are Festival International de Louisiane, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, Arts Market New Orleans and Baton Rouge Art Market. “I love going out there,” he says. “It’s relaxing and you meet people from all over the place. People appreciate your work and it just gives you a good feeling.”

Bonin has also made his products available at Bird on the Bayou in New Iberia and on his website spoonsgaloreandmore.com. Additionally he found a wholesale distributor in New Orleans for one of his roux spoons, which he mass produces and brands with a fleur de lis. Although it’s a lot of work, he’s grateful for the opportunity and excited to say the design is now available in Bucc-ee’s Fuel Centers.

Looking Ahead

Spoons aren’t the only items Bonin makes. In his growing collection, you’ll find cheese cutting boards, coasters, vases and a host of other wooden items. To explore ideas, he searches Pinterest and listens to people when they talk. Next he’s thinking about making a mortar and pestle, based on a suggestion from his son.

Bonin is consistently humbled and surprised by how popular his spoons have become. As a devout Catholic, he serves at Mass daily and can often be found saying the rosary as he carves. “God’s opened up doors and has put things in front of us that might not have happened had we not been so dedicated,” he explains.

The husband, father and grandfather shows no signs of stopping. What started as a way to release the tension of his job as a principal, is now one of his life’s passions. “Once I retired I realized I could do this every day. It’s just a joy.”