My hand-carved wooden spoons

I saw some home made wooden kitchen implements in an antique store and I thought, "How hard would it be to make one of those?" The answer is: "With a couple of the right tools, it's not easy but it's not extremely difficult". Each one took me about two hours working time over two days. The photo above shows my first three attempts: top to bottom, eucalyptus, birch and cherry. For each one I chose a log from my firewood pile, made a cut length-wise on the outside of the log for the spoon blank. I cut that into the rough shape of a spoon. Then I carved the bowl of the spoon, then the back of the spoon, then the handle. Then there was shaping with a hand rasp and files, and a whole lot of sanding. These spoons haven't been oiled yet. Top to bottom the spoons are 10", 11" and 12" long. I could whip out one of these babies in no time with power tools but I really enjoy making things by hand.
First attempt: eucalyptus was not a good choice. It is hard to carve, splits and cracks easily and not real nice looking wood. And no, eucalyptus wood doesn't smell like cough drops, though the leaves do.
Second attempt: Birch wood is a soft "hardwood". I didn't choose a good piece of this wood from my wood pile; it had insect damage (as you can see on the handle). I went ahead with it anyway. Birch is relatively easy to carve and it is very light. I think this wood is too soft and absorbent to be a good spoon.
Third attempt: I found a nice aged log of cherry wood; a heavy wood,very hard, very nice tight beautiful grain. This wood was a dream to work with. It carves nicely, with good sharp tools, and finishes beautifully. This made a far superior spoon in the end. That's what I'll use on the next one.
So why would I go to all this trouble to make a spoon I can by for a couple of bucks? To see if I could; and I made the other two because I could; and every time I make one, it's better than the last one. Each time I make one I learn something, and at the same time I get better at it. It's a satisfying experience.