Hand-Carved “Bumpy” Rice Paddle

The other day I found a nice wooden rice paddle at a shop called NAIFS and bought it because it was reasonably priced. As I was looking at it, I thought it might be fun to turn it into a bumpy paddle, so I used a router with a carbide bit I had bought a long time ago to carve a textured surface into it (photo on the right). It turned out really great!

It seems that wooden rice paddles with this kind of uneven texture aren’t commonly sold, so for now, making one yourself is inexpensive and easy. You can even carve it using the round-tip chisel we used back in elementary school (photo on the left). When I actually cooked rice and tried scooping it, the rice stuck much less than usual. Of course, since it’s wood, it eventually sticks a bit after repeated use, but overall the bumpy rice paddle turned out quite well.