So, using another part of the shell from the previous page, I marked out my cutting lines.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Look! - it's a spoon - except it's not a very useful one, because the handle curves upward instead of sticking out.

With many kinds of timber, it's possible to impart temporary pliability by steaming - coconut shell is a woody material, but is it sufficiently similar that it will yield to the same treatment?

I steamed the piece over vigorously boiling water for an hour.

I had clamps and battens standing by. I removed the piece swiftly from the steamer and placed the handle part between the battens, then clamped it up - and...

The steam did soften the shell material, and it did flatten a bit, but it was a crumbling sort of softness and the handle snapped in three places. No good.

Perhaps with hotter steam under pressure, it still might be possible, but I'm not sure - I think the similarity between wood and coconut shell might actually be quite superficial.