A few Items I have managed to finally finish!

[g4ghb]

I have had a number of projects on the go for a while now but finally found time to finish them off this weekend. Worry not though I still have a list of '1/2 baked plans' as long as my arm to complete so no chance of getting bored any time soon......

first a birch bark match case. This is the first successful bark container I have managed to make (bark is so thin round our way...) it is glued to help it last (after al this work I finally have something I want to keep)

next a leather bottle. This has been sat formed and waiting till I got enough beeswax to waterproof it for almost 6 months I guess (Thanks Tengu!) It holds a smidge under a 1/4 of a pint and has a oiled hazel and leather stopper. The pale bit near the top is a combination of where I was holding it to wax it and the slight stretching from the stopper.

finally a quick spoon made of spalted birch. I'm really pleased with this one it feels as good as it looks and only took a couple of hours to complete (must be starting to get the hang of this carving lark.......)

 

[Shewie]

Very nice Graham

Have you "emphasised" the grain on the spoon is that how it came out with oil ? I only ask because I sat and watched some chalet builders in the Alps last week and they were torching the beams to bring out a lovely grain.

Great job on the match case too, you must have the patience of a saint to see that through.

 

[g4ghb]

nope the spoon has just been oiled - it looked pretty good once sanded but the oil has just made the colours 'sing'

 

[bikebum1975]

really nice work Mate I'm diggin the match safe

 

[Tengu]

how big is your bottle?

 

[Man of Tanith]

Nice graham all very nice
and suitably jealousy inspiring too

 

[g4ghb]

how big is your bottle?

It holds just under a 1/4 pt - well a full 1/4 pt till you put the stopper in and squidge a bit out

 

[Shewie]

nope the spoon has just been oiled - it looked pretty good once sanded but the oil has just made the colours 'sing'

Very nice, lovely bit of timber that

 

[CBJ]

Great work mate,

The match case is realy nice

Craig

 

[Ray Britton]

I love that bottle. It looks very traditional. I never have the patience to wait as long as you did for the wax

 

[Toadflax]

Lovely stuff. Out of interest, are those safety matches - i.e. do you carry a striker, or are they non-safety?

Threads like this always inspire me with lists of projects for the future.


Geoff

 

[g4ghb]

Lovely stuff. Out of interest, are those safety matches - i.e. do you carry a striker, or are they non-safety?

They are swan vesta non safety matches (with a small ball of cotton wool at the bottom to stop them rattleing) so any old stone, zip etc will do

Threads like this always inspire me with lists of projects for the future.

Exactly me too! - that's part of the reason of posting to spawn new ideas.......... cunning huh!

 

[Black Sheep]

Nice work

I really like the spoon.

Richard

 

[listenclear]

Really beautiful craftmanship there mate.
Great job!

 

[bhofmann]

I hate to break it to you, but as nice as that spoon looks, I would not use it in a drink or for food. The black lines are zone lines from fungi in the wood. I'm not sure it's safe. You can read more about Spalting on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spalting

 

[ukbushmonkey]

Im a Tree Surgeon, and those black lines im pretty sure is not fungai. It looks like CODDIT (compartmentalisation) which are walls of hard or stained wood the tree uses to stop rot or infection spreading.

 

[elma]

nice work mate.
I think I'll have to have a go at making one of them bottles, if my memory serves me correctly there is a tutorial in one of the old bushcraft magazines

 

[pwb]

Lovely work Graham .

A ' have a go at list ' just grows and grows around here I find .

 

[bhofmann]

Im a Tree Surgeon, and those black lines im pretty sure is not fungai. It looks like CODDIT (compartmentalisation) which are walls of hard or stained wood the tree uses to stop rot or infection spreading.

Yes, they are walls, but the walls are created by different fungi to protect their resources from others. The wikipedia article is a very interesting read. It might be safe, I really don't know for certain. I'd just rather not use wood in that state when there's plenty of "clean" wood to use. Pretty as it is, I'd never give someone something like that as a food related item. PS. The images on the wikipedia page are from a bowl I turned - it is sought after by woodturners for it's aesthetic appeal.

 

[Cobweb]

They all look fantastic, I really like the spoon, the spalting looks stunning! I will get around to making a birch bark container one day