A Tale Of Two Kuksa

[Kepis]

I though it was about time i made a new Kuksa today, well i had to try out the new Karlsson gouges on it as well, so i grabbed a lovely bit of Cherry from the wood pile, cleaned it up with the axe and then laid out the dimensions for the Kuksa on it.

Then i attacked it with the Adze and gouges, got a lovely deep and smooth bowl carved out in next to no time, the new Hans Karlsson Dog Leg gouge i bought in the week made life very easy when it came to carving the bottom of the bowl,

Having carved the hollow out to a point where i felt i could move on to the exterior shaping, i removed the blank from the bowl horse, cut off the surplus wood from each end and just as i was about to start shaping the exterior with the axe, it split, not in two or anything so dramatic, but within minutes you could see loads of cracks appear in the end grain and within the bowl i had just painstakingly carved out, ah well, **** happens i guess, so that one is now fire wood, and no it did not split anywhere near the remnants of the pith that you can see on the top of the blank.

Not to be deterred, i grabbed a piece of Ash from the wood pile and set to on that with the Adze and gouges

about an hour later i had got to a stage where the bowl has been carved and most of the axe work on the exterior is also complete.

The Ash Kuksa is now sitting in a sealed zip lock waiting for me to do some more axe work on it tomorrow, before i get to the knife work and begin to refine the shape and thin the side walls down to a reasonable thickness.

Hopefully this one will behave itself and not split.

 

[dancan]

I've made firewood before as well LOL
Thanks for putting up the pics !

 

[Kepis]

I've made firewood before as well LOL
Thanks for putting up the pics !

Cheers mate, it did burn well earlier

 

[Rockmonkey]

All my attemps have split so far!
Glad the pro's have fire wood from time to time, sorry that it's your fire though mate!
Ash one seem's to be going well though!
Keep us posted!

RM

 

[brancho]

The trials and tribulations of the maker mate.

A real shame as it was looking good but at the least the second one does too.

 

[robin wood]

Cherry is the one wood I have occasional troubles with, it shrinks more than most and sapwood and heartwood shrink at different rates all adding to the stress. I find it best if mellowed rather than fresh and also I always start from further away from the pith cleaning off say 1cm from the flat face before starting to lay out. It can still go pear shaped but it reduces the rejects. The ash one is looking nice.

 

[Kepis]

cheers chaps

 

[Kepis]

Got some more done on the Ash Kuksa today, still need to fine carve it and refine some of the edges to neaten them up and thin out some of the thick areas in the walls of the cup, but it's not looking bad, certainly the wood has some great colour contrast.

The bowl of the cup has an average of 11cm in diameter and it's about 4.5 cm deep.

 

[Rockmonkey]

Ash never looked so good!
Well done mate!

RM

 

[martsim73]

Really nice!

 

[Kepis]

cheers guys

 

[Hugo]

Lovely tooled finish Kepis mate, as for the cherry if it is of any consequence, the so called dead standing whopping great piece that I was given and cut a lump off for you, has split in lots of places both ends, When I get to cut it into logs sizes I'll split it and use what I can for spatulas. Glad it only cost me two cups of tea.

 

[HillBill]

Nice work Mark.

Ash is a lovely wood, i find it very forgiving to work with. Cherry - Can be a pita if its still got a decent % of moisture in the wood. What i do is cover the ends with beeswax while its still a log ( upto 6" dia, short lengths) and leave it a year before i touch it. It still has some moisture content, but seems to be pretty stable when you crack into it. I have a couple of nice pieces( full rounds with bark still on) for bow staves with the ends waxed. You can hear more of a ring than a thud if you tap it and the weight has dropped a fair bit, so moisture content has definitely decreased and there not a split in sight on the end grain.

Another way i found that works well for larger logs, is to seal the ends and drill holes in 2 concentric circles in the end grain at both sides, but not going into the central area or the sapwood, only going in an inch or so. Then along the length of the log drill around the circumference every foot or so, again don't go too deep, just enough to get into the heartwood . this allows it to dry in a controlled manner evenly along the length. I found this method good when you only want short sections as you then cut sections off where they are drilled. Ideal for kuksa's and spoons. Seal the end with beeswax again when you have removed what you want. Again, it needs leaving a year or so.

 

[Kepis]

Lovely tooled finish Kepis mate, as for the cherry if it is of any consequence, the so called dead standing whopping great piece that I was given and cut a lump off for you, has split in lots of places both ends, When I get to cut it into logs sizes I'll split it and use what I can for spatulas. Glad it only cost me two cups of tea.

Cheers Hugo

Im going to split that lump you gave me into eighths i think and make spoons from it, the size will be just the ticket for a good handful of eating spoons

 

[Kepis]

Nice work Mark.

Another way i found that works well for larger logs, is to seal the ends and drill holes in 2 concentric circles in the end grain at both sides, but not going into the central area or the sapwood, only going in an inch or so. Then along the length of the log drill around the circumference every foot or so, again don't go too deep, just enough to get into the heartwood . this allows it to dry in a controlled manner evenly along the length. I found this method good when you only want short sections as you then cut sections off where they are drilled. Ideal for kuksa's and spoons. Seal the end with beeswax again when you have removed what you want. Again, it needs leaving a year or so.

Thanks Mark,

Will have to give the drilled option a go it think, what diameter of drill bit do you use?.

 

[HillBill]

Depends on the size of the log. You don't want the holes too big or those bits dry too fast, but its proportional to the diameter of the log i think. I've only done two, and i used a 6mm bit for a 6" dia piece and 8mm for a 9" piece. I read it in a woodworking book i borrowed from the library a couple of years back. It said it was a good way to help stabilise woods that tend to split. I think he was more referring to fruit woods, but not 100% on that.

Thanks Mark,

Will have to give the drilled option a go it think, what diameter of drill bit do you use?.

 

[Kepis]

cheers Mark, think i will give it a go

 

[HillBill]

Let us know how it goes mate. You do more with wood than i do.

 

[Kepis]

Let us know how it goes mate. You do more with wood than i do.

will do .

 

[Bucketosudz]

Stunning work as always!