The story behind this is simple. I was given a number of large pieces of boxwood by a friend who salvaged them from a pile that was about to be burned. Full of gratitude for this gift, I said that I would make him a kuksa out of one of the pieces. Little did I realise...
The project was considerably longer than I thought it would be. Dave Budd commented that carving box was like carving fossilised butter. He was not wrong. Stupidly determined to do the whole thing by hand, I shunned power tools. So, with axe, knife, saw rasp, crook knife, spoon knife and curved cabinet scraper - along with lots of different grits of sand paper - followed by a few coats of tung oil, the job is now done.
Any comments, constructive and critical, are more than welcome as they all help to improve my efforts on future projects. As for boxwood, I think I might put this down to experience and opt for a more forgiving wood in the future!
The project was considerably longer than I thought it would be. Dave Budd commented that carving box was like carving fossilised butter. He was not wrong. Stupidly determined to do the whole thing by hand, I shunned power tools. So, with axe, knife, saw rasp, crook knife, spoon knife and curved cabinet scraper - along with lots of different grits of sand paper - followed by a few coats of tung oil, the job is now done.
Any comments, constructive and critical, are more than welcome as they all help to improve my efforts on future projects. As for boxwood, I think I might put this down to experience and opt for a more forgiving wood in the future!