Cherry kuksa

[Baggy]

I was recently given a selection of cherry logs by a friend (thanks Geoff).

Cherry is a beautiful wood and carving a kuksa shows off the woods colouring. I chose a length of cherry long enough to give me enough spare wood to help avoid splitting. We had fantastic sunny weather here so I worked in a shady part of a local wood and used a minimum tool kit of axe, knife and spoon knife.

 

[luckylee]

that looks great bud.

 

[Shewie]

Great job on that Mark

 

[Barn Owl]

Very nice piece.

 

[kodiakjoe]

Really nice job Mark, lovely grain patterns. What have you finished it with?

 

[pastymuncher]

Lovely, Cherry looks really nice.
When you say minimum of tools, did you achieve that finish with the knives only?
I'm interested if you scrape or sand to finish?

 

[Baggy]

Hiya

Thanks, I sanded (abranetted) it and then oiled it with sunflower oil

 

[Baggy]

Sorry that was misleading.

I carved in the woods and then took it home and left it for a while, then used abranet to sand it 180g, 240g and 400g last

 

[Stew]

Great work. Cherry has a lovely warmth to it!

 

[pastymuncher]

It wasn't a criticism, I was just interested in the technique you used to achieve such a fine finish. Its the only thing that bothers me when carving, having to finish with modern abrasives. Other than scraping I've not seen a traditional alternative.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Very nice work matey!

 

[Baggy]

Hiya

It wasn't a criticism, I was just interested in the technique you used to achieve such a fine finish. Its the only thing that bothers me when carving, having to finish with modern abrasives. Other than scraping I've not seen a traditional alternative.

I have the same concern, I like the sanded finish as it shows off the wood.... and it sells better.

Pole lathers use a handful of the shavings that lay under the lathe, I can't think of anything else so I will ask my bodger budddies.

 

[the interceptor boy]

lovely work, well done.

 

[Hammock]

That looks great. I am working on my first kuksa, but have lost the way a little. This will get me going again.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Shewie]

It wasn't a criticism, I was just interested in the technique you used to achieve such a fine finish. Its the only thing that bothers me when carving, having to finish with modern abrasives. Other than scraping I've not seen a traditional alternative.

There's always the leather and sand idea which uncle Ray thought of ....

06:14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7GbPEqljg

 

[beenn]

Great looking kuksa!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Baggy]

That looks great. I am working on my first kuksa, but have lost the way a little. This will get me going again.

Thanks for sharing

Hiya, if I can help please feel free to ask.

 

[DaveBromley]

you could also use dogfish skin which is still used in some parts of the country!

Dave

 

[Baggy]

There's always the leather and sand idea which uncle Ray thought of ....

06:14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7GbPEqljg

That is a great video, I love the use of so many stone tools and the leather and sandstone
did the job really well, thanks for posting it.

 

[Baggy]

Hi Dave

you could also use dogfish skin which is still used in some parts of the country!Dave

Good one....

This is what I have found today



Well surprisingly it appears to go back to the stone age! It has been suggested that stone age people polished knapped-flint utsensils with ochre, an abrasive. The Chinese were using crushed seashells bonded to parchment a seven hundred years ago.

A selection of traditional abrasive material are mentioned below.

Jeweller's rouge is powdered ferrous oxide ie iron oxide, hematite and red ochre. This appears to have been used thousands of years ago for polishing and it has been found imbedded in wax in York where it was probably used by the vikings for “sanding”.

Dog fish (small shark) skin, there are records of medieval carpenters and joiners using dog fish skin as an abrasive or “sandpaper”

Rottenstone is a soft, weathered, limestone, used in powder form as a abrasive. initial "sanding" of wood was done with a powdered pumice stone, final polishing/fine sanding was done with rottenstone

Scouring rush (quisetum), horsetail fern, shave grass, snake grass, puzzlegrass. A plant that has been on the planet for a hundred million years.

Sand on wet leather
Powdered garnet
Powdered quartz
etc

fine abrasive = sifted wood ash with crushed bone, or just the ash for polishing.