finished kuksa
- Thread starter fishfish
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Willow and poplar can both be a bit fuzzy, but cut really easily and get plenty hard enough when dry to make a sound cooking spoon. The trick is to work them most of the way when green and don't worry about the fuzzy bits. Then leave them to dry for a couple of days then do your finishing cuts - they'll come up lovely! Oh yes, and a really sharp knife helps too.Willow?I tryed one time make a spoon out of willow and it ended up as a piece of fuzzy tinder
Can you get a wee bit for me,
pay postage and ille send it!
Nice work Iove the grain on ash.
The first one I made was from willow and a bit dry so hard to carve the next 2 were green birch and much easier to do.
The first one I made was from willow and a bit dry so hard to carve the next 2 were green birch and much easier to do.
I was make a wee kurska for ash too but its all ended in very badly
Well you live and learn or something like that!:aargh4:
.Look at the royal mail website and 1kg surface mail would cost 5.73 which sounds not bad.:You_Rock_
Well you live and learn or something like that!:aargh4:
Thanks mate you are a true gent!Sound good as I need to get started on a new kurska
.Look at the royal mail website and 1kg surface mail would cost 5.73 which sounds not bad.:You_Rock_
This is a video made by the guy who carved my kuksa.
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...n&sa=G&usg=ALkJrhh_xtXMUaBe-g0vsQM0oYy8lJK8sA
He boiled the green wood in sea salt, then let it dry for 6 weeks.
I tried this. The wood absorbs the salt into its cells, changing its specific gravity, and sank. This makes the wood hygroscopic and it will absorb moisture from the air.
I use my kuksa daily, and it always looks moist.
The wood I treated, walnut, never cracked.
Harmony
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...n&sa=G&usg=ALkJrhh_xtXMUaBe-g0vsQM0oYy8lJK8sA
He boiled the green wood in sea salt, then let it dry for 6 weeks.
I tried this. The wood absorbs the salt into its cells, changing its specific gravity, and sank. This makes the wood hygroscopic and it will absorb moisture from the air.
I use my kuksa daily, and it always looks moist.
The wood I treated, walnut, never cracked.
Harmony
I was make a wee kurska for ash too but its all ended in very badly
Well you live and learn or something like that!:aargh4:
Thanks mate you are a true gent!Sound good as I need to get started on a new kurska
how about a trade then some eucaliptus for some green silver birch?
It can sometimes help if you leave whatever it is your carving outside or in a shed. Stops it drying out so fast and splitting/checking. Some things i wrap with a slightly damp teatowel to stop them messing about. Some woods just dont want to behave though!
It will help a lot if you remove the pith and the central few growth rings before you start carving. This is where there is greatest tension as the wood shrinks more tangentially than it does radially...
If you remove the centre of the log, have an even wall thickness and let it dry slowly it won't crack.
Nicola
If you remove the centre of the log, have an even wall thickness and let it dry slowly it won't crack.
Nicola
I was lucky enough to visit a kuksa factory in finnish lapland... handy hint #1 regarding bringing out the grain in the cup... buy a shed load of very cheap coffee and leave the cup in a container of hot very strong coffee for a day or so. That's what they do
Quite possibly but being thinner they may be liable to warp and generally become anything but knife scale shaped.
Maybe worth checking out with an offcut first.
Maybe worth checking out with an offcut first.
just watched that video , its briliant! i trawled all of you-tube for somik like that! any tecky types able to post it there for the world?
Don't leave your need finished kursa in a shed with a tin roof when its 30 degrees in the shade.
ah, yes! (Deeply envious really, we can only dream of 30 degrees in the shade - even in the summer!)Similar threads
