Greenwood cup

[John Fenna]

Just finished my first trad wooden cup.
Green carved Silver Birch (used one of Rancid Badgers crook knives and a Frost spoon knife as well as axe,saw and pukko) oiled with food grade linseed oil, after drying and sanding.
It did start to develop radial splits in the handle and lip despite salt water boiling, slow drying etc - but I filled them with Superglue!
Not as shiney as it looks!

Thanks for looking.

 

[Bernie Garland]

Something to be proud of there John, without a doubt.

Bernie

 

[rancid badger]

I knew it had fallen into good company
That's absolutely brilliant!
I was bit concerned that the blade might prove a bit unwieldy due to the size but you certainly seem to have tamed it!
Honestly John,that's really impressive.

Very Best Wishes
R.B.

 

[Rosco]

very nice John, Silver birch has got to be one of my favourite timbers to carve- you've certainly done that piece justice , well done.
John

 

[Greg]

I like it John, I like it alot. Very nice job fella !

 

[mick miller]

Good work, my next project is to be a cup out of the same material although dry (is that a bad idea?). There's a bit in the boot of the car waiting.

 

[Schwert]

That is a nice one. I have a chunk of maple burl that I think has a cup in it...hard as a rock though. Not sure I can get anything quite this nice out of it.

 

[John Fenna]

Thanks for the nice comments.
Hopefully the next one will not split at all.....and be bigger to hold more booze!

 

[Schwert]

When you salt water boiled it..

How long did you boil it?
Was it a real rollicking boil or a simmer?
How much salt was in the water?

What did it look and feel like after the cook?

 

[John Fenna]

Boiled it for about 10 mins at a simmer with about a tablespoonful - it did not change the look of the wood...
Mind you I dont know if this was right in any way...just what I was told.....any other ideas?

 

[SOAR]

Nice work John, I did one once and did the old salt water trick to prevent the wood splitting, and guess what, it split really bad. maybee its just hit and miss, mine ended up on the fire.

 

[Schwert]

I likely would have used much saltier water, but this is something I have never done. I did soak a root ball in a bucket with about a pound of salt in it, then let that sit....it is still damp, so the salt is picking up water from the air. The thing looks spalted though. Of course it has been about a year sitting. I intend to split it open and see what happened inside....soon. Maybe even this year

 

[mr dazzler]

I put my carved items in tesco bag's and completely surrouind them with shavings(slightly damp) so as to dry them slowly. This method is also supposed to stop mould forming, I find beech to be a real twart for going mouldy and it seems to go real deep into the wood and spoil the finish. I have also had much less trouble with radial cracking as a result. As for carving dry wood its possible but be prepared to strop your hook more often or else it will chatter and leave ridges instead of a smooth finish. Personally I decided I dont like maple its not real nice to carve, but then I saw a quilt maple log the other day which could be worth £1000's it was almost completely branch free and clean it had been supplied for fire wood but it got spotted before it was sold on and cross cutted It will almost certainly end up being used for guitar's (fine lutherie)

 

[brancho]

Very nice
I am half way through one myself

 

[robin wood]

Nice one John I like it, lots of my early work had supaglue fixes, as the old time cabinet makers used to say "in glue and dust we trust"

I don't know why folk go for the boiling method, it seems very extreme to me. Do you leave it to cool in the water? Thinking about it I could imagine the boiling driving sap out and then as it cooled in the water the sap being replaced by water that would evaporate out more easily. If you take the hot bowl out of the water it would be subject to extreme stress and I would reckon be lucky if it survived.

My method is first make sure you are carving from stress free wood, particualrly avoid wood from near the pith/centre of the log and also avoid knots. Then dry slowly in air, a cool garage is perfect. finally after say 3 weeks move into the house for a week or two to get it bone dry before oiling. I get less than 1% split during this proces and generally it is due to having missed a flaw in the wood.

 

[topknot]

Hi,
very nice work.

 

[brancho]

My method is first make sure you are carving from stress free wood, particualrly avoid wood from near the pith/centre of the log and also avoid knots. Then dry slowly in air, a cool garage is perfect. finally after say 3 weeks move into the house for a week or two to get it bone dry before oiling. I get less than 1% split during this proces and generally it is due to having missed a flaw in the wood.

Having read this I may less than half way through but hey at least I read this now rather than later.

 

[Hoodoo]

That is some excellent work! Nice clean design. Well done!