hollowing out a kuksa

[deepforest2501]

Does anyone else find that bowl burning causes the wood to harden, resulting in it being hard to finish the bowl shape with a crook knife? I see Dick Proenecke used a gouge chisel on his laddles, any suggestions on making the job easier?

is it kuksa or noggin?

 

[Wayne]

I use a combination of crook knives, Ben Orford Indian knife and a Pfiel bowl gouges. My first though was just using an ember and a scraper.

 

[robin wood]

skilled use of an adze is the fast way, I hollow the bulk out of one in 10 minutes so can not understand why anyone would try with an ember. You can do the same with a gouge and mallet if you clamp it in a vice but that turns it from handheld woodwork to bench woodwork which is a significant change. Handheld with a hand held gouge or hook works too but is slower and hard work on the hands.

 

[merrygold85]

skilled use of an adze is the fast way, I hollow the bulk out of one in 10 minutes so can not understand why anyone would try with an ember.

It's easier to make an ember than an adze.

 

[Kepis]

It's easier to make an ember than an adze.

and considerably cheaper, i use a mix of Ben Orford & Mora spoon & crooked knives when i do mine.

 

[robin wood]

It's easier to make an ember than an adze.

Fair point but even without an adze then they don't take long to hollow with good technique and a hook knife, this one was made in an afternoon http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81407

If I didn't have a hook knife I think I would not start making a kuksa.

 

[mrcairney]

I got callouses in places I didn't know you could get callouses hollowing out my (yet still unfinished! 3 months later) kuksa using a Budd hook knife. It didn't actually take that long to get there, but it's definitely painful.

I actually did a backflip (in my mind) when I saw Duncan makes adzes.