Kuksa; green and wet cood carving.

[Keith_Beef]

Well, since the storm pulled down a black locust tree (robinia pseudoacacia) not farm from my house, I got a big chunk of it to make a kuksa.

I've sawn a chunk from the branch, and stripped off the bark before putting it in a ziplock bag with about 1/4 pint of water yesterday.

All that water has dissappeared into the wood, so I added another 1/4 pint today...

I'm going to start hollowing out the bowl, before shaping the outside...

Keith.

 

[torjusg]

Cool, made something similar to a Kuksa once, make sure you keep the wood at even thickness. I didn't and I had to fix it with glue.

Are you going to make one that can't roll over? Saw a saami cup made this way once. You could put it on any surface and it would simply not roll over!

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Daniel]

how does that work then?

 

[torjusg]

I think it has to do with weight placement. Flattish bottom and inwards leaning edges.

Sorry, doesn't mean to hijack your thread.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Pignut]

Keith,

good luck! made a kuksa myself (With limited success)

i agree with carving out the bowl first, If you want the type that will not fall over carve the base "Shallow" and when hollowing leave plenty of wood at the bottom

all the best in the project!

We need pictures!

 

[Keith_Beef]

Keith,

good luck! made a kuksa myself (With limited success)

i agree with carving out the bowl first, If you want the type that will not fall over carve the base "Shallow" and when hollowing leave plenty of wood at the bottom

all the best in the project!

We need pictures!

There will be pictures if I can get any... That either means using my SLR, getting to the end of the roll of film, waiting a whole day for the lab to develope it and burn the CD-ROM, or else I take the pics with my camcorder, hoping for enough light (too much noise, grainy pics, in low-light).

At school, I made a self-righting double egg-cup. All it needs, is to be bottom-heavy with a gentle curve so that it can roll itself vertical.

If you ever played with a kelly as a child, you'll know what I mean.

But I think that I prefer the philosophy of the drinking horn (without a stand, please). If you pick it up, you fill it, and you must drain it before you put it down again.

K.

 

[Pignut]

There will be pictures if I can get any... That either means using my SLR, getting to the end of the roll of film, waiting a whole day for the lab to develope it and burn the CD-ROM, or else I take the pics with my camcorder, hoping for enough light (too much noise, grainy pics, in low-light).

At school, I made a self-righting double egg-cup. All it needs, is to be bottom-heavy with a gentle curve so that it can roll itself vertical.

If you ever played with a kelly as a child, you'll know what I mean.

But I think that I prefer the philosophy of the drinking horn (without a stand, please). If you pick it up, you fill it, and you must drain it before you put it down again.

K.

So long as it is not whisky in there!

 

[g4ghb]

Havn't heard of soaking the wood before carving before!? - I assume this softens it and makes it easier.... does it not compound the problem of splitting though when it drys out?

Then again of course I could be missing the point entirely......

 

[match]

Havn't heard of soaking the wood before carving before!? - I assume this softens it and makes it easier.... does it not compound the problem of splitting though when it drys out?

Its sometimes worth doing on dead wood thats fallen, especially if some parts of the tree were more alive than others - makes the wood carve more evenly. Its not really needed though on naturally damp woods, such as birch.

As to splitting, any green wood can split when drying - having it wetter can actually make it split less, as then all the wood is the same dampness and no parts dry out more quickly than others. Other ways to avoid splitting are to dry in a very cool place for a long time, so it dries slowly, or to simmer in salt water for an hour or so, the salt 'holds on' to the water in the wood forcing it to dry more slowly.

Looking forward to the pictures of your progress!

 

[g4ghb]

Its sometimes worth doing on dead wood thats fallen, especially if some parts of the tree were more alive than others - makes the wood carve more evenly. Its not really needed though on naturally damp woods, such as birch.

As to splitting, any green wood can split when drying - having it wetter can actually make it split less, as then all the wood is the same dampness and no parts dry out more quickly than others. Other ways to avoid splitting are to dry in a very cool place for a long time, so it dries slowly, or to simmer in salt water for an hour or so, the salt 'holds on' to the water in the wood forcing it to dry more slowly.

Nice tips mate - will remember them!

 

[bryanr]

Another option is to cook a potato and rub it on the spoon, wipe off the excess and then store the spoon in a paper bag until you are ready to seal it. That should keep it from twisting or splitting. For sealing, I would suggest using flax oil from the health food store and rubbing it on with your hands once a day for a few days.

Bryanr

 

[match]

Sure its probably been noted by most of you, but there was a long thread about kuksa-making a few weeks ago here:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=300