Kuksa...what wood?

[Rosco]

Here's my attempt at a Kuksa. I was interested in a recent thread on wood identification , so just for a bit of fun , can you tell the timber I have used here? It's a fairly common British native, and the wood has had an initial coating of CP Linseed oil.
John

 

[rancid badger]

Looks like a lump of oak to me, what ever it is, it's nicely done.
Very good
R.B.

 

[SOAR]

Wow that looks great really nice shape, not sure on the wood, looks like Oak.

 

[brancho]

Nice work
Not sure about the wood

 

[Eric_Methven]

I'd guess at oak. I love the way you've incorporated character into the handle. Beautiful.

Eric

 

[Aragorn]

would it be oak by any chance, haven't really got a clue but it seems a popular choice

 

[DoctorSpoon]

That's lovely work John!

 

[Rosco]

Thankyou all for your words of encouragement. The wood is actually Chestnut which is very similar to oak, and I believe is sometimes used by furniture-makers as an Oak substitute.I found this wood very easy to carve and it doesn't seam to have any tendancy towards splitting. I found I could remove material quite quickly whilst deep hollowing, which is in complete contrast with some Hornbeam I am carving (this is more akin to bone!).If anybody wants it they can have it, I just enjoy the making process.
Cheers John

 

[fishy1]

John, I would love it. If you want anything, pm me. I like the nice look of it. I have thought of making one but well I don't think mine would be anywhere as good as that.

BTW, what kind of chestnut is that, as would horse chestnut be poisonous to use with food?

 

[Rosco]

Hi Fishy, it's Sweet Chestnut finished with Linseed oil I don't want anything for it per se just help towards postage, if you want it it's yours , just pm details,
cheers John

 

[CLEM]

That is really rather nice,well done mate.

Where do you folks get these nice pieces of wood from???

 

[robin wood]

Hi John,

Nice work as always and a good looking tooled finish too. Very generous giveaway.

Just out of interest how sure are you that it is chestnut? Did you see the tree or get it from someone? I only ask because chestnut doesn't normally go spalted like that and it also looks to be showing some rays which again chestnut doesn't normally do. I would be interested to see a photo of the end grain and a bit of the radial surface if you could manage it..that's the surface where the rays show best on a direct line from bark to centre of tree. Seen by the looks in the next to bottom picture about 1/3 of the way in from the right. Maybe the spalted bit is just the sapwood?

 

[spamel]

I have just read this thread and guessed it would be sweet chestnut, only because I have a spoon in the same and apart from the spalting it looks very similar.

 

[Rosco]

Hi Rob,
I'm 99% sure it's Chestnut- I'll take some pics of the lump it came from when I'm not working during daylight hrs (weekend). It's a piece I cut off a massive burl, about 3cwt and 3ft diameter!
Clem,
most of the wood I get is from asking around, where trees are felled e.g I know a few landscape gardeners, council tree teams, tree surgeons etc. Getting wood is no problem, storing it is another matter... in the end you have to start being selective on what you keep. This bit of Chestnut was an off cut that I was about to throw away, but just decided to practice on in between carving another piece.

 

[Rosco]

Here we go.. just taken some pics under lights, so apologies aforehand:-
1)long grain

2)short grain

3)Heres a part of the monster burl that I had to cut down for transportation

John