Kuksa wood

[The Survivor]

Firstly, hello again, I have been away from here for a while but it is great to be back again!

My question is, are there any woods which are not good for making a kuksa from in relation to its 'carvability' or safety to drink from (poisonous)?

Cheers

 

[Fraxinus]

Laburnum and Yew are the two that directly come to mind as not being good choices.

I think it's easier to start with; the wood needs to be green (not dried out) to make it easier to carve.
Birch, Sycamore, Beech and most any fruit tree wood will make nice Kuksa' and be safe to use.
Tannin rich timbers may not make the best drinking vessels, they may leach and cause discolouring or bitter tastes to the drink.

Rob.

 

[The Survivor]

Cheers Rob, much appreciated.

 

[Robson Valley]

+1 Fraxinus. I'd go with what the Scandanavians have in good supply = Birch.
Nice texture to carve, wet or dry and holds good detail if you intend some fine decoration.

 

[fishfish]

fruit woods are a nightmare for splitting as are most for kuksa's,tobe honest only a burl will be safe from cracking,thres nowt worse than 5 hours carving for it to crack a week into drying.

btw if your looking for inspiration check out these: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1565793@N22/

 

[Tiley]

I would say beech can be problematic for carving a kuksa. It is incredibly wet when green and is prone to cracking quite badly as it dries. If you try and carve it seasoned, be patient: it is a very hard wood, requiring sharp tools and persistence.

The other wood I would avoid is box. It is quite rare to find a piece large enough for a kuksa but, if you do, beware: it is like carving fossilised butter. I did make a kuksa for a friend who had given me a piece of box but it took many, many long, frustrating hours to complete.

 

[The Survivor]

Right cheers Guys, I will keep my eye out for some Birch.

 

[Tiley]

Or you could try lime. It's easy to carve and dries hard and light. If it's good enough for Grinling Gibbons, it should be OK for the rest of us!

 

[The Survivor]

Or you could try lime. It's easy to carve and dries hard and light. If it's good enough for Grinling Gibbons, it should be OK for the rest of us!

So where would one find lime wood?

 

[John Fenna]

Lime wood is not the Citrus but the Linden or Bass type of Lime.
It grows over many parts of the UK.

 

[The Survivor]

Right, i will keep my eyes peeled, as long as i am not being sent off to set snares for haggis...

 

[Fraxinus]

This is a Lime tree that I put some bat boxes in, they grow very tall and broad. (boxes set at 5mtr high).

Rob.

 

[quietone]

fruit woods are a nightmare for splitting as are most for kuksa's,tobe honest only a burl will be safe from cracking,thres nowt worse than 5 hours carving for it to crack a week into drying.

btw if your looking for inspiration check out these: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1565793@N22/

Wow, there are some seriously beautiful works of art on that flickr page ! Amazing.
There's a beautiful, very useful looking spoon knife too. Made by a bloke called Joshua Burrell. I see he's UK based. Wonderful, I love this community.

I'm having a go at block of seasoned Ash at the moment. It is taking some serious manhandling to knock into to a kuksa shape. Wish I'd tried it when it was green.