Hey all, my burl cup was started with an axe then knife and crook knife i had to sharpen the spoon knife 3 times when carving the bowl out as burls are damn hard but a burl is not neccesary for carving a cup/kuksa a pice of birch (or what ever wood you can get) spit down the middle then using one half of the log makes for a good cup too remember to remove the center heart wood so theres none in the walls of your cup, its easy to do just split your log slightly off center or just carve it out and its much less likely to split. Tongue oil is another good oil as it is non toxic, boiled linseed oil went on my butter knife to give it the nice dark finish,just wipe the oil on rub in nicely with your hands and a bit of cloth then wip the excess off and leave to absorb, repeat this as many times as needed
the wood used for the knife is oak and was rescued from the end of a branch which was destined for the fire, dont be too woried about the wood at first a bit of pine from your local wood yard is fine even if you carve it and it ends up like a match stick the first few times once you cet your carving and cutting tecniques off pat with out cutting your self :roll: things become much easier, and one tip is to wrap your thumb in a plaster "before" you carve with your crook knife, just in case
): and my little girl rides on her like a horse!!! 
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