What's the matter with this piece of wood?

[Wook]

Well I'm slowly boring my way down through this piece of wood, but my goodness does my wrist hurt!

Hopefully it is a conditioning thing and I'll get stronger over time.....

 

[Harvestman]

If you have one, a pillar drill with a forstner bit is a useful cheat for removing the unwanted middle.

 

[Wook]

Meh, I could use the dremmel to hollow it out, but where would the fun be in that I want to do this by hand using primitive techniques if possible, so I'll stick with the spoon knife for now.

If I had the materials I'd consider making a bow drill with a gravel "lubricant". I know ancient people's used that technology for making holes in things.

I'm about halfway through making the bowl of the cup. Another inch or so to go. I seem to be progressing about 1/3rd to 1/2 an inch down into the bowl for every hour I spend carving. I'm going faster now that I figured out that the spoon knife works best when used like a draw knife with the blade underneath the fist rather than above. That's taking some of the strain off my wrist too.

I think this will take me a while, still I think one of the points to wood carving is it is meant to be something you take your time over.

There does seem to be a wee crack forming on one side I'm sorry to say, so unless I can find a way to seal that I guess this will be an ornamental cup when I'm done...

 

[Harvestman]

I know how you feel. I did a cup along the lines of yours with some green pine, which meant it was easy to hollow.

Hand made is so much more satisfying, but it never does any harm to know the short cuts if you need them.

 

[mountainm]

Try boiling it in saltwater until the bubbles stop to prevent the crack spreading.

 

[Wook]

Would this be before I continue carving out the bowl mountainm?

 

[mountainm]

Yup, the salt stabalises the wood as it dries. Your first few drinks will be salty.

After a couple of failed cracked spoons (cherry) i tried this and it worked.

 

[Wook]

OK thanks will give that a bash before I carve any more out.

Once I am finished carving the cup I was thinking about filling the crack with araldite and sanding it smooth.

From what I can tell araldite is non-toxic once it has dried.

 

[Baggy]

I was asked by the chap who told me, not to tell anyone. Trade secret n all that. No offence intended, but i said i wouldn't disclose it. I stick by my word as best i can. Nearly let it slip once, got a rollocking.

Fair enough

 

[nic.]

Fair enough

If you google it you will find lots of different recipes. I am sure some are more reliable than others. As mentioned before Its caused by fungi competing ( rotting) the wood. were different fungi meet they fight and the black lines are dead cells were they have fought or set up chemical baracades. Did this at college years back. All you need to do is make sure the wood is wet enough that fungi can grow in it and that it is exposed to different species of molds otherwise you will still get the black lines but there may not be such difference in colour. warmth will spead up the process. The fungi will follow the cells/ grain in the wood so it is fine to introduce it in one end and then they will work up through the wood to the other. less will come in laterally unless there is a wound or a knot in the bark. I remember we studied a log that had been left one end in the ground and one end exposed to the air. You could track air born spores/ spores going down until they met the soil born species coming up from the bottom.
I have just left some birch to spalt naturally; took about a year. Some species are definitely more likely to than others; beech and sycamore. If I was going to try I would chainsaw up a bit of spalted wood and rub that on the cut ends of a log to start it off; leave it in a wet sack or something like that. Could try different sawdust at different ends if you wanted to replicate the effect I saw.

 

[nic.]

I know you have seen these Mark, but looking at them again I found it quite interesting; the wood is from the same tree but different sections. The shaving shows early spalting, the fungi are moving freely through the wood you can see how it is so much easier for them to follow the grain. No competition yet so no black lines. Photo of a finished bowl shows black lines ; spalting is more advanced.