Which central european wood for carving a kuksa?

[green elk]

Hey guys,
since i dont like the wide yearrings of birches in central Europe and dont want to wait until my birch burl is completly dry, i was wondering which common wood from central Europe would be best for carving a kuksa. Any recommendations?
Thanks a lot,

karlson

 

[Scoffham]

hey there, I'm not sure which woods are common to central Europe, and I've tried to do a bit of research which came up with very little. If you could mention some wood common to your area, I'm sure people could give you a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Some wood which I have made kuskas out of include, Cherry, Alder and Willow.

S

 

[Snufkin]

Try sycamore if it's local to you. It was commonly used for bowls and utensils because it has no taste to speak of and isn't prone to splitting. It doesn't have a great deal of character but does darken with age nicely.

 

[brancho]

Birch is good. Sycamore will be OK when green but dint let dry out as it gets very hard.

 

[green elk]

Thanks for your advices! Basically i can get a lot of different woods (alder, birch, beech, poplar, oaks, ash, hornbeam, spruce, fir, pine, duglas fir, ...) but as always, the more 'exotic' the harder to get. For me it would be best to use one of the common forestry species since i know many foresters. If i'd go for more special wood i could just as good buy some curly birch...
So far i just tried the exclusion principle:
- no softwoods because of the resins
- no hornbeam -> prone to spliting
- no beech, although commonly used as kitchen spoon, but ugly surface

Some wood which I have made kuskas out of include, Cherry, Alder and Willow.

How well did those woods do? Are Alder and willow tough enough for regular use?
What is with oaks, besides being tough to carve what is with tannins?

The features im looking for are that it is suitable for food, is nonporous, has a fine surface, it shouldn't split too easy and is not too fragile for permanent use. Hm, birch still seems to be a good choice...

 

[Sean Hellman]

Have you thought of apple or pear, these are beautiful woods and are hard when dry.

Work the wood when green, and carve out the inside in one go if you can, put in a plastic bag in the fridge to keep the wood from drying out if you carve it out over days. Keep the walls thin as they are less likely to crack or split.
The top lip on my kuksa above are about 5mm thick, slowly getting thicker nearer the bottom of the vessel which must be about 10mm.

To stop the wood from cracking leave to dry in a cool place without to much airflow. If you leave it outside in the shade on a hot day it could well split. I left mine on the dinning room table in the winter to dry, the house was well heated and 2 splits opened up on the side in the end grain. They do not go all the way through the wood, but are very visible on hot days when the wood dries out that bit more. I melted in a huge amount of beeswax into the wood to waterproof it, as all liquids seeped through the wood. The splits are no longer a problem now and no cold liquids can now seep through, I have not used it for hot drinks yet.

Oak is a ring porous wood and has large vessels laid down in the spring, so is more likely to seep liquids. Alder and willow would be great and do last well, they are soft and easy to carve, and so good for getting your carving techniques sorted, if you want hard go for the fruit woods,

 

[brancho]

Here is a Birch Kuksa

and another

and heres on in willow

Birch is probably the easiest way to go but sycamore may be more hardwearing as it was the wood of choice for spoons etc years ago (I believe)

 

[Peter_t]

how about elm? nice grain imo

pete

 

[badgeringtim]

Hey all - just the thread for me at the moment as ive been playing at making one of these, i now see that the bowl is to small really :-(
It still managed to split a little in the handle end - its got a little flat lip not a finger hole handle so didnt think it would have done so its an even littler handle now!

As for drying - bag in the fridge - for how long? Im assuming fridge for a few days to keep it supple while worked, but then where should it go - Im in a flat which does get rather toasty so am just keeping a few bits in bags and hoping...

I was wondering if UK birch is really strong enough - the stuff in Norway i know is much denser and maybe better suited?

Another thing is that i have seen the grain going in all sorts of directions is there a right way, or a strongest way or even a way that is least prone to crack?

And finally ;-)

what have peoplen been carving with - ive been using a mora and hook chistle - not a knife (mainly 'cos i cant sharpen it very well)

So thanks in advance all!

 

[Rosco]

Any fruit wood. I've just made a nice one out of Field Maple.
Thorns will last forever but are very hard work to carve, especially Haw.
Why are you waiting for your Birch to be completely dry? It will dry a whole lot quicker if you start to hollow it out and will be a lot easier to carve (semi)-wet.
Cheers John

 

[brancho]

Any fruit wood. I've just made a nice one out of Field Maple.
Thorns will last forever but are very hard work to carve, especially Haw.
Why are you waiting for your Birch to be completely dry? It will dry a whole lot quicker if you start to hollow it out and will be a lot easier to carve (semi)-wet.
Cheers John

Hawthorn is quite nice to work when green and I would advise keeing it green until its carved then dry in a bag of shavings.

 

[green elk]

Hey,
recently i tried some ash and stopped during the process - definitely not recomendable for Kuksas. :/ I guess i'll go for birch next time...