Wooden Cup

[Earlyturtle]

A friend of mine had to have her beech tree cut down a few months ago and I've been making a few things out of it (to date, an ashtray, three paperclip holders/paperweights/saltmills, a tealight holder and a soap dish). Most are gifts for friends but I'm in the final stages of finishing my wooden drinking cup.
Here are some pics:

Fairly straightforward, cut a section out of the (increasingly less) gigantic branch in my shed and dig it out with my Mora spoon knife.
As you can see it's not quite perfect but if it works ok there'll be tears of joy in my eye
Just a quick few questions for the old ranch hands, what do you make of tung oil? I've just applied some to this cup, second time I've used it on anything. How long does it take to dry in your experience?
Thanks,
Mike

 

[loz.]

Hi,

Nice work,

Did that take you long - You seem to be cutting across the grain with that section of trunk.

Loz

 

[JohnC]

IIRC tung oil takes a few days to dry completly, I believe you apply, leave for an hour then wipe off excess, allow to soak in overnight then reapply again as before.

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

Looks brilliant! Tung oils good because it xan be used for culinary products and does not discoulour the wood much. However it does take a while to dry but this will be improved by buffing with a fine cloth and a rub over with some fine wire wool.

 

[SOAR]

I really like it, got a very rustic look, I have been contemplating making one myself for a while, my idea was a simple one using one of the branches as a handle.

Simon.

 

[Earlyturtle]

Loz, it took about 45 minutes with the spoon knife.
Thanks for the replies everyone,I have to keep stopping myself from trying to use it at the moment whilst the oil dries.
Mike

 

[mr dazzler]

Nice job, quite daunting hollowing a deep and straight sided form. Which hook did you use? I just decided to try a mora hook again (despite my earlier disgruntled comment's hundred's of user's cant be all wrong ) and instead got the double edged one that is about a half inch wide all along not going to a thin taper like the first one which broke in no time. I used off cut's of chair spibdle with rouge to strop the edge, less than a minutes work and it was cutting SWEETLY even in dry beech and dry birch, even more so in green hazel I made a few more spoons/ladle's, I have an idea to do a ladle/kuksa type thing with a birch bowl and a short stubby burr elm handle (kuppsa??). I absolutely love carving spoons. Your lucky to get some beech, its not that common round here. Very nice to carve though even dry, even grain, stable, velvety polished finish just off a sharp blade.

 

[Earlyturtle]

Hey Mr Dazzler, I used a single sided mora hook (possibly the same one that broke on you). What did yours break on? I didn't want to get a double sided one as I sometimes reinforce mine with my thumb on the back. I'm definitely going to miss my beech wood when it's gone, not too much left now.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[mr dazzler]

the tip broke off because I removed it with pliars, then the rest snapped to my great surprise when I was attempting (probably clumsily ) to rehandle it with a longer handle. But I did think the steel was brittle and not springy or twangy enough. I do like the wider one, it is cutting really very well, it even takes off micro planings just as thin as rizla's BUT it still feels "flimsy" or "chattery" in use. Are these hook's only designred for use on wet green wood? I like the idea of a much sturdeir one made from an old file with a long wooden handle, a few in fact with various sweeped curves. Just as a matter of interest, how do you scoop out your spoon bowl's? I started by doing cuts across the grain of the wood holding the hook like a potato peeler, cutting alternately left to right then right to left, to establish the basic shape of the hollow. Then after a while, held the hook in a "stabbing" type of grip, and rocked it around the base of the hollow while rotating the wood at the same time, so it goes from centre bottom of hollow to rim in one smooth chatter free motion, again working alternately left and right handed. I used a simple straight edge to see how symmetric it was from the shadow under the light, and used finger touch to find high spot's.

 

[mr dazzler]

the tip broke off because I removed it with pliars, then the rest snapped to my great surprise when I was attempting (probably clumsily ) to rehandle it with a longer handle. But I did think the steel was brittle and not springy or twangy enough. I do like the wider one, it is cutting really very well, it even takes off micro planings just as thin as rizla's BUT it still feels "flimsy" or "chattery" in use. Are these hook's only designred for use on wet green wood? I like the idea of a much sturdeir one made from an old file with a long wooden handle, a few in fact with various sweeped curves. Just as a matter of interest, how do you scoop out your spoon bowl's? I started by doing cuts across the grain of the wood holding the hook like a potato peeler, cutting alternately left to right then right to left, to establish the basic shape of the hollow. Then after a while, held the hook in a "stabbing" type of grip, and rocked it around the base of the hollow while rotating the wood at the same time, so it goes from centre bottom of hollow to rim in one smooth chatter free motion, again working alternately left and right handed. I used a simple straight edge to see how symmetric it was from the shadow under the light, and used finger touch to find high spot's.