Monday 29 September 2014

Kuksa

So for my next item I decided to try and do a Kuksa - Scandinavian wooden drinking cup. 

I sourced a block of Lime wood from a local wood merchant, they have loads of pre cut rounds (for turning a bowl) in a huge range of woods.  I had heard Lime was easy to carve so for my first "bowl" I figured this was a good idea. This block was in an offcuts section - 3 of the sides are rough cut. 

Tools used - a #8 gouge and Mora 164. 

I took some time to measure and draw the outline on in as much detail so that I could get a good idea of what would go where.  Only. I realized I had left no room to actually carve the top end.  So I moved it down a bit - hence a "double" outline. 



With a couple of hours spare I set to work.  At first I couldnt make much ground on the bowl but then it went from chipping at the surface to carving nice crisp curls.
PROGRESS!

There is definately an organic feel to the stages of carving a bowl.  Once you get a decent depression in the middle and the sides are starting to become vertical the shavings come out in nice controlled curls. 



 But then you kind of hit a natural sticking point and you need to chip and gouge away at the "plug" at the bottom of the bowl - the only description I can think of is like chocolate that has solidified at the bottom of a bowl and you need to scrape and scour at it - but once its out the bowl is exposed..  This will make sense if you venture down this road. 

Below shows the knot and the "chocolate" at the bottom of the bowl. 



After just under an hour this is as far as Ive managed to get. 



To be continued:

26/01/2015 - kind of updating on the Kuksa... In short it came to an abrupt end due to realizing it was a dead end.  I will finish it and keep it as a coin/change cup.  The short of it is that I think I bought a block of Lime Wood thinking it was sound but it was probably a cut off.
There are long "dry" cracks running through out the length of it.
The second photo shows where it "enters" the bowl.  These arent stress cracks from waking it with a hammer whilst trying to remove the waste wood on the outside.



Im actually quite happy with the shape of it and all it needs now is finishing off - as it stands ( I dont have a photo of it in its retired condition).
I wouldve finished it if it wasnt for the cracks.
Subsequently I have been lucky enough to get some sections of a poplar tree that came down in a storm so when I run out of fresh wood Ill probably finish this.


Ill try to remember to take another photo of it as it is now - I have been really bad at forgetting to take photos of things as I start them.  It wouldve been handy for a scoop spatula I made and then wanted to replicate. Sometimes a mistake right at the beginning is impossible to rescue.  







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