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Kuksa
- Thread starter Woodlander
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Bad luck mate 
am not sure ,, boiling it would stop cracking.....am sure I seen it on YouTube? Doesn’t help now right enough. Failure is the road to success (a can feel your eyes rolling when reading this jon 
)
am not sure ,, boiling it would stop cracking.....am sure I seen it on YouTube? Doesn’t help now right enough. Failure is the road to success (a can feel your eyes rolling when reading this jon )
Joecole
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That's a real bummer after so much work Jon, just a thought but can you fill the splits with 2 part epoxy then clamp it up tight with something like a large cable tie? obviously you wont be able to use it as a cup but it would still be a lovely display piece
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My First kuksa split on me to.....boiling in salt water seems to be a done thing. Also a read steeping it in salt water for a few days then let it dry and wipe veg oil on it. Will be trying one of these myself soon .
fwiw i've got my first couple kuksas drying out in the shop and __didn't__ opt for the salt water boil technique. i'd heard that there were other, less "flavourful", methods.
in particular i found this:
long story short: wrap the kuksa (i'm assuming here you carved it from green wood as i did) tightly in clean paper of some sort, pack it in a cardboard box with lots more paper and set it aside in a cool dry place.
after a couple days unpack the whole thing, re-wrap the kuksa in "fresh" paper -- in other words not the exact same paper you had wrapped the kuksa in before -- and repeat the above. basically you are cycling the paper so you don't develop molds or suchlike.
i'm about a month into the process with my two kuksas -- now wrapping and re-packing once a week -- and so far so good. the paper appears to have slowed down the drying process enough that even though the wood has warped a bit here and there there are no cracks or splits.
one of the kuksas actually feels pretty dry to the touch at this point but i'll continue for another month just to be on the safe side.
i'm also using the same method to dry out a couple small burls i was able to acquire fresh off the tree. same results (so far).
in case anyone is interested i've discovered that a poor man's way of checking how well the drying is going is to weigh the kuksa -- or whatever wood thing you are drying -- each time you unpack it. when the weight doesn't change from one week to the next over the span of a few weeks you know you're getting pretty close to a dry kuksa (or whatever). i use the same trick for spoons and walking sticks. you do need a scale that can measure a few % change in weight reasonably accurately.
once the weight of your thing is stable and relatively unchanging you can start looking at the oil and sanding process.
next time i've got my kuksas out for some fresh air i'll take photos and post here.
in particular i found this:
long story short: wrap the kuksa (i'm assuming here you carved it from green wood as i did) tightly in clean paper of some sort, pack it in a cardboard box with lots more paper and set it aside in a cool dry place.
after a couple days unpack the whole thing, re-wrap the kuksa in "fresh" paper -- in other words not the exact same paper you had wrapped the kuksa in before -- and repeat the above. basically you are cycling the paper so you don't develop molds or suchlike.
i'm about a month into the process with my two kuksas -- now wrapping and re-packing once a week -- and so far so good. the paper appears to have slowed down the drying process enough that even though the wood has warped a bit here and there there are no cracks or splits.
one of the kuksas actually feels pretty dry to the touch at this point but i'll continue for another month just to be on the safe side.
i'm also using the same method to dry out a couple small burls i was able to acquire fresh off the tree. same results (so far).
in case anyone is interested i've discovered that a poor man's way of checking how well the drying is going is to weigh the kuksa -- or whatever wood thing you are drying -- each time you unpack it. when the weight doesn't change from one week to the next over the span of a few weeks you know you're getting pretty close to a dry kuksa (or whatever). i use the same trick for spoons and walking sticks. you do need a scale that can measure a few % change in weight reasonably accurately.
once the weight of your thing is stable and relatively unchanging you can start looking at the oil and sanding process.
next time i've got my kuksas out for some fresh air i'll take photos and post here.
1 shot willie
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Woodlander
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Woodlander
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Not eyes not rolling, there's truth in your words young padawanBad luck mate
beautiful work! lovely choice of wood. looks like you used birch burl, yes?
also, nice touch with the darker wood for contrast. was that for aesthetics alone or an inspired necessity to thicken up the handle?
Woodlander
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I honestly don't know what wood it is, it was a washed up log off the beach. It was to thicken the handle, that bit I know is oak☺
those kuksas-in-progress that i mentioned above, using the "paper drying" method:
the pale one at the top was carved from green Beech root. unfortunately it has that streak of bark inclusion which i haven't figured out how to deal with yet.
the one at the bottom was carved from an Ash (?) burl. those aren't cracks on the rim, just a bit of rough from the unfinished carving process.
as previously described i'm drying these by wrapping them in clean packing paper stuffed in a cardboard box with loads more paper for absorbancy. the idea is that they'll dry slowly and evenly and thereby avoid cracking. the Beech root one is almost dry. so far so good.
the pale one at the top was carved from green Beech root. unfortunately it has that streak of bark inclusion which i haven't figured out how to deal with yet.
the one at the bottom was carved from an Ash (?) burl. those aren't cracks on the rim, just a bit of rough from the unfinished carving process.
as previously described i'm drying these by wrapping them in clean packing paper stuffed in a cardboard box with loads more paper for absorbancy. the idea is that they'll dry slowly and evenly and thereby avoid cracking. the Beech root one is almost dry. so far so good.
Joecole
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it does indeed and i too like the look of it. unfortunately it isn't solid and has shrank a lot more than the surrounding wood. it's now fragmented and loose at the bowl lip and edge. i had thought of stabilizing it with epoxy but that's not exactly food safe so ... not sure what to do.
the kuksa itself is very pleasant to look at and hold, i quite like it. that's why i decided to proceed with the drying, hoping that i'd find a solution to the bark problem.
1 shot willie
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Hi Teef.
You could try carefully brushing in some thinned down PVA so it soaks into and through the bark strip to stabilise and secure it.
when the first coat is dry.....add a further thicker but still thinned coat?
You could try carefully brushing in some thinned down PVA so it soaks into and through the bark strip to stabilise and secure it.
when the first coat is dry.....add a further thicker but still thinned coat?
Joecole
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OK mate just scrape it out nice and clean and use a dark oak or similar wood filler then sand id back.Most of the fillers should be food safe
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Found mine in the shed. Not the best but fun to make
