As detailed in this kuksa blog I had the good fortune to see some spalted birch in a bag of firewood in my local Waitrose and once I'd finished my Kuksa I had to decide what to make out of the remaining wood.
The kuksa was the first thing I wanted to attempt and the blog details the difficulties this kiln dried wood can present.
I had a small and knobbly but highly patterned piece that was waste from the kuksa. I was due to drop my eldest son off in Manchester to start his university adventure and I had a last minute light bulb moment. I would cut the piece in half, put in a marathon sanding session to both flatten and level the pieces and then carve two hearts, the idea being that my son had one to hang up as did we as a reminder that we were thinking about him whilst away.
Whilst I would have liked just a little longer to refine the shape I was happy to have got them ready in time. I also made and posted one of two key rings from the remaining heart waste.
Next up was a slightly a long thin length that had a slight twist to it. I decided to attempt a net needle which I started off at home and finished on a recent overnighter.
I was quite chuffed that I'd got my eye in to avoid the slight twist but the finished needle still had a very slight bend in it. The bend was minimal and wouldn't have stopped it functioning but I wanted to try and remove it and steam was to be the answer.
I have made myself a wood steamer but it seemed overkill for something a few inches long so I tied the needle between two off cuts and put it through a hot dishwasher cycle which did the job. I finished all the pieces with walnut oil except this one which I tried linseed oil on.
When I started the kuksa I also did a little work on a spoon too, it was now time to finish this off. Six done and onto the next...
The shape of the off cut rather dictated the spoon orientation, the patterning was slightly better on the underside but I was still pleased with the outcome. As detailed in the kuksa blog I was a bit concerned about overworking it and bits falling off so I left the neck of the spoon a little thicker than I'd like but I'm still happy with it.
And onto the final off cut which was arguably the runtiest of the lot. I'd envisaged making a basic camp butter knife but the dark area on in the above picture was a natural depression so I changed tack and decided to utilise this as a bowl on a second spoon. Like the other spoon I had a preference for the underside spalting but of course the depression dictated the orientation.
I got pretty much all the shaping done and then started making the bowl with a crook spoon and it went from fairly plain to the gorgeous oval shaped markings that thankfully didn't disappear as I finished up.
Now my patience with woodworking isn't usually that good, along the lines of if a spoon isn't finished in fifteen minutes it will get the 'Bored now' treatment. As this was desired spalted wood I felt the urge to stick with the various projects to completion.
Should you wish to see a couple of guys making exceptional items I'd suggest visiting Jon Mac's blog and the primitive point blog
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