Thread: Carving

I have had carving on my mind lately and here is my project for today. It is a kuska. Traditionally they are made from Birch but I had easier access to Poplar. They sort of look similar! Not finished yet but I have about 5 hours into it and from what I read I should put it in a paper bag to let it dry and it might crack. I am not ready to put any more work into it and have it crack! Not perfect but if I was perfect I wouldn't be posting this here.



Anyone else have a carving project?

Considering the day I'm carving a small Chicken basted with soy sauce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper, basil, thyme and broiled to crispy goodness.

I'd be a mass of bandaids and bandages if I tried carving wood.

Do you use a pocket knife?
How do you carve out the cup hole?

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Do you use a pocket knife?
How do you carve out the cup hole?

I took a picture of my tools used and left the memory out of the camera. But life goes on and I am to lazy to do it again.

First I used my truck to drive to the tree and my brothers chainsaw to cut a hunk of wood.

A splitting maul to split the chink of firewood then I used the hatchet in the first picture along with a hammer to split the wood to a slit made by a handsaw. And to rough it out as shown in the first picture.

For the outside I used 2 different knifes. A fixed blade and my pocket knife.

For the inside I used a couple of different gouges. A regular wider gouge for about 1.25 inches down and then a spoon gouge for the lower parts. The spoon gouge has a sharper angle at the end that changes the angle of use and allows the deeper work. The wider gouge made the groove for my thumb in the top of the handle.

Then a drill and bit to put the hole in the handle. [That split out a chunk of wood and that is why the handle angles at the top end.]

I almost forgot the vice to hold things while cutting.....

Holy Cow, once I start thinking about it I used many tools.

this is my carving project it is end of a Camphor laurel log that was burnt when I looked at it I saw a face in a helmet
so have carved it out as a skull in a helmet the eye broke out so will be no more still working on the head injury & head dress was thinking something like a horse shape with emu feathers or something flowing behind it

great wood smells awesome like moth balls & have used the shaving as moth balls also
and as a bonus when you breath in to much sanding dust etc it WILL make your nose bleed
learnt this turning it many years ago, this is why I always were a mask of some sort when working with woods.

Originally Posted by 32t

I have had carving on my mind lately and here is my project for today. It is a kuska. Traditionally they are made from Birch but I had easier access to Poplar. They sort of look similar! Not finished yet but I have about 5 hours into it and from what I read I should put it in a paper bag to let it dry and it might crack. I am not ready to put any more work into it and have it crack! Not perfect but if I was perfect I wouldn't be posting this here.

That is very nice.
Kuksas are very popular here. Traditionally it's made of birch burl or goat willow root piece (Salix Caprea), nowadays almost any wood suitable enough will do. Mine is made of apple tree root. The ones made in sami areas have usually reindeer bone inserts with traditional ornament patterns.

Here it's made either by carving with traditional or special carving knife (question mark shaped), burning with a coal, or ripping (in case of a burl) piece by piece (this case it makes the most durable). The ones they sell to tourists are industrial made these days. However, there is no one and only genuine way to make it. Any will do if you are happy with the results.

At first you should let the material soak in warm or cold salt water for at least 24 hrs. Add salt just enough to make potato float. This will prevent it from cracking later. The taste of the salt will fade away in time.
Once you are ready with the final shape, wipe it with round shaped wood. The will seal it. Some use oil as a finisher, but most baptise it with vodka, noble spirit hard wine (local speciality) or brandy/cognac.
Fill kuksa with the spirit of your choice. Once it absorbs, fill it again. Repeat until the drink doesn't absorb no more. Drink the rest.
However, some use just pure strong black coffee to baptise it without rituals mentioned above.

Never drink milk from your kuksa. Never wash it, just flush it in the water and leave as is.

I took it out of the paper bag to look at it and found a couple of small cracks forming already. Darn it!!!

After reading Sailors post I floated a potato in saltwater and sunk the Kuska with a rock that I brought home from Wyoming on vacation last fall. My wife wonders why I collect things.

Hope this works.

Originally Posted by Sailor

That is very nice.
Kuksas are very popular here. Traditionally it's made of birch burl or goat willow root piece (Salix Caprea), nowadays almost any wood suitable enough will do. Mine is made of apple tree root. The ones made in sami areas have usually reindeer bone inserts with traditional ornament patterns.

Here it's made either by carving with traditional or special carving knife (question mark shaped), burning with a coal, or ripping (in case of a burl) piece by piece (this case it makes the most durable). The ones they sell to tourists are industrial made these days. However, there is no one and only genuine way to make it. Any will do if you are happy with the results.

At first you should let the material soak in warm or cold salt water for at least 24 hrs. Add salt just enough to make potato float. This will prevent it from cracking later. The taste of the salt will fade away in time.
Once you are ready with the final shape, wipe it with round shaped wood. The will seal it. Some use oil as a finisher, but most baptise it with vodka, noble spirit hard wine (local speciality) or brandy/cognac.
Fill kuksa with the spirit of your choice. Once it absorbs, fill it again. Repeat until the drink doesn't absorb no more. Drink the rest.
However, some use just pure strong black coffee to baptise it without rituals mentioned above.

Never drink milk from your kuksa. Never wash it, just flush it in the water and leave as is.

mora of Sweden makes a nice hook knife of the question mark shape.i have one and love it.cheers.

The Kuksa is still soaking in salt water and I wanted to carve something today. Here is a spoon I am working on. Nice weather to work outside. From dry wood and still needs sanding. I started with a slightly different shape but went with the grain.

After soaking the Kuksa for about 3 days I took it out and am going to see if I can dry it slowly. No cracking yet! [Fingers crossed!]