Coffee stained Kuksa...Finished....

Some photographs of the Kuksa I was staining a few days ago...

 

Here it is in the staining process...

This may well end up as a gift...

Wont be long before the apple harvest...

 Enjoy...J

Measuring spoon...

A newly oiled Laburnum coffee measuring spoon...

I cant get over the way the oil brings out the beautiful colours...

Enjoy...J

The good. The bad. And the ugly...

I've been quite busy this week. I've spent some time trying out new designs for Kuksa and making more coffee spoons. I'm going to be brave and let you have a look at a couple of disasters...

The good. The bad. And the ugly...

The Kuksa in the foreground is my usual shape, and perhaps the Kuksa top left may have some mileage in it's design, although sadly I included some shake, or cracking, when I cut the billet, so no points there. And the top right is utterly hopeless as it neither looks attractive nor stands up...

It's fair to say that the two pieces at the rear took up a lot of time and effort for nought, but I have learned that it is worth taking the time to experiment, and have fun with this art of ours. I had a good chat with a neighbour of mine today, and one thing that was said that always remains lodged in the memory box is...
'A man who never made a mistake, never made anything'...

Here is a photograph of a new Kuksa being soaked in coffee...

I will leave it to soak overnight and then let the Kuksa dry out completely, before giving it a light sanding and then a good oiling...

Eventually it will look like this...

I should have a little more time this week for a longer blog. All the best for now...J

Enjoy...

Kuksa...

This week I have been carving with the new MaChris No1.

I started with a couple of spoons and found the new knife to be just what I expected.

It's waste removal capabilities are second to none.

Armed with this knowledge I decided to make one of my trademark Kuksa...

 Cutting and shaping the end grain is quite hard work and usually takes a long time.

I was impressed from the start as the knife easily dealt with this job...

I also tried a little chip carving around the handle to try out the super fine working tip, and I must say it was a dream to use.

I knife finished this Kuksa leaving it with a beautiful multi faceted finish, dipped in Italian coffee the Kuksa took on a splendid dark tan. I applied two coats of pure Tung oil and followed this up with a light coating of wax. As you can see the Kuksa now has a beautiful lustre...

The apple crop is coming along nicely too...

Coming soon...

The MaChris bushcraft knife...

ENJOY...J