Kuksas

Last week I finished another wooden cup. The design might classify as a noggin more than a kuksa. My largest one yet. It is carved from sycamore and left at a tooled finish. Here are some pictures of the thing:

In progress. Up to this point most was done with the hatchet and the spoon knife.

Nearly done. In the picture are all the tools I used in the making. 

Done!

Swiss army knife for scale.

Hollowing this one out was a pain with just a spoon knife. It cost my a lot of time and both of my hands, but the result pleases me. I haven`t applied any finish to it just yet, but I think I know what I`ll do to seal it. I have experimented with using milk to seal a kuksa. I had a kuksa from hawthorn, but since it is a ring-porous wood the coffee seeped out through the grain. It seemed that all the walnut oil in the world could not seal the grain. I was adviced a myriad of solutions on the spooncarving facebook group where there are many experienced wise and friendly folk gathered. One of the solutions was sealing with boiling milk. The casein in the milk will seal the grain. I don't know exactly how it works but i do have a theory. Casein is a largely hydrophobic protein that is rich in proline-residues. When milk is boiled these proteins denature and can form aggregates that serve as a barrier between the wood and the outside world. I think that some proteins of the casein family can even form micels. This property could allow the formation of bilayer barriers that are rather stable. It does not really matter exactly what happens though. Bottom line is that the casein in the milk seals the grain from the outside world. The excess milk is poured away and wiped off thoroughly, removing the milk as a substrate for bacteria and preventing the kuksa to become bacteria-infested. So I went ahead and boiled said kuksa in milk:

It is important to not immediatly wash the kuksa when it is out of the milk. Wipe it down and rub it with a cloth instead. This leaves a lovey shiney finish and the cup is sealed. I have heard that this finish withstands washing in soapy water once it has had time to set. I gave it a few hours and then tested the cup with hot coffee. I`m happy to report it worked a charm. Next time I`ll finish a cup this way I`ll do it differently though. Then I`ll just pour boiling milk in the cup to the rim and leave that for a few hours. That is an easier approach that must work just as well if not better.

For the rest I am very happy that my copy of the book "Swedish Carving Techniques" arrived last week. It is indeed a wonderful book and I understand what all the fuss is about. A lot of knowledge and inspiration is gathered in these pages.