Fresh Wood

Another period of wood-scarcity has come to an end. I have been given a nice lump of plum wood, and have also been promised a good portion of the trunk of the tree when it comes down one of these days. To me that means one thing: Plum wood kuksa`s with my new adze! Before the trunk is mine to pick up, I`m making eating spoons. The wood is really lovely to carve and to look at. Here are some images I took while carving a little crooked spoon yesterday.

The lovely colour of plum wood.

Rough shaping done

Bowl rougly hollowed, some cleaning up to do on the rest.

Getting there.

Time to go spoon something with it!

I hope I can find some more time this week and get back into a carving habit. I have not done it as much as I`d like in the last couple of weeks.

Easter break

This easter my girlfriend and me were at her parents` farm in Norway, where we had a lovely time away from all the studying that is going on for us in the Netherlands. The circumstances were perfect for an easter break. Lovely weather, 20 newborn lambs on the farm, great company in the form of friends and family, and of course time for me to carve some spoons. 

The girlfriend holding one of the lambs.

 I got to carve 2 spoons in the few hours I took. One large cooking spoon in birch, and a small eating spoon in rowan. Unfortunately my spoon knife was rather blunt and I didn`t bring my sharpening gear. The bowls are therefore still a bit rough. I`ll fix them after I sharpen.

On our way home again we had a few hours to kill in Bergen, where we took some time to stroll through the historical part of town called Bryggen. The wooden houses there are lovely, and it is fun to look at them from a woodworking perspective. Seeing the familiar marks of a side axe on a hewn beam that is 100+ years old is nice. It is also nice that they are restoring parts of the town using hand tools!

Back home I had a nice surprise waiting for me. I had recently ordered an adze from Michael Stibane in Germany. He was already very nice to sharpen and mod it for me, but when I found out that he had added a surprise spoon that he made to the package the smile on my face broadened wider. Such a nice guy! :-)

I am looking forward to trying out the adze. The bit is very narrow, and that would make it ideal for hewing out kuksas. Of course larger diameter wood isn`t to be found now that I want to carve it...

I finally waited long enough.

This weekend it was time. Seven months ago I started my first home brewing projects by making elderberry port and plum wine, and this weekend I finally tasted the fruits of my labours. Having gathered the family on saturday for the occasion of opening the first bottles, I`ll admit that I was a bit nervous. What if I made something absolutely horrible? Fortunately, that wasn`t the case. The plumwine was well received by all, and is quite a succes if I may say so myself. It is fruity and sweet, and the smell and taste of plum is very nice. Judged by the effect that a glass or two of this stuff had on everyone, this wine is quite strong. I am already planning to double next seasons production, and will have to learn about hydrometer readings and determining the alcohol content.

The  next day we popped open the elderberry port, and the first thing that struck us was the smell. It smelled sour in an unpleasant way, and the first sips were not very tasty at all. After I let it rest to reach roomtemperature and some vigourous swirling to get some air into it, it transformed completely. The flavour of elderberry, which was foreign to me, took a bit of getting used to but is quite pleasant. My dad and girlfriend had already declared their absolute hate for the substance after the first taste and aren`t about to change their mind. This gave my brother and me a bottle between us to enjoy. Not too bad at all. For the first ventures into brewing I am not unhappy at all!