Obviously there are two approaches: hand carved and lathe turned. Anyone doing the former? What kind of wood? Green or seasoned? Finish with mineral oil, even for use with hot as well as cold liquids?
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Making wooden cups
- Thread starter BillinOregon
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streetsniper
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I remember reading about noggins in an old book about woodlore. You would take a tree burl and carve it out with a crooked knife. You'd leave a small tab handle to run a leather thong so you could tie it to your belt. Many were very ornate.
kansas_volunteer
45 Cal.
Here is one kind of wooden drinking cup:
http://finnish-puukko.blogspot.com/2007/02/kuksa-ancient-lapland-drinking-cup.html
http://www.bushcraft.ridgeonnet.com/Kuksa tutorial.htm
http://finnish-puukko.blogspot.com/2007/02/kuksa-ancient-lapland-drinking-cup.html
http://www.bushcraft.ridgeonnet.com/Kuksa tutorial.htm
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Bob Miller
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I have carved a number of noggans from cherry, using a couple of gouges and a mallet. Mine are finished with walnut oil. I prefer it to mineral oil. Walnut oil is obviously "safe" for food, and also will harden with time . It soaks in well, and a couple of applications is usually enough. I hang them in the shop by the window. The sunlight may help the oil harden...I'm not certain. Works for me.
Muskeg Stomper
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I've made a few noggins out of burls from birch trees. I let the burls dry thoroughly first so I don't get any splitting. I leave some of the main trunk wood on the top to carve a handle. I usually mark the depth I want on the shaft of a forstner bit and create a cavity by drilling out as much as I can. Then I carve out the rest with a crooked knife or modern equivilent. Of late, I've tried hardening with a heat gun with mixed results. Seems like whenever I try to fire or heat harden, the burls are more prone to splitting. After sanding, I final finish by soaking in mineral oil. Hand carved noggins go real fast as prize selections or during blanket trades.
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Or, lay a hardwood coal at the center of your burl & start breathing on it. Also hardens it.
Muskeg Stomper
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By drilling out as much stock as possible first before switching over to a crooked knife, not long at all. Just be carefull that you don't try drilling out too close to the edge. If you do get too close to the edge, at best you'll have to make the sides awfully thin to get rid of all the drill marks. At worst, you'll go right through the side and ruin the noggin. I've found that I can carve one out in about an hour or so. It's all the sanding that follows that takes a lot of time.
deanscamaro
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I would just add a caution about a nut or tree nut oil, such as walnut oil. I have a daughter who is allergic to nuts (have not yet explored which ones, totally) and she goes into anaphylactic shock and needs a shot to get her out of it from contact with them. She has picked it up from something that does not have the nut in it, but something that was just processed in equipment that previously processed nuts. If you were just doing something for yourself and are not allergic to anything, no problem. Just a caution.
One of the traditional methods to hollow out a cup/noggin is that burning method. You pick a coal out of your campfire, place it in the area you want to burn out, and then use a little tube to blow extra air onto it. This then spreads to the other wood and starts burning it out also. If you scrape the charred wood out every now and then it helps spead up the burning out process. This also dries out and hardens the wood cup/bowl/noggin. It actually goes pretty fast. And it's the same method used to hollow out a dugout canoe.
Many European style wood mugs where made up like small wood barrels. Individual "stave" were made and then held together with wood bands outside. One "stave" was often made up in the shape of a handle. It was fairly narrow, but you then had a handle banded it with the rest of the mug.
A Scandinavian method was to cut a section of a 3 to 5 inch diameter birch sapling or branch. Then they drilled it out leaving an inch for the bottom and 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick outside walls. And they would usually leave the bark on the outside. Sanded and coated with veg oil (or a coating of epoxy) it makes a pretty nice cup. But you do have to have that huge drillbit to start it.
Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - that muddied/pruned grumpy ol' blacksmith out in the new "lakes district" of the Hinterlands
Many European style wood mugs where made up like small wood barrels. Individual "stave" were made and then held together with wood bands outside. One "stave" was often made up in the shape of a handle. It was fairly narrow, but you then had a handle banded it with the rest of the mug.
A Scandinavian method was to cut a section of a 3 to 5 inch diameter birch sapling or branch. Then they drilled it out leaving an inch for the bottom and 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick outside walls. And they would usually leave the bark on the outside. Sanded and coated with veg oil (or a coating of epoxy) it makes a pretty nice cup. But you do have to have that huge drillbit to start it.
Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - that muddied/pruned grumpy ol' blacksmith out in the new "lakes district" of the Hinterlands
