Now I understand !

[dancan]

A lot of times there has been reference to better spoon knives than the Mora .
I've read these threads and happily made made my spoons with my Mora .
Not a lot of spoon knives here so most have to be ordered but I'm in luck to be close to a Lee Valley and I picked on of the Haida carving knives (C) that they sell made a rough handle and put it to work on my first Kuksa

Here's the Kuksa .

More refining to be done but it's well on the way .
Now I understand the difference in spoon knives and what the Mora vs Maker X is about and what the different knives can do , I can see this hobby getting a lot more expensive and to think , I was happy as a clam last week with owning just a Mora .

 

[bikebum1975]

Which one of them did you get? any pics of the knife? Though I'm leaning towards a custom forged model myself. The Moras aren't so bad just need a bit of honing to get them to perform. That said I still want a better one LOL nice work there

 

[Dreadhead]

nice kuksa

 

[Stew]

Nice work. They say a poor work man blames his tools but personally I think good tools are very important!!

 

[dancan]

Thanks for the kind words .

Which one of them did you get? any pics of the knife? Though I'm leaning towards a custom forged model myself. The Moras aren't so bad just need a bit of honing to get them to perform. That said I still want a better one LOL nice work there

I'll probably order one (or few) over time of the one's mentioned and recommended on this site now that I understand .
Lee Valley is the only store I can go to and point at something of this type , they hand it to me , I can feel and look at it then put my money on the counter and go home smiling all the way LOL . I got ''C'' . I'm going to get ''E'' next , it is called a hogging blade for heavier work . All I did for a handle was grab a piece of dry hardwood out of the pile , made a channel to fit the blade , drilled 2 holes and used 2 8/32nd bolts and nuts to hold in place , ugly but the blade is secure and I can change it any time I want .
It doesn't matter how sharp you get a Mora , you can't get the finish down to not having the rows of ridges , I've got the inside of the bowl down to the point where it needs next to no sanding but that being said , I could not make a coffee scoop with this blade so the Mora is better in that regard .
What I was getting at is that the blade shape and style do different things and I am amazed at difference , especially in the larger radius hollows .

Nice work. They say a poor work man blames his tools but personally I think good tools are very important!!

I think they were wrong , I think the blame lies on never having enough tools LOL .
Now I'm going to have to work on acquiring a collection of knives to go with my collection of knives

 

[calgarychef]

Dancan, that's a Canadian trait....going to the store, looking and handling the item then plunking down your cash. I hate buying stuff here in the UK because in most cases it's online or from a warehouse situation where you pay for it then if you dont like it you have to go to the returns desk and "return" it even though you haven't left the building with the item. Ahhhh the pleasures of living in the "colonies."

 

[Stew]

This is making me want to do some carving. Haven't done a piece in years. Should get hold of a decent crook knife.

 

[Mick w.]

A very good point that, about the lack of proper shops here in the UK! I dont know of any local to me here in KeighleyBradford area, or any that do carving stuff.
It was great to go to the Yorkshire show and actually talk to a very knowledgable guy on a trade stand - I ended up buying a little chopper, -which was nice...

 

[FGYT]

Dancan, that's a Canadian trait....going to the store, looking and handling the item then plunking down your cash. I hate buying stuff here in the UK because in most cases it's online or from a warehouse situation where you pay for it then if you dont like it you have to go to the returns desk and "return" it even though you haven't left the building with the item. Ahhhh the pleasures of living in the "colonies."

Well your welcome to walk in to my workshop but i cant guarantee Ive got every type in stock
http://www.dorsetwoodlandblades.co.uk/green-woodworking.htm

Haida crooked Blades are nice for carving but ones with bevels on the outside are better at hollowing and the big 2 handed ones can shift some wood

 

[Whittler Kev]

I'll add my tuppence worth. Even though I've made a few, I reckon FGYT has then down pat - Everyone that owns one of his, that I've spoke to, has said they're brill (It must be going to that professional spoon-maker and asking him after every little refinement if it works better ha ha)

 

[dancan]

Well your welcome to walk in to my workshop but i cant guarantee Ive got every type in stock
http://www.dorsetwoodlandblades.co.uk/green-woodworking.htm

Haida crooked Blades are nice for carving but ones with bevels on the outside are better at hollowing and the big 2 handed ones can shift some wood

A PM has been sent but not a word to the wife LOL

 

[Mick w.]

Is there a massive difference between a crook knife and one of the flexcut hook knives, in terms of doing the job? I want to have a go at a kuksa so the bowl obviously needs to be hollowed out a lot deeper than the odd spoons I have made so far. Can't afford a crook knife just yet though!

 

[dancan]

I've only made 1 kuksa so far so I'm no expert (in anything) but I think that if you used a chisel to hog out the bulk of waste wood the flexcut should do a fine job to finish the inside , I'd give it a go .

 

[Mick w.]

Cheers Dan, I think I'll have to! I'm going to try to do the whole bowl with the knife though, somehow it just feels more 'right' for me, to do it that way; so it's split my birch log, draw the outline, rough shape with an axe, carve with knife/spoon knife, boil in salt and then let it dry slowly, slowly in a paper bag with some shavings (?) before oiling up...
does that sound about right?

 

[dancan]

All I did was , split , flatten the top making sure I had no heartwood and square up the sides , draw 2 circles for the bowl (inside & outside) and a rough handle shape , chisel away some of the center and then closer to the bowl shape with the Haida knife , axe away the exterior and then took a knife to it when it got closer on the outside until I got it to the stage that I pictured above . After that I microwaved it on Hi for 2 or 3 40 second cycles to get the water out , after it cooled off I thinned the bowl out to about 8mm with my finger guage and I've given it 1 soaking in tung oil so far , I'll give it some beeswax later (I'll post a finished pic later).
The microwave thing may or may not work , I try and get my projects to the point where they just need to be finished and to the microwave they go and I take the gamble , so far the only spoon that split had the signs of a crack before it went for a cycle .
I'll say it again , the microwave may or may not work so don't do it unless you are ready to make another piece .