I was thinking for a long time what to give to my Viking friend for birthday when a kuksa came to my mind.
I bought some fire wood and draw an upper and side view.
Making the inner shape with a U-chisel was quite a pleasant work - the chisel is not from a regular shop and it is wide enough to make the work quite fast.
When I had the shape, it seemed too small for a cup to me, so I widened the inner circle and restarted again.
Lovely!
I spent a lot of time suffering with a hand saw to make these three cuts :-D
And the same applies for my little axe to get the rough shape.
The final shape was done with a big straight chisel. There is always a "pig nose" left at the front where the threads are perpendicular. When I was trying to cut it away, the kuksa cracked at several spots. I should have been more patiend and/or use a saw insead of chisel. The hands are not as gentle as they should be after a few hours with chisel and hard wood...
A new try...
After a few more tries (OMG).
Very hard beech wood.
I bought a rasp disc for my angle grinder and put it to a stand. This was like a dream compared to working with an axe!
I also used a japanese saw instead a regular one. I don't know why I have so much trouble with other saws getting stuck in the wood, this one fits me and I don't have a problem with it.
I cut it off and carefully did as much with the grinder as possible.
I put a driller in a stand the wrong way :-) and put in a rasp bit to make the shape of the ear.
The eye was drilled out starting with small holes.
After the shaping was done, I took out the sharp edges which gave it a nice finishing touch
Vikings decorated almost everything, so I cut a knotwork at the top with a carving knife. First I cut out the drawn shape and it seemed quite nice but beginner-like. With taking away sharp edges, it started to look proper.
Finished kuksa.
The ear is surprisingly comfortable.
