Burl wood often has interesting grain patterns. If you happen to find a suitable-sized burl somewhere, it's worth the effort to carve something from it.
This horbeam burl was quite big, so I had to saw some parts off. This is my improvised forest-style holdfast.
A cup is basically just empty space wrapped in wood, so I was in for lots of hollowing :) The best method was to drill a few holes and remove the leftover wood with a gouge. The holes shouldn't be too deep, it's better to drill gradually because:
- the drill can easily divert slightly to the side but it won't cause much damage if the hole is shallow
- the drill can be completely stuck in a deep hole if the wood is hard enough
I hollowed the inside with this bent gouge and then I smoothed the bottom with a spoon knife. The pencil arrows show areas with interlocked grain where I had to cut very carefully to avoid tearout.
I left the handle thick and coarse for a long time because I often cut into it accidentally while carving the outer walls. I only drilled a small provisional hole there so that the cup would be easier to hold. The picture below shows the handle after it was carved partially. It also shows how I began to smooth the outer walls with a spokeshave. The left side is shaved while the right side is roughly carved with a knife.
And this is my spokeshave. It can efficiently smooth flat or convex surfaces just like the outer walls of the cup. I also have a miniature spokeshave. I thought it would be good for spoons but it turned out that spoons don't really have so many convex surfaces. So the miniature spokeshave have been waiting for its great moment until now: the normal-sized spokeshave could not cut very well around the handle of the cup but the miniature one did the job just fine.
Here is the cup with finished outer walls and handle. And below are some more pictures of the cup sanded and polished.
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