First bowl/cup/ I dunno

[Tracker0721]

Wanted to try the whole bowl/cup carving thing. Took a dremel and belt sander to a wrench and carved a handle for it. Tested it today on some birch and it worked great! Only issue was when the birch defrosted the rotten bits just crumbled away. It carved like soap when it was frozen.

[Tracker0721]

Big chunks in the shaving pile were the sides of the cup that literally crumbled off once thawed.

[stuckinthemud]

Maybe a bit late this time, but I stabilise spalted timber with cyano or watered-down PVA as I carve it - there is literally no wood in the rotten sections as the mould has 'eaten' it

[stuckinthemud]

Love the hook knife idea by the way, may have to steal that one day

[Tracker0721]

Yeah once I peeled the bark off I saw it was spalted. Only a couple feet up though and then it’s nice. I’m thinking I may cut some up into blanks for handles and try my hand at stabilizing them.

[Hawkdancer]

Moral:  keep the birch frozen?, !  Nice idea on the scraper, too!  I keep my fresh cut carving wood in the freezer wrapped Saran Wrap.  Just have to make time for carving amongst all the other things that are waiting to get done!
Hawkdancer

[bjrogg]

Like the knife idea tracker. Because birch bark is so waterproof the wood goes bad very fast if it isn’t split or bark removed. If won’t last long enough to make firewood without being split. Maybe you can get a better section yet, cut and stabilize it.

Bjrogg

[Tracker0721]

Yeah there’s birch all over here and in like 5 varieties and I never realized it. Hoping to find some nice patches of white birch. This chunk came from beside my dads creek when we went up for Super Bowl. Let my 6 year old help me chop it and he thought it was “so cooooool”

[Hawkdancer]

AHA!  A real axe man in the works!  He can also learn about bows, arrows, knives, guns, and drums here! .  Well, maybe not drums . Never worked birch, did do a flat spalted maple project last year.  Forgot to mention my carving wood in the freezer was cherry and peach, might make a difference in how the wood is affected.
Hawkdancer