Making a drinking cup from a burl, Noggin

In England these type of cups are know as a Noggin.

Heres how i made mine.

First you will have to find a tree with a burl on it, the beauty of using a burl is it is near enough shaped for you already

I cut the burl from the tree using a folding saw.




I trimmed off the outer bark using my knife and tided up the edges.








Then i used a crooked knife to hollow out the inside of the noggin.




I soaked it in oil.


Very simple and strait forward to make,you can also use burl to make bowls.

added some cord i made from nettles.






Varnished the outside.

 

Re: Making a drinking cup from a burl,Noggin.

Cool, you mean there is a use for burl wood other than in woodworking? LOL

 

This is a brilliant job.
Plenty of work involved with gouging out the centre.
Love the colours.

 

Love that work... I really like the woodwork ...
Ever work with yew?.... beautiful stuff with a nice history and lore to it....

 

The burl will dictate the way its going to be carved for sure, could end up with any number of interesting designs.

 

Ive not carved yew but have put handles on knives with it.

 

Yep that correct,i had no say in the outside shape of the noggin.

 

If anyone is considering a wooden drinking cup from a particular wood, it would be best to check first that it isn't toxic.
FYI Yew is very toxic.

Here's a list of wood with toxicity. Note this list seems more about the dust than food use, but it's a guide. Some woods are very nasty. Of course, woods that have been traditionally used for spoons, noggins, kuksas etc. should be fine. The real danger lies with woods that weren't traditional, there may be a reason for that.
Stay safe!

Wood Toxicity Information from WoodWorkersSource.com

 

I just grow gourds. Easy as pie.
The Gourd as a container

Non toxic, traditional, and entirely renewable.

 

a stone or sand work wonders to smooth and polish the wood before adding a finish
you can also grind out your hollow with a rounded stone

 

Has anyone tried putting a ember in the middle to help with removing the heart of the bowl? It seems like that would take a lot less time but you would have to becareful not burn all the way through.

Butch

 

Yes I have tried it and I can tell you it took far more time than carving it out.

 

That's awesome, I need to try that... What kind of knife you using there? Looks like a Condor Bushlore thats been re ground.

 

Thanks.
The knife is a home made custom knife that I made from O1 tool steel and walnut scales with brass pins.