How Not to Coal-Burn a Wooden Container
Page 1
|
| Usually I tend to charge ahead with projects, abandoning
fore-thought, not really planning the route by which I will reach the
finished tool, artwork, or even written article. Although I always learn
something, sometimes I really end up with nothing useable. Take
coal-burning, for example. In my haste to play with fire, I neglected to
thoroughly research the subject. So I hope you learn from my mistakes. I
hope I have learned from my mistakes...
Ah, fire...a good place to begin. One of mankind’s oldest and most
versatile tools. In order to coal-burn yourself a container, you
need coals. What better place to build coals than right where you
need them. Make sure you start out with a dry block of wood. Wet or
unseasoned wooden blanks will shrink and crack more. |
 |
| |
|
|
| |
| I didn’t do it! Since I’m using Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar to
stoke the fire (softwoods), a lot of wood is needed to get those
coals formed... |
 |
| |
| Now that the fire’s died down, you can see the bowl taking shape.
But wait...the fire burned awfully close to the edge. Gotta take
care of that. |
 |
| |
| Putting some wet sand on the surfaces where you don’t want the fire
to burn will prevent accidental removal of wood. |
 |
| |
| After the fire is pushed aside, you can now use an
edged or pointed implement to chisel out the charred wood. |
 |
| |
| So far this container can hold three quarts of water. Looking good!
(except for that hunk of wood on the right-hand edge that my hatchet
knocked off...) |
 |
| |
| Well, I made a pretty nice depression in this chunk of Western Red Cedar!
Apparently, the higher heat and speedier drying caused by a
larger-than-necessary fire created this crack. But at least it holds a
liter of water (in the bottle)!
(It wasn’t a total loss, though. I used the fire to reduce and shape
a stone-blade knife handle.) |
 |
| |
| Oh, baby! That Grand Canyon of a crack would let Niagra Falls through if I
tried to boil anything in this waste-of-effort! |
 |
| |
| Apparently it takes more than once to learn the
lesson today. |
 |
| |
| That’s better. Three time’s the charm! I’m using a small bed of
quartz crystals to scrape the char off the bowl so that I can
monitor the fire’s progress. After this scraping is finished, I’ll
put more coals in the depression. |
 |
| |
|
On to Page 2... |
| |
