A Piratical cup for taking "strong spirits"

Sylvrfalcn

Sylvrfalcn

Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
3,930
A work in progress, I'm whittling this one out of hard maple. It's a "shot glass" of a sort, a skosh over 4" tall and it holds a manly measure of rum. :thumbup:
Still lacking a wood lathe, I knew I couldn't cut "plumb center" with a big boring bit, so I bored the hole and whittled the wood true around it. Wrapped some course sandpaper around it and spun it in my hands until it would take a better eye than mine to tell it ain't lathe turned. I'm still whittling on the base, then it'll get sanded smooth as a baby's butt, maybe some incised decoration applied, then finished.
I made it to use in a "horse racing game" some friends and I love to play. You roll dice, and advance game pieces down the playing board "race track". Every time anybody rolls doubles, everybody has to take a shot. Aaaaargh ;) :D

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Sarge
 
Larry S. said:
Sounds like fun.......all of it!:D :D
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One night this one gal rolled seven doubles in a row. :eek: :eek: :eek:
Shortly thereafter, an impromptu meeting of the "horse racing commission" ruled that three in a row was the maximum that would be "honored". ;) :D

Sarge
 
Sarge the only incised decorations on my wooden cups are from my inscisors .L:O:L
No more mezcal poppers for me .

Do you beeswax the insides of your guzzlers or do you like your rum aged in wood ?
 
Sarge, that is great work! But I would have just squared off the top, and used one of those center finders you can get in any woodworking catalog. I think I have 3 of them for different diameters of wood. Just scribe at least 2 lines at right angles to each other and you've got the center. Then as big a flat bottom forstner bit as you could find in a drill press and you have your main hole. Then you could hand sand. (?)

Impressive work.

Norm
 
Ooh Pretty!!!!:thumbup: :cool: Did you use a crooked knife to whittle the bottom of the cup smooth Sarge?
 
Ragnar has cool wooden cups, plates and other ware for those less mechanically inclined than Sarge.... such as me. :o Vikingware.

Hm, I have a horn spoon but I got it in Scotland. The scots of ould would always travel around with a spoon and a quaich for "water of life" and more mundane porridge.


Mike
 
Thats awesome Sarge. What, no lathe? I rebuilt an old one for less than 100 dollars. Or make yourself a sapling and rope one. Sweet work. Me can't handle that much rum anyway. LOL.
 
Sometimes life's lessons are subtle, sometimes they're a punch in the head. Semi finished cup, not yet sealed, decided to fool around getting an idea of how much liquid it held. Soaked the wood, which, due to the Texas heat, dried rapidly, cracking hell out of the silly thing. Upset? Nossir, when you've lived as much as I have you can look disappointment in the eye and laugh about it. I'll make me a new "shot glass" out of cow horn, got several drinking horns I've made that have held everything from hot coffee to corn whiskey without a problem. ;)

Sarge

p.s.: don't drink hot coffee from unsealed cow horn, tastes kind of "gamey" :barf:
 
the guy out at scarborough faire who made wooden mugs for us used some kind of sealant on the wood, but for the life of me I cant remember what it was.
I know he said we couldnt drink anything hot out of them, so it may have been a natural wax....
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
Sarge

p.s.: don't drink hot coffee from unsealed cow horn, tastes kind of "gamey" :barf:
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Sarge how do you seal cow horn to where the taste doesn't come through when you drink something hot? :confused:
 
I know some people use epoxy in their drinking horns . That would be good for hot or cold . I used melted beeswax on my buffalo horn which is good for alcohol or cold drinks . Good coating including an added layer in the point.bottom . To break it in My buddy poured me about an ounce and a half of good scotch . Delicious right up to the last 1/4 ounce which tasted like cow flop . While I cleaned the inside it is also advisable to abraid the inside with clean sand .

There are very nice shot glasses of horn in "Rob Roy" where the flat bottom appeaers to be clad in copper .
 
Yvsa said:
Sarge how do you seal cow horn to where the taste doesn't come through when you drink something hot? :confused:
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Food safe polymer resin coating, can't remember where I got the stuff, when I do I'll give you a heads up.

Sarge
 
Another option for horns: thorough cleaning with denture tablets, followed by a vinegar soak for several days, followed by a rotgut soak for another day or two. After the first couple of horns of beer (which tasted like the rotgut) the flavor became neutral. I can't taste the horn with mine anymore. After the first horn of beer (which foams quite a bit due to the temperature difference) I might as well be drinking out of a kitchen tumbler. They didn't call it the plastic of the middle ages for nothing. ;)

If and when I make another one, I'm probably going to try sealing. All the cleaning and curing gets to be a pain.
 
Wow thats two new "curing methods I,ve learned for horn cups . I,m quite fond of mine . It hangs around my neck most obediently . It will silently beg to be filled but is not whiny in the least . It does have a preference for peaty scotch .
I do my best to fulfill its requests .
 
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