LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

It is a Norwegian tradition in some parts of the country to carry porridge in a container like this to a mother as her first meal after giving birth. That is the reason for it being decorative. I composed the decorative elements myself, but they are true to tradition. I've never seen two of these alike. Decoration in the past varied between carving, rose-painting and wood burning and often a combination of the foregoing.

The originals were made from coopered stave's and banded with a thin band riven from a solid piece of wood to hold the stave's together. The bands would have been pre-soaked in water and then installed tight as possible. While drying, the bands would shrink thereby keeping the stave's nice and tight.

My version looks pretty authentic, but instead of stave's it is turned from solid green Birch (wet wood). The bands also look very authentic, but they too are just turned.

The bottom was a dry disk placed in a groove near the bottom of the container. The container walls were then left to shrink in around the disk making the container water tight. The top is held in place by a nub on the handle piece which inserts into a shallow hole in one end, while the other end is held place by a pin with a handle through the ear and into the other end of the handle piece.

After cutting out at the base and the top 'ears' I carved the decorative details. The center is chip carved with a simple repeating pattern, mainly to give some texture to the piece without being flamboyant.

The piece won't be handled a lot, so I just used a light finishing oil and topped it off with some beeswax to give it a modest luster.

Thanks for looking in. I hope you like it.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
55 Posts
wow, awesome job on your conatainer. I was not sure what was porridge till i looked it up. Superb craftsmanship.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
3,432 Posts
Wow, Mike ! You hit this one OUT OF THE PARK !!!

Intricate. Beautiful !!
 

· Premium Member
Joined
·
20,131 Posts
How is the grain oriended Mike? From what I can see it looks concentric with the piece, but it is hard to see all the way around in the picture.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,171 Posts
Great story! Great workmanship! Thanks, Mike.

L/W
 

· Registered
Carving
Joined
·
477 Posts
Just amazing, truely inspirational.
I love everything about this piece.
It is so unique looking but Norwegian. ( Well for me it is, here in Australia.)
Thanks for posting
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,163 Posts
Great design Mike! I have always liked Scandinavian furniture and architecture.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,011 Posts
At first glance it looked like a piggin with a lid. I like the carving, and the history of the piece is great too. Like Grizz, I love to learn about other cultures. When you pick the carving, does it have a special meaning to the family involved?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
3,337 Posts
Mike
You keep outdoing yourself. What suddenly put you in stride? You have become a real artist in wood.
Perhaps the different cultures in your life…......

But we know it is craftsmanship combined with inspiration, that leads to the exceptional…...

Jim
 

· Registered
Joined
·
607 Posts
I am really blown away by this piece Mike. My bride and I have been here looking at the images and discussing it for 10 minutes now. What a truly inspiring piece of work…. My mind is going crazy on this end.

Thank you very much for sharing…. Just seeing this piece made my day…. Wow!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,074 Posts
Wow. This is the real world of craftsmanship with carving, joinery, etc. I cant even figure out how and where did you start. Excellent. Thanks for posting.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
0 Posts
Mike, it looks great! We had one of these in our house while I was growing up and I never bothered to find out what it was, it was great to hear the history of it finally. Det er kjempe fint arbeid, tusen takk.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
30 Posts
I enjoy to learn about the tradition in Norway and to see your marvellous piece of art.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,517 Posts
Mike that is great, very nicely done.

Thank you for sharing this tradition with us.

I found that ice cream works better than porridge. :)

Jamie
 

· Registered
Joined
·
9,733 Posts
this is beautiful…
I, too, enjoyed reading about the traditions.
When I first saw a spurtle (?) posted here I did a little researching and apparently porridge was kept in a kitchen drawer and when the doctor (etc) stopped by he was given some of the porridge as payment.

Seems porridge is a very valuable and honoured food.

(oh, and another piece of porridge wisdom, you HAVE to stir it clockwise and with your right hand.)
 

· In Loving Memory
Joined
·
8,391 Posts
Thanks so much everyone. My head is still expanding from your kind remarks. I really don't deserve all this praise though. You would know what I mean if you saw some of the carved ones over here.

None of the elements are highly skilled work, but I'm fairly satisfied with the overall look. The traditional Norwegian aesthetic and forms, maybe epitomized in the design of the viking ships, have always been very inspiring to me. Many aren't aware that there is a good deal of room for personal expression when doing these age old craft items. There are many historic variations on these generic items of use .

Bob: This was an end grain turning, so the grain runs top to bottom, essentially a tube, and a disk placed into a
groove near the bottom after turning. The bottom fits into the groove and the tube shrinks in around
it.

End grain turnings with consistent wall thickness dry very evenly without without cracking. However, if you
also turn the bottom from the same workpiece it will leak like a
sieve and maybe crack in the center pith, therefore the side grain disk solution for the bottom.

hundreds of years ago hollow logs found in the nature were made into water tight containers in the same.
way.

Mads: I waited awhile before carving as I've been doing a little at a time on this project. Birch is known as a
good wood to carve as it takes details nicely, but personally I think is pretty 'seig' or tough and therefore
not the easiest wood to work with. It is also very hard to sand deeper scratches out of it while still on the
lathe. The carving on this is pretty small, so I know you will be glad to know that I did it with a small
bladed shop made carving tool.
 

· Premium Member
Joined
·
20,131 Posts
Thanks Mike. I have been occasionally searching eBay, Googling and looking at the Vesterhiem museum site in Decorah, Iowa for traditional Norwegian wood crafts. Mostly what I see is boxes, trunks and those oval shaker boxes with ship dragon head latches ;-)) I have never seen one of these before. Any particular website to see a variety of Norwegian wood crafts like this?
 

· In Loving Memory
Joined
·
8,391 Posts
I have to go out for awhile Bob, but I will see what I can find later and get back to you later.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,243 Posts
Your talent is superbly displayed on this piece Mike.
Beautiful work.
 

· Banned
Joined
·
101 Posts
What a wonderful piece mike!
it's beautiful. I have not heard of this tradition before, and i cannot find the scandinavian name for it.. and it's really bothering me i cant find the name on the internet. i call it risengrødsspand… lol. what do they call it in norwegian?
i love all of the details you've put into the project, well done.
 
Top