Coffee Mugs...?

[Burt Alcantara]

Anybody use a wood turning for a coffee mug? I'm really picky about coffee mugs. I currently have 2 favorites, in ceramic. 1 is "regular" size, the next is a tad larger. I can't find a "large" size that I like. Either the size is right but it has ugly on it or the shape with no uglies on it is right but the size is wrong.

I don't want to learn ceramics just to have a right sized coffee mug. Maybe I'll just try it out. If it leaks after a while, I'll just make another.

Burt

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Burt,

I am pretty sure somebody here posted some coffee mugs they had turned. The kits put a stainless steel liner inside of it. All this, of course, is dependent on my memory working correctly.:D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ken is right about kits being available - Brodie carries them on his site: http://www.smoothturning.com/shop/features.aspx

Hope that is what you are looking for Burt!

[Burt Alcantara]

Good idea but not quite there...

Burt

[Don Carter]

Burt:
IIR, some have purchased insulated mugs from Wally World and taken them apart to use in a turning. But you know my memory ain't what it used to be either.

All the best.

Don

[Steve Busey]

Woodcraft has some kits (http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=836527&FamilyID=20719) too, if there are close to you.

[Burt Alcantara]

What I'd REALLY like to know is the possibility of drinking coffee from a wood only mug and if anyone has done that. I'm thinking I will be the first test subject.

What do you think would be the most suitable wood for this?

Burt

[Steve Busey]

I imagine you can make a drinking vessel out of any wood, though you may need to test different thicknesses to avoid heat expansion/cracking issues. I trust you are thinking of a finish - I suppose either lacquer or a food safe Salad Bowl finish would be useable after 30 days of curing, but again, it would require tsting to make sure the coffee acid doesn't damage it. (If you're not thinking of finishing it, DON'T use red oak :eek:)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Burt,

Please give your widow your signon information for SMC so we can get a report back on how it works....:rolleyes:

[Bruce Smith]

Burt not sure if this is what you are looking for but thought I best pass this information on to you. A one piece cup with a handle was featured in the Spring 2005 issue of Woodturning Design. I think it looks more like a Tea Cup but I'm sure it would hold coffee and you could always alter the dimensions and make it whatever size you thought was appropriate. Hope this is of use to you, good luck.

[Allen Neighbors]

Frankly, I like Ruth Niles' Carpe Lignum - Torne Lignum coffee mugs. But you could turn a good size and shape from some good pine or Linden wood, and seal it inside with some sort of sealer that would expand and contract with the wood.
Good subject. Hope to see an answer on here. :)

[Jim Becker]

I suppose either lacquer or a food safe Salad Bowl finish...

All finishes available for sale today are "food safe" (there is no official designation for that, BTW) once fully cured.

Unfortunately, I suspect that the only finish that's really going to perform well for this kind of thing is going to be an epoxy resin type product. A closed grained wood with no finish may perform just fine...

[Steve Busey]

the only finish that's really going to perform well for this kind of thing is going to be an epoxy resin type product.

Here's an informative link (http://www.all-about-renaissance-faires.com/woodmugs.htm#how) on mug finishes, recommending the same thing (epoxy). Look higher up the page for info on these:

http://www.all-about-renaissance-faires.com/products/accessory/vessels/muggroup.jpg

Then read down to the "caveats," where he discusses that these are for cold, not hot beverages.

[Don Carter]

Steve:
Not to hijack Burt's thread, but this is very interesting. I have been looking for something to finish wooden shaving mugs. Thanks for the post and link.

All the best.

Don

[Kyle Iwamoto]

My .02. I would not think that you could get a workable coffee mug made of wood. Heat and water just always ruins wood. The finish will last only so long, given the amount that wood moves with temperature. But, modern 2 part epoxies are unbelievable, so you may be able to find a finish that can handle 3 or 4 heat/water cycles a day.
That being said, I made a mug with the Woodcraft liner. They are on sale now for the same price as the on line place. As far as a coffee cup, it's not great. But it is wood on the outside and certainly the COOLEST cup at my workplace. Many people ask me where I got it from. It is my favorite cup. But only because it's SO COOL!
Coffee cups should be made of glass, ceramics or stainless. In that order. Paint would be somewhere after styrofoam.

[Anthony Penchetta]

I don't want to learn ceramics just to have a right sized coffee mug.

Burt

Burt, not to change your thinking on the subject, but you might look into a stoneware class in your neighborhood. I threw clay for about 5 years and really enjoyed it till I hit the burnout stage and got tired of wrinkled fingers :D

[Jarrod McGehee]

ya Burt, like anthony said, I took a ceramics class at the community college by my house and I got high school credit for it (I'm still in HS) and it's pretty fun. and maybe you'll get new turning ideas also ;) and it's fun.

And I had that same idea of making a wooden coffee cup. let us all know how it turns out. and I may try one soon.

[John Gornall]

I was recently given a "Kuksa Cup" which is a Lapland traditional wooden cup made of gnarled birch which I understand means a burl. It's supposed to be good for cold or hot drinks and should last a lifetime. I have no idea if it has any finish and doesn't appear to. If you google "Kuksa Cup" there's lots of sites. Some make them from Alder.

[Heather Deans]

So, I'm a bit of a historical turning nut, and just wanted to throw out there that wooden tableware was the norm for hundreds if not thousands of years- for all sorts of temperature ranges and without a whole lot of finish on most of them. I've been making a bunch of little tasting cups- mostly ranging around from 1 1/2-3" tall, and they're working great. They do require a little more maintence than a ceramic cup- an occasional sanding and oiling to keep the texture nice and smooth, but I love them. In general, mine have been turned with the grain running up and down on the cup (spindle orientated) which creates some challenges in that depending on the type of the wood; the endgrain does draw the liquid through and you get some leaching. For me that hasn't been an issue because I've been doing "tasting cups" which are small enough that the liquid isn't in them for very long anyway, but for a coffee cup you might want to put some sort of seal in the bottom at least. I've seen suggestions for oil/wax solutions or just straight wax- but you could use just about any modern seal on it as well. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I suspect you wouldn't want to use that mug for much of anything else as the wood will absorb the coffee oils and will be permenantly contaminated...eer... flavored. :) Good luck!
Heather

[Terry Murphy]

Don't forget that all those people that used wooden tableware, are dead.:eek:

[Jarrod McGehee]

Don't forget that all those people that used wooden tableware, are dead.:eek:

not to argue but a lot of people that use plastic and ceramic and stone and .... tableware are dead too ;)