Hand Carving an Apple Wood Water Bottle or Travelling Flask - Part I | Anglo-Saxon Green Woodworking

The Anglo-Saxons would have needed to carry water in a bottle or flask when travelling or on military campaign. Here I carve the body of a flask from apple wood inspired by finds from the period.

During the Anglo-Saxon period, bottles and flasks may have been made from leather, pottery or wood. Wooden flasks have been found in a number of Merovingian and Alamannic graves on the continent, with find-spots including Oberflacht, Trossingen and Cologne, dated to the 7th century. These were high status objects and were originally turned from maple. The flask from Trossingen contained the remains of a hopped barley beer - one of the earliest examples of hops used in brewing.

This flask was carved entirely by hand from apple wood as I have not yet built a pole lathe, therefore the opening to hollow the body needed to be larger than the originals. The wood had been seasoned one year prior to carving to prevent the warping and cracking that apple wood tends towards, although this meant it was quite tough to carve. The piece was kept submerged in water between carving sessions to slow the drying process.

The flask was roughed out with an axe and smoothed with a knife. The 'bowl' was carved out with a hook-knife. A gouge or small adze would have been a better tool to use, however I have not yet made or bought these tools and decided to make do with what I had, as the Saxons would have done. The hole in the neck was drilled with a small spoon auger and widened and smoothed with a chisel and knife. The neck opening is drilled into the endgrain, so the small auger was used to minimise the risk of splitting out the neck. The handles were first roughed out with a more rounded shape but I decided to slim these down to a more elegant sweep to better resemble the original finds.

The piece was placed to dry on a bed of green wood shavings to allow the wood to dry slowly and help prevent cracking and warping. The set of bowls, spoons and cups are made of birch wood.

Once the flask body has dried, the opening will be sealed with a wooden disc, secured with cheese glue and lined with beeswax to provide a water-tight container fit for travelling.

With thanks to:
Herknungr, Musician, playing 'The Wolf Chieftan'.
Hector Cole, Blacksmith, for forging the Saxon T-shaped Axe.

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