This is one of many wooden mugs I have made and continue to make. It took me a lot of trial and error to get to this stage with most of my previous attempts being the 'errors'.

My basic method is to decide on how many side I want to construct the mug from. Even though it ends up round it still starts as a polygon. Then I use trigonometry to find the angle that I need to cut the staves at to end up with the required shape. Usually I go with an octagonal cross-section so this would be 22.5degrees. Then I use a table saw to do the angled rip cuts on the timber staves. Once I have all the staves ready I glue them together and for clamping pressure I tie them up tightly with a black plastic bag or rope.

Once the cylinder part is glued up I then spend a lot of time planing, rasping and sanding the polygonal shape until it is round and tapered. I find the taper is important so that when I put on the steel hoops, they can be hammered tightly into place. With the mug rounded and tapered, I then measure and cut steel strips for the bands, and rivet or weld the ends together to create nice round bands. Then I carefully hammer the hoops onto the mug.

With the bands in place I measure the gap between the bands and cut out a handle shape to fit between them, and file and sand a portion of the mug smooth to create a good surface for gluing. Once the handle is glued in place all thats left is gluing and finishing. I typically use shellac for the finish, or polyurethane on the outside only. For the inside I use shellac only or leave it unfinished.