Hazards of Gourd Cleaning and Cutting a Gourd offers tips on dealing with the toxic mold on and in your gourds. Avoid getting sick and ending your gourd crafting!
Preparing a gourd purchased from a gourd farm or touching a gourd grown in your backyard is dangerous!
Gourd artists who already suffer from breathing problems are especially at risk. The black and white patches on the outside of a gourd are mold, and the white substance inside also contains mold spores. Here are my tips for keeping you safe and well.
Hazards of Gourd Cleaning: Mold
As our hardshell gourds dry out, the moisture inside the gourd slowly escapes through the shell and the stem. Eventually, the insides of the gourd will be completely dry.
Hazards of Gourd Cleaning:
Mold and Spore inside the Gourd are Dangerous
When you cut open a gourd, you must be careful not to inhale its contents. Not all hardshell gourds are terrible inside, but they are all dusty. You can’t guess which ones will merely make you sneeze and which ones might contain mold/fungus, bacteria, and other pathogens that could cause severe allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock. Gourd dust-related illness that gourd crafters call “gourd flu” mimicking semi-severe flu symptoms (fever, aching joints, muscle soreness, mucus, fatigue) for about two to three days.
Buy the Best Mask You Can Afford
Always wear a mask when handling dirty gourds and work outside if possible. Before handling a dirty gourd, wear gloves and reach for a mask. It needs to be an N45 mask. Or better yet, buy a suitable respirator with replaceable filters. To find out about my favorite, read this post.
The particulate matter inside the gourd is too delicate to be filtered by a bandana and will end up in your mouth, nose, and lungs. Did I mention some gourds have extremely bitter dust? You don’t want it in your mouth. Remember, you are in danger when working on any part of a dirty gourd!
When is it time to Clean the Gourd?
Look for the outer shell to become very hard and dry. The mold creates circles and colored spots on the outside surface. Over the spots, you can sometimes see the thin, moldy skin peeling off.
Three clues tell you your gourd is ready for crafting. First, the surface is tough and has a hollow sound when tapped. You should also hear the seeds moving around. The gourd will also feel lighter than a green gourd.
Sometimes, it is tempting to keep the beautiful patterns created by the molded skin on the gourd. You might consider waxing over the gourd to stabilize the skin, creating the effect. That is not a good idea. Eventually, the skin will peel.
Tip for carvers:
The mold spots left on a clean gourd should warn you that the gourd is unsuitable for carving. Choose one that has no blemishes.
How Clean does the Outside Surface Need to Be?
The extent of your cleaning depends on how you want to use the gourd and what products you want to add to the surface. Suppose you want a natural gourd with waxed-coated skin. In that case, you don’t have to do much beyond washing off the dirt and dark mold with a hot water and bleach solution (maybe ten parts water to 1 part bleach), which retards future mold growth.
However, if you want to dye a gourd, the waxy coating will prevent the dye from soaking into the surface. Dyes and inks require a very clean gourd.
Hazards of Gourd Cleaning:
Cleaning Gourds in a Bucket
The most popular way is to immerse your gourds in water using a bucket or a plastic bin.
Begin by finding these supplies to help you:
- A sink or tub, the size depending on the size(s) of gourds you’re cleaning.
- Rags
- Copper scrubbing pads. 100% copper means they won’t rust, should you want to use them again later.
- Bleach or Vinegar
- Old towel(s)
- Something to scrape with, perhaps a knife edge
- Rubber dish gloves
Begin by filling your container with water. At this point, many add a cleaning agent such as bleach, vinegar, shower cleaner, dish soap, or dishwasher detergent.
Immerse your gourd or gourds into the water. Lay a way towel over the top of the gourds if they stick out of the water. Finally, find something heavy, like this cinder block, to weigh it down and keep the gourd immersed.
Immerse your gourd or gourds into the water. Lay a way towel over the top of the gourds if they stick out of the water. Finally, find something heavy, like this cinder block, to weigh it down and keep the gourd immersed.
Remove the rags, and find your scrubbing tools.
Let the gourds soak for 20 or 30 minutes.
Use a copper or stainless-steel scrubber. Now use circular motions and elbow grease to clean off the black particles.
You might also try a stiff cleaning brush
Once clean, set them where air can circulate the gourd, allowing them to dry evenly. It takes work to get the right results. Several gourd artists often meet and have a cleaning party, making the process more enjoyable. If you would like to see the process, watch Bernadette Fox’s video
When cleaning does not go well
If your gourd is too mottled for your liking, you can set it out in the sun for a few days, which will fade it slightly, or you can try wrapping it in a bleach-soaked rag for a few hours (then rinsing and drying). Neither option is guaranteed to lighten the shell, but occasionally it works.
If you have a gourd with waxy areas on the shell, you’ll have to soak longer, scrub harder, and possibly scrape the wax off with a knife’s edge.
To clean little gourds, follow the same procedure, but try using a plastic shoebox and cover 3 or 4 gourds at a time with little rags or paper towels.
Hazards of Gourd Cleaning:
What happens to the inside when it is dry?
The inside is full of stuff resembling thick, squishy Styrofoam, and it’s challenging to scrape. Sometimes, it collapses around the seeds like a ball. You must remove the white foamy material altogether. Luckily, we have various tools that will help.
Ways of marking the Cutting Line
The quickest way to make a line around the gourd is by stacking something to the level of the line on the gourd. Hold a pencil steady against the gourd and rotate the gourd to create a line. Or you can use something like the PCV Gourd Marker found on Blue Whale Arts. The price is $15.
The Best Cutting Methods
After drawing the line, insert a knife tip to create a slot for your saw blade. Cutting Tip:
To use a Hac saw, go slowly around it as you turn it.
You can also use a jig-saw.
Try Using a Gourd Saw
Most gourd artists buy gourd saws. Please read my review post on gourd saws and sanders to determine which is best for you.
Link at the end of the post.
Cleaning the Inside of the Gourd
Now for the hard part. The white inside material is the real challenge. You will have to use scraping tools. You can use simple tools like the edge of a credit card, a paring knife, a spoon, or a sea shell. You can also purchase tools that are specially made for gourd cleaning. Check out our sponsor, Blue Whale Arts, for these, or head to Welburn Farms or even Amazon.
Tools for Cleaning inside the gourd
Things to help you in the cleaning process:
gardening gloves, or thicker gloves
- melon baller
- sanding sponge
- shop vac
- dust masks, the best ones being for the finest particulate matter
- eye protection, especially if you plan on using power tools
- electric drill with wire brush bit for spots that are hard to reach
Types of Scrapers
I usually start cleaning with these medium size scrapers. Also, I like these for cleaning the back of gourd shards.
These mighty little scrapers are the best for cleaning out small gourds inside the neck or inside a gourd cap. The sharpened, stainless-steel ribbon won’t bend. |
Or tall gourds, try this long scraper with a large teardrop end. My favorite for reaching into tall gourds with smaller openings.
Ball Cleaners
Another professional tool to try is the Ball cleaners. Made from different materials, they come in different grits.
To use the cleaner balls, attach the ball to your electric hand drill; the spinning action of the drill does all the work! All balls have 5/16″ shanks to fit standard 3/8″ drill. Because the Easy Cleaner Ball is round, it forms to the curve of the gourd.
A great tip for this tool is to hold it at an angle so it stays on the curved surface. Be sure to hold the gourd securely when using this tool. It will try to bounce around.
You can also buy a brush attachment for your drill to help clean out debris from the inside.
Ball cleaning tip: Use a brush to clean the ball before you store it.
If you have a micro carver, did you know you can buy a sanding ball for it? The Dremel will also have sanding disks you can use.
Hazards of Gourd Cleaning:
Sanding is critical for a gourd bowl
Lastly, you will need to sand the Interior
Once you have used all other tools to clean out the mold from the inside, then sart off with a cource sand paper and work to a fine grit. The stump in the bottom can be pulled out with pliers.
The smoother it is, the better. Tip: A rough interior is the first thing that kicks a gourd out of competition. Don’t settle for less than perfect! I use the paper dry and don’t like wetting it. My favorite brand is Abranet.
A Few Tips on Gourd Storage
If you don’t clean your gourds immediately, keep them cool, hopefully outside a garage or storage area. Or pack them in a covered plastic tub with newspapers to keep them from cracking when moved.
Elevate gourds, especially if you have heated floors. Constant heating and cooling can encourage cracking, mold, and mildew growth.
I cover mine to keep my cats out of them.
Sort them by size and store them in big boxes.
Hang them clean or dirty from the rafters.
Hang them in a hammock net hung on the ceiling rafter. You want to keep them away from critters and allow the air to circulate them.
Once cleaned, you can store them inside where you can see them. |
You can bag them in this netted bag found at Whale Arts |
Hazards of Gourd Cleaning: Finding a Rotten Gourd
One of my gourds has a sinking spot on it. It feels very soft and spongy when I push on it. What’s wrong?
The gourd is rotting, and you can do nothing about it. Throw it out on the mulch pile before infecting any other gourds. When gourds are harvested too early, they cannot receive any hardening agent from the vine. These gourds won’t have any natural ability to counteract bacteria and, thus, may rot. That is one reason that gourds should be left right on the vine until fully dry. Below is a gourd that has a rotting spot on it. Notice how the gourd side caves are where the gourd is rotting.
You scrape everything off the gourd with the back of a butter knife. If it’s ripe, it will not damage what’s underneath.
Have you tried green-scraping (Or dry scraping) your gourds?
This is the only method where you have some chance to control what the outside looks like.
You bring your gourds in the very late fall after you are confident they are ripe and after several frosts have killed all the energy remaining in the vine.
Since they never had mold growing on them, there are no stains. You will have a very creamy surface perfect for wood burning and carving!
The considerable risk is that green-scraping may cause a gourd to shrivel slightly or even develop small vertical openings. This probably has to do with the ripeness of the gourd. But don’t be dismayed. I work around the flaws and incorporate them into the design. If you are interested in trying this process, check out this video from a grower.
Here are three other posts I have written on this topic. Find their links on the Post Archive page at gourdarttalk.com
The bottom line that I have tried to stress here is wearing aa mask is necessary. Gourd dust from both the interior and exterior is toxic. All of the skin from the gourd and the inside meat, when scrapped, is toxic.
I reacted to this information with the opinion that I have no respiratory problems and I always clean outside, so there was no way I was going to wear a mask. It was hard to get on when you wear glasses! A few days later my throat was raw and I was coughing up mucus. I had “gourd flu”! Another gourd artist talked about her hospital experience when she had a flu attack that got worse. This was after 5 years of working on gourds. Now she only can work on gourds wearing a very big and expensive respirator. Be safe and avoid all these issues.
WEAR A MASK WHEN WORKING WITH GOURD CUTTING, CLEANING OR CARVING!
I hope this information is helpful and that you search out the best mask you can afford. Make sure you buy one with replaceable filters.
Do you have a favorite brand?
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Thank you so much Betty for your detailed and informative articles. These are great for those of us just learning the art of gourd crafting and/or those who don’t live near an area where we can attend classes. Your site is my go-to whenever I wonder how to do something with my gourds. I also love that you add links to other gourd artists that have tutorials. You’re the best!