Among the natural creations, coconut shell is the best material suited for holding food stuffs. Perhaps it was very popular the time when ceramic, plastic and metal cups were not yet invented.

When I was young, father usually make  cups out of coconut shell. He was making bowl out of extra large coconut shell. We were using it for serving vegetable dishes, meat recipes, soups and hot coffee.

I want to make one and use it for our daily living. I will be following this procedure:

1) Select newly harvested coconut. Judge the size base on purpose. Shells that were left in farm land for too long became too brittle and not suitable.

2) Clean the shell by scraping the surface with a sharp knife.

3) With shell eye facing upward, draw a horizontal line slightly above the center. This will serve as guide for the next step.

4) Saw the shell with a metal saw. Do it gently until the meat is reached. Rotate the shell slightly forward and saw again. Continue until it connects to starting point. Take care not to cut the meat part.

5) Insert a knife in the cut line. Force it around to break it to halves. Grate the meat. Use the grated coconut to cook your favorite ginataan.

6) Get the upper half, the one containing the eye. Cut out a one inch wide ring. This will serve as the bowl base.

7) The hard part. The inner side has a thin soft wood coating. Remove this by any means. A round chisel would do the job well.

8) Make three coconut shell buttons, about 2 cm wide.

9) Assemble the cup. Glue the three buttons on inner sides of the ring (with equal spacing) then glue the cup on three buttons. Use a contact cement or a strong wood glue. Let dry for several days before use.