How to Make Artistic Wooden Bowls
Whether for decoration, historical reenactment, or simply as a source for more healthful eating, wooden bowls are becoming popular again. And while once you could only find this rustic handcraft only visible at craft fairs, wooden bowls are now turning up in department stores and on wedding registries as a chic serving accessory. But you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on wooden bowls from a department store. A wooden bowl is easy to make in your own wood shop.
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Things You'll Need
- 1 log of wood
- Plastic bag
- Water
- Pencil
- Workbench with vise
- Chopping block with clamp
- Axe
- Hollowing adz
- Gouge
- Mallet
- Planing tool
- Spokeshave
- Fine-grit sandpaper
- Mineral oil, olive oil or Behlen's Salad Bowl Finish
Instructions
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1
Select a green log that is straight grained and free of defects for your bowl blank. Almost any fine-textured wood will do, although some bowl makers prefer buckeye or walnut. Avoid a log that has been cut from the heart of a tree. Heartwood is dense, hard to carve, and may have more defects.
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2
Wrap your log in a plastic bag to prevent uneven drying, and seal it. Every time you work on your bowl, pull it from the bag and dump out any accumulated moisture. Return the bowl to the bag in between working on it. Your bowl will dry more evenly, and prevent cracking following this procedure.
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3
Mark the shape of your bowl on the bowl blank with a pencil. Then clamp the bowl blank onto a work bench with a vise. Shape the bowl using an axe to remove sections of wood inside the hollow of the bowl. Smooth out this hollow using a hollowing adz. Widen and deepen the hollow until it is within 3/8 of an inch of its final shape.
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4
Remove more sections from the rim of the interior using a gouge and mallet. Continue to shape the interior until the bowl takes on the same shape as the adz. Finish smoothing the interior of the bowl using a carving knife.
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5
Remove the bowl from the workbench and clamp it facedown to a chopping block. Use the axe to remove waste wood from around the exterior edges of the bowl blank. Smooth out the exterior of the bowl blank using the adz until the exterior is within 3/8 of an inch of the finished thickness.
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6
Remove the bowl from the chopping block and attach the bowl to the work bench using a vise. Smooth out the interior and exterior sides of the bowl using a planing tool. Thin down the sides of the bowl with a spokeshave. Finish the bowl by sanding with fine-grit sandpaper. Then coat liberally with olive oil, or Behlen's Salad Bowl Finish.
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