How to Carve Wooden Bowls From a Log
You can carve bowls from logs using the dugout method if you do not want to use a lathe or spend hours carving with hand tools. The dugout method has been used for centuries and has seen a resurgence due to interest in voluntary simplicity and disappearing folk crafts. This method is seen at craft fairs and reenactment sites; however, it has significant safety issues--you can be severely burned using the dugout method, so exercise caution.
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Things You'll Need
- A supply of seasoned logs
- Chainsaw
- Black permanent marker
- Wood or charcoal fire
- Scraping tool with rounded edge
- Woodcarving adze or hook knife
- River sandstone of the correct diameter for the inside of your bowl
- Sandpaper, coarse through extra fine
- Duct tape
- Lemon oil
- Lacquer, clear acrylic wood treatment or your choice of other finishes
Instructions
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1
Use your chainsaw to cut round slices of equal thickness and approximately equal diameter from your chosen log.
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2
Using a black permanent marker, outline the intended width of your bowl's inner edge on the cut side of the wood. Place the wood on a flat surface away from flammable items.
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3
Take hot coals from a wood or charcoal fire and place them inside the marker outline you drew of your bowl's inner edge. Allow the wood to char for five to 10 minutes. Char time will vary according to how well-seasoned your logs are and what type of wood you are using. Seasoned logs have the lowest moisture content, so they burn faster. Green, or freshly cut, logs burn much more slowly and will release steam or ooze sap while burning.
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4
Scrape away all the charred wood using a rounded-edged scraping tool of your choice, such as a woodcarving adze or hook knife. Continue charring and scraping until you have the desired inner diameter and wall thickness.
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5
Use a rounded river rock that is 1/2 inch smaller in diameter than the inner diameter of your bowl to sand the inside smooth by turning it back and forth. Repeat this step using coarse through extra fine sandpaper wrapped around your rock and secured with duct tape until the inside of your bowl is smooth.
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6
Wipe your bowl with a clean polishing cloth dipped in lemon oil to remove sawdust. Finish using lacquer, clear acrylic wood treatment or other finish of your choice.
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Tips & Warnings
The dugout method of woodworking originated as a way to make canoes. According to Ray Klebba of White Salmon BoatWorks, "Early African, South Pacific and North American canoe builders used to...hollow out a tree trunk that had been left to cure for a least one year; this would cause the wood to become malleable. It would take many long hours of hard work to chisel the log into a dugout shape. North American Indians began using a method of taking a green tree and by using fire and wet mud they would burn the hull into a very thin shell."
The dugout method can also be used to make baby and doll cradles.
