I had this block of cherry wood kicking around my workshop for years. It was a castoff from an old project because it had a split and a knot—but, it was too big and too nice to just throw away. I knew, in the back of my head, that it would make a nice something someday. A bunch of recent scrap wood projects we’ve done (like this step stool, coat rack, and bench) finally motivated me to figure out what that something might be.
After careful consideration—and a desire to test some carving discs for an angle grinder—I settled on an asymmetrical, shallow bowl. You would usually make a wooden bowl like this on a wood lathe. But making one with an irregular shape enables you to make the most of your block of wood and frees you from chasing circular perfection and the need for a lathe.
What You’ll Need
Making a free-form bowl like this doesn’t require a lot of special woodworking tools. If you have an angle grinder, the only other things you’ll need (besides sandpaper) are the carving discs for the grinder. I did use an oscillating tool with finger sander attachments to making sanding the inside of the bowl go quicker, but that isn’t necessary.
For the finish, I used tung oil because it’s easy to use and brings out the natural beauty in the wood. After that cured, I used steel wool and paste wax to buff it into a soft, lustrous shine.
Carve Out the Inside
Carve the Outside
Finish
Brad Ford has spent most of his life using tools to fix, build, or make things. Growing up he worked on a farm, where he learned to weld, repair, and paint equipment. From the farm he went to work at a classic car dealer, repairing and servicing Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and Jaguars. Today, when he's not testing tools or writing for Popular Mechanics, he's busy keeping up with the projects at his old farmhouse in eastern Pennsylvania.
