WALNUT BOWL

There are multiple ways of making bowls.

This time I decided to try shaping a bowl out of a 13" diameter log. The first step was done with a chain saw. I hollowed out the inside as much as I dared.

While I still had the heavy log to sit solid, I then used a shaping disc in my 5" side grinder, to further shape the inside of the bowl.

Now it was time to cut the bowl out of the log.

I made a series of angle cuts to start the shape of the bottom of the bowl.

The shaping disc was used again for the bottom side.

After the general shape was created, I then worked on the bottom with a set of flapper sanding discs. I started out coarse, and worked my way up to the fine grit.

At this point I started sanding the inside of the bowl. I tried using a sander with a 5" disc, but no matter how careful I was, I kept getting gouge marks in it. I ended up having to use a 3" sanding disc that mounts in a drill. It has a very soft flexible head on it. With the hard walnut, it was slow going. I went from 80 grit to 220 grit. I had to spread it out over several days, just because my arms got tired of holding the drill at odd angles. After that I finished it off with hand sanding up to 400 grit.

Once I got the inside finished, I went back to the bottom to sand it some more with my 5" oscillating sander. I did this last because of the support that I was using to hold the bowl when I was sanding the inside.

I wanted to finish the bowl with a food safe finish. I picked butcher block oil because I thought that would be the easiest finish to apply to the rough bark. I could just pour the oil on the bark and then rub the runoff onto the bowl.

The black walnut was already pretty dark. The oil made it extremely dark. Here's some before and after pictures.