Cedar Log Wood Bowl

A friend of mine asked me if I wanted some cedar logs he had from a tree he fell. Not necessarily knowing what to do with it, of course I said yes.

Step 1: Making a "chainsaw" Bowl It Is...

First let me start by saying, I have absolutely no experience making a bowl out of a log or using a chainsaw to shape it. I learned quite a bit while doing this. I think what I learned the most, was to shape the outside of the bowl first, before you hollow out the inside. Once I had hollowed out the inside of the bowl clamping it down became quite the challenge.

Step 2: Step 3 Through 137...

This was the most time-consuming part. First I realized I could not carve the wood using my existing tools. So I went on Amazon and bought a really good draw knife as well as a carving knife to get into the nooks and crannies. This took a very very long time. I can see why doing something like this is a work of art. The holes that you see in the bowl are due to my inexperience and inability to control the depth of my carving. Although I tried several ways to fill them in, ultimately I left them in place and I think they add a lot of character and a natural look. I probably spent about 30 hours carving this out sanding it and shaping it. I don't have any real advice to give you on how to carve wood or shape it other then something I read one time that Leonardo da Vinci had said when he was asked about his ability to sculpt with marble. All I did was remove the wood didn't look like the bowl in my head.

Step 3: The Finish...

I wanted to use bar top polyurethane sealer because I thought it would fill in the holes and create almost a glass effect... I tried several ways of sealing the backside of the hole so that when I pulled off the tape after the bar top had dried all you would see was the clear finish. This did not work, in fact, it sucked. So once I put the first coat on realizing I could not make that glass whole affect take place I was kind of stuck. Working with bar top sealer is very difficult, you get lots of runs and drips. You almost have to babysit it the entire time, catching drips and clearing them away, clearing off the brush, torching the bubbles, clearing the drips, adding more sealer, my God how many more commas can I give you. Let's just say it was a poor choice for a finish. After quite a bit of work to though, it came out pretty good. Actually, it looks like it's coated in glass so I guess that's pretty cool. If I had to do this again I would use a much more forgiving finish. Like some of that salad bowl finish stuff you can get at a woodworking store. That stuff is great.