Fruit Bowl From Flat Panel

by kevincarruthers in Workshop > Woodworking

3684 Views, 74 Favorites, 0 Comments

Fruit Bowl From Flat Panel

temp_-133500307.jpg

My dad had cut down a tree behind my cousin's house 2 years ago and I wanted to try my hand at cutting my own lumber. I hadn't tried it before so I thought I better start small. I grabbed a block about 16" long x 6" dia and away I went.

Cutting and Gluing

temp_984479065.jpg
temp_984479065.jpg
temp_944948228.jpg
temp_1139958414.jpg
temp_-1820805022.jpg

I think the wood is black locust but maybe someone can tell me for sure. I made a makeshift log skid for a tablesaw and cut 1" pieces then glued and clamped them together to make a panel about 12" x 12" . After the glue had set, I used a compass to draw concentric circles 1/2" apart. Then I made a mistake,er,um, mid-build design change. The instructible I was following by dave.vaness.79 (in my favorites) shows how to stack and glue scraps then draw a line down the left and make marks every 1/2" across the bottom to mark the angles for my bandsaw. Pic 4 is Dave's picture that shows the angles I was supposed to use on my bandsaw. I didn't stack scraps, I only used 1 piece to mark my angles before I cut the rings out on my bandsaw.. Needless to say, the angles were way too sharp and I wound up with a "ribbed" bowl so my salad bowl is now a fruit bowl. Once I had the rings cut out and glued the through-cuts, I stacked, glued and clamped 2 at a time until all the pieces were glued together. I used waterproof glue so that the bowl can be washed.

Finishing

temp_287628341.jpg
temp_1158053447.jpg
temp_-1928539298.jpg

After the glue had set, I used the blade from my block plane and a drum sander on my hand drill to clean up the inside. I sanded to 220 grit and finished with Watco butcher block finish. I don't know if the pics show it well, but the inside wound up with curved sections and I just eased the edges on the outside. I like the way it ended up looking and my wife says she likes it too(maybe she was just being nice, time will tell)