Segmented Chevron Wedding Bowl

My friends had a nice chunk of oak they were going to turn into firewood. Knowing that their wedding was coming up 8 months later I stole it from them saying I had a better use for it. Here is what that turned into.

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Notable Materials:

> Oak Log

> Cherry Board

> Zerbra Wood Board

> Wood Glue

> Linseed Oil/Beeswax Mix

Notable Tools:

> Sawzall

> Bandsaw

> Wood Lathe

> Lathe Tools

> Bar Clamps

> Miter Saw

> Disk Sander

> Strap Clamp

The bottom of the piece had to be flattened for mounting the face-plate. I couldn't get my chainsaw going so my solution was some brute force with a sawzall and chisel/hammer.

A circle was scribed on top to cut it to rough shape.

I move it over to the bandsaw to cut off the corners and get it down to roughly a circular shape.

The face plate is attached with some screws to hold the log in place.

I mount it to the lathe and rough turning begins. It's no wonder everyone loves turning green wood, the chips are flying!

After lots of cutting, the bowl is hollowed out to rough size.

I then pull it off the lathe and it's ready to dry.

After about 8 months of drying and some rounds in the microwave the bowl is ready to be finished. As I expected, a couple of cracks developed in the heart wood during drying so I cut the center of the bowl away on the bandsaw with my jig to hold it in place.

To replace the center of the bowl I decided to laminate a piece of cherry and zebra wood for a mirrored chevron pattern.

Clamps, clamps, clamps. I glue it up in stages, first a long strip.

I use my miter saw to cut down the pieces to length and place them in the pattern to preview.

These pieces are all clamped in place again in a couple of stages until the U is dry.

I flatten both sides on the disk sander to give a good surface for the glue-up.

The infill is cut to rough profile on the bandsaw then sandwiched into the bowl and glued and clamped into place.

After the bowl is done drying for the night, I pull it out from the clamps. Probably could have taken the infill shape down a little bit more, but it'll still work.

I mount the bowl back to the face plate and mount it back on the lathe!

I work on the inside and the outside to bring it down to final thickness, about 1/2" thick. Bonus action shot.

I sand through the grits with about a half dozen rounds of sanding until it shines at 300 grit.

The bowl is finished with a linseed oil & beeswax mix. It goes on in thin layers and I buff them between coats. About 5 coats total to get it to this finish.

Since I don't have a chuck I just part the bowl off from a waste block with a slight incline in the cut towards the center of the bowl. I then sand and finish the bottom after it pops off the lathe.

I use toner transfer to stamp their names and wedding date on the bottom of the bowl. This is just a matter of using a laser print and printing out a mirror image of what I want, then I use acetone to transfer the toner from the paper over to the bowl.

And it's done! Made the plane trip from Boston to Alabama in one piece for the wedding.

The bride was pleased :)

I'll drop the link to the build video down here for you too, enjoy!