How to Carve a Wooden Bowl

Find or purchase for yourself a log that fits the size and shape of a wooden bowl you're looking for. For my bowl I used an oak log about 3 1/2 feet width and 1 and 1/2 feet in height.

Supplies

A log of your prefercence, a hand carving tool (I used an angle grinder), and some kind of varnish.

Step 1, Draw It Out:

Draw a circle to the dimensions you want of your wooden bowl, for this process you could employ the use of a compass, or just freehand it if you'd like. For my bowl personally, drawing a perfect circle doesn't matter as much since I want my piece to look more natural.

Step 2, Measure:

Measure out the excess areas of wood outside your bowl area, it's advised to try to carve your board to minimize the amount of wood lost outside the bowl for use in different projects if wanted.

Step 3, Begin Carving:

You can now begin the process of carving your bowl, starting from the outside of the bowl area with your angle grinder cutting the wood downward from the top. You should start out wider at the top and more narrow at the bottom and you bowl goes to the bottom of it.

Step 4, Carve the Inside:

Using a similar process to the outside of the bowl with the angle grinder, hollowing out the inside of the bowl. Make sure to the ample room on the edges to make the bowl stable and secure in the inside and measuring how far you want to go within the bowl you've carved so far.

Step 5, Add Your Varnish:

Once you have completed your natural wooden bowl, you can sand it down (optional), or you can keep a natural look to your piece and add varnish, personally I like to use a boiled lint seed oil, especially when dealing with a higher quality wood such as oak, since it brings out the natural color, and shows the detail within the grain of your wood piece.