I tried a new fluting pattern by going from foot to rim on the side of this cherry bowl.
I sketched some lines on in pencil as a general guide for the carving.
Then I worked from the center to the right…
…then back the other way. I like the slight variations that result from the repeated short cuts.
Anyway, cutting across the grain like that was a good solution for dealing with the band of interlocked grain.
This one is 17″ x 6 1/2″ x just under 4″ high. It’s already spoken for, but I have some other pieces nearing completion, including several spoons that should be ready to post sometime next week.
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
The fluting together with the red of the cherry look striking and grabs one’s attention. Beautiful work.
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Just when you thought the bar could not be set higher…
So beautiful!
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Interesting. What size/sweep gouge did you use, something like 5/16″ 7 sweep? Is that a special bowl vice you’ve created? I recently bought and restored an old Sjoberg bench with a shoulder vice and end vice to help with work holding – bowl holding. Hoping to try it out on a small bowl today.
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3/4″ (18mm) #5 sweep. That vise has pivoting jaws and gets detail work up to a more comfortable level. It goes by many names, including a guitar repair vise and gunsmith’s vise. I mentioned it in the following post, including links: https://davidffisher.com/2020/06/08/little-hens/ Lot’s of ways to go about it and make due with what one has.
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Dave,
The fluted bowl is magnificent. Wonderful design lines.
Scott Andrews Principal Stoner-Andrews, Inc 4750 Shelburne Rd PO Box 583 Shelburne, VT 05482 Off. 802 985-9456 Cell 802 238-4464
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Love that pattern! Could you just push the gouge thru the cross grain or did it require a carvers mallet. Beautiful work as always….
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No mallet required, especially across the grain like this. And you get more immediate and sensitive feedback when working just with the hands. there were a couple areas I had to reverse direction due to the unruly fibers in this piece.
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Hi Dave,
Wonderful fluting! Do you go full depth in one pass or work up to the depth that you want. Does use of a mallet leave start/stop marks?
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Pretty much full depth in the first pass, Skip, but then back through the adjacent flutes to tidy up the line of the ridge between them. These flutes are relatively narrow and shallow compared to some that I’ve done on the exterior of larger bowls. Here’s a post from three years ago with more detail on the flute carving process: https://davidffisher.com/2017/08/22/flute-playing/
Yes, the mallet will tend to leave more distinct stop marks between strikes. The repeated pushes of the gouge by hand does leave a subtly textured flute, but the transitions between forward slices are more smooth than when you move forward using the mallet. Nothing wrong with the mallet option though, if one likes the resulting texture, especially on the exterior of a bowl.
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