I should take my own advice. I tell people to be careful to look for the tiniest checks in the end grain of a log because they will open up as the bowl dries. If a log section has been cut and sitting out in the sun for even a day or two, checks can sometimes run in further than one might think. I also warn against carving, during the green stage, in a breeze. You may have to close the shop windows on a windy day.

A good friend led me to some logs from a silver maple that had recently been taken down. This maple had been visited by ambrosia beetles. It seems that they share their name with the food of the gods because they create their own food within the tree. They bore a system of tunnels and chambers in a tree while carrying a fungus on their bodies. The fungus grows within the tree, generally following the path of the tunnels. The beetles, little farmers, cultivate the fungus growing on the tunnel walls and rely on it as their food source. I suppose the fungus looks less appetizing (to non-beetles) than the classic colorful ambrosia salad, but it sure does leave some bold streaks of color through the wood.

Seeing the abundance of streaks, I wanted to make the most out of this ambrosia maple log, so I resisted cutting off much end grain. As I shaved away gleefully on a breezy day, I noticed a couple narrow cracks working their way in from the ends of the handles (not long after the photo above was taken).

I walked across the shop calmly, pausing only to slam the bowl against my forehead a few times. I grabbed some liquid superglue and let it wick into the crack. I put a couple clamps across the handles for a day, then I removed the clamps and let the bowl dry as usual over the next few weeks. If the cracks were going to open up, I wanted to know now before investing any more time in the bowl. They stayed closed tight.

After the bowl was dry, I finished the inside and outside with gouges. On the exterior of this one, I worked the gouge straight around the bowl with cuts from a #6/12mm gouge.

When it came to the top of the handles, I wanted to add some mechanical assurance against those cracks ever opening up. A method I’ve used before is inlaying the classic butterfly keys, also known as bowties or dovetail keys.

I decided to make these keys look more like butterflies. So, I drew up a design for a stylized butterfly. For the wood, I reached for a small box stuffed with ebony offcuts. The box was kindly sent to me by Norm Sartorius a couple years ago and this was a great use for some of it.

I cut and filed three different sized butterflies, about 1/4″ thick. I traced around each inlay with a finely-sharpened pencil, then excavated the wood. I worked mainly with a narrow shallow gouge to first sink a perimeter just a little inside the lines, then break up the wood with a series of stabbing cuts, then plowing the chips out with the gouge. A couple times, then trim up to the pencil line, leaving the line. Some glue, then tap the butterflies down in. After the glue dried, I shaved and scraped them flush to the surface.

Two on one end, large and small.

Medium on the other.

There are a few more shots of the finished bowl below. It’s available for purchase. $875 includes shipping to you. If you’re interested, please email me at dandkfish@gmail.com. Thanks. SOLD

It is 16 1/4″ long, 10″ wide, and 3 5/8″ high. This bowl will hold a lot of fruit, bread, chips and such, but probably not the best for salad; your dressing might leak out through a few beetle holes.