Carve a beautiful and useful bowl from an easily accessible piece of 2″ x 6″ lumber and a few readily available hand tools. No need for axe or adze or green logs (although you can use all three if you’d like). In the process, you’ll learn transferable skills and techniques. I’ve carved this design many times now, in different wood species and other variations. It’s a form that is both approachable and engaging regardless of one’s experience level. And it looks great on the table.
I’ve hand drawn full-size plans and patterns and written step-by-step procedures, illustrated with drawings and photographs, to lead you through the carving of the bowl and decorative motifs for the handles. You’ll get access to the downloadable and printable PDFs of everything. If you wish to print at full size, the main bowl plans will print on 11 x 17 paper at your local print shop (or try card stock for cutting out patterns to trace directly). You can also print them on 8.5 x 11 paper if you set the scale on your print menu to 75%. Everything else will print on 8.5 x 11 paper, or just access the materials directly from your computer or phone anytime.
I’m excited about the accessibility that this design offers. The tool kit required is small and all of the necessary tools are readily available from multiple suppliers without wait times. Any sort of workbench with a couple holdfast holes in it will serve well. A vise is a big help. If you have a bowl horse, it’s helpful, but you can certainly handle this design without it. And, no matter where you live, the wood is easy to obtain and store. Happy carving!
When you purchase, the PDFs of all of the following will appear below the “Purchase” button:
- Full-size plans for the bowl. You can take dimensions directly from the full-size plans for layout, or print them on card stock and cut out templates for tracing directly onto your blank.
- Full-size plans for two different tree designs for the handles. Both can be carved with no previous carving experience.
- Step-by-step procedure, illustrated with sketches, leading you through the bowl layout and carving process from start to finish.
- Step-by step procedures for carving each of the two tree designs, illustrated with detailed photographs of each stage.
- List of suggested tools with links. This is just for convenience. You may already have the tools and you can find all of them many places with no problem.
- Full-size pattern for “a crust/a crumb” inscription (an excerpt from an Emily Dickinson poem.)
- Plan/Pattern for a shorter/stouter bowl from a plank. Like the last photo in the slideshow below.
Check out some more photos and information in the slideshow below:
Reference directly from the full-size plans. 
Step-by-step tutorials lead you through the process. 
Illustrations help to make each step clear. 
The toolkit is simple and useful far beyond this project. You can always substitute what you may have, but a couple bent gouges, a mallet, a knife, a block plane, and a drawknife will do the job nicely. Some grippy padding along with a vise or a bowl horse is a big help. If you wish to do the layout by hand, as opposed to tracing from the plans, then grab a compass and a yardstick, too. 
Holdfasts are incredibly versatile and effective. I don’t know what I’d do without them. These ones are from Tools for Working Wood. Only $35 for the pair and good for many lifetimes. 
The decorative trees require only a gouge and a chisel. Detailed photos will lead you right through. 
Paint is always an option. The two bowls in front were carved from basswood and painted with milk paint. No matter where you are, good basswood is available online. I highly recommend Heinecke Wood Products at heineckewood.com 
This is the second tree I designed for the bowl handles. It may look complex, but it’s even easier to carve than the other style. Step by step. 
Here’s a cherry version underway. 
That same cherry bowl finished. 
In walnut with an excerpt from an Emily Dickinson poem. A crust, a crumb…fitting for a bread bowl especially. 
The pattern is included for those who would like to exercise their letter carving skills, which just involves making a crisp v-cut within the lines of the pattern. Or if you’re more skilled with a brush, paint it on. I have not written a specific tutorial on carving this pattern, but I have written many blog posts on the letter carving that are available. 
The underside of a butternut bowl. 
Have a little fun with creative details like some simple texturing of the foot. 
Or a little chip carving. 
A tulip poplar bowl, a very traditional species for bowl carving. It will mellow to a medium brown over time. 
The same tulip poplar bowl. When viewed from across a room, the lift and form under the handles is pleasing. 
The texture of the surface under the handles is another creative opportunity. 
Ready to serve. 
I have also included a plan/pattern for making this shorter and stouter bowl from a plank. Many decorative variations are possible.
Purchase:
This is a one time payment of $40. Once you’ve paid, you can access the materials here anytime. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you will be prompted to create one when you pay, which simply means providing an email and setting a password. That account will allow you to log in.
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 