PUTTING two YEARS into ONE bowl

Over the last few months, [Frank Howarth] has been putting a lot of effort into a enormous sequoia log he started milling two years ago. He recently completed a fantastic chair, but in the years these enormous blocks of lumber have been sitting around, he’s always had one project in the back of his mind: a huge wooden bowl made from this sequoia log.

The wood for this bowl came from a relatively small cutoff from the original sequoia log. [Frank] had initially cut this cutoff into a circle to let it dry for an eventual run on a lathe. The bowl blank was so big, though, that he needed to create a jig to trim off many of the excess and keep from wasting numerous hours with a gouge.

With a bowl this large – about 20 inches across – simply screwing it onto the lathe wasn’t an option. [Frank] had to construct a jig for his chuck, capable of holding the bowl by the rim so he could shape the bottom.

The end product, coated with linseed oil and beeswax, is a work of art. Making anything this size on a lathe takes a lot of skill, and we’re thankful for [Frank] sharing it with us.