Segmented Wood Bowl

Summers Woodworking issued a challenge: Make something nice from an ordinary 2x4x8 stud. I couldn’t resist. For me, that means it would have to be round. But how to turn a 2×4 into something both round and nice? Hmmm.

So I decided to make a large segmented bowl, using almost all of the 2×4. I’m not sure what kind of wood it is except that is is some kind of softwood. I noticed this especially when fine short grain tips of segments would break away.

I wanted the base to be a pinwheel design. So the segments tips are offset somewhat. But then with the tips breaking away, I had to inlay small wood discs over the points from both inside and outside the bowl. The pinwheel effect is not noticeable. The base is also inlaid within the bottom ring. Since the base is 8 segments and all other rings are 16 segments, I did not want the change noticeable from the outside. In fact, by inlaying the base as a disc within the bottom ring, the change is barely noticeable from the inside of the bowl.

The other six rings each have sixteen segments, gradually increasing in diameter to about 14 inches. The walls are about 1/2 inch thick. I did not dare go thinner with this softwood.

I turned the exterior with a large bowl gouge; the inside with carbide scrapers.

The bowl ended up about 5 1/2 inches tall. It is finished with gloss lacquer.

I now have a very nice, large bowl instead of a common 2×4 stud.