Starting the huge yew bowl

5 May

Back in January, I was lucky enough to acquire a yew tree and have spent many a day chainsawing and rough turning the timber. Most of the bowl blanks are now drying in my shed, but I’ve saved the biggest piece of wood until now.

This is certainly the largest natural edge bowl I’ve made so far (although it hasn’t even been near the lathe, so I can't claim that yet!). I reckon I should be able to get something close to 20” diameter by about 10” deep. The first photo shows the piece of timber before processing. At this stage it is still a two person job when it comes to lifting.

The natural edge is outstanding and should create a very beautiful bowl when completed. I’ve outlined the shape with chalk before cutting.

Chainsawing the timber into a bowl blank. Some of these off cuts are big enough to make small bowls! I may need to take a slice off from underneath, since there are a couple of small cracks running through.