Carinated Bowl

Carinated — “The shape is defined by the joining of a rounded base to the sides of an inward sloping vessel.”

carinated bowl lifted to show bottom
carinated bowl side view

Doesn’t look all that fancy from the top, but when you slip your fingers underneath to pick it up…

carinated bowl lifted to show bottom

Mmmm. I love the texture of this shallowly gouged surface. This one was cut with a #5 gouge.

carinated bowl full bottom

The bowl doesn’t seem all that big, but the carving took a surprisingly long time.

carinated bowl closer view

There’s a lot about this bowl that’s a different from my usual designs. I’m quite fond of this angular shape, and not just because it means I get to say “carinated” a lot. The foot is not my normal profile, and putting the carving on the underside is definitely new. I love the surprise factor, though, when I watch people pick it up. Their fingers notice the difference before their brains register it.

carinated bowl angle view of bottom

Carved surfaces don’t take well to sanding. It dulls the crisp edges. But there was a fair amount of wood fuzz here to catch the surface of the fingers, and the whole thing just felt a tiny bit rougher than I wanted. I ended up burnishing the surface with a heavy-duty red scotchbrite pad. It did soften the peaks and the wood’s natural glitter just a bit, but it produced the more finger-friendly surface that I was looking for and got rid of the little protruding wood fibers. I finished it with a coat of walnut oil.