Mother's Day Gift - "Router Bowl"

[Keith Starosta]

After my Mom saw my first router bowl, she was very interested in what other things I could do, and dropped not a few hints that she'd love one! Very subtle...

This piece is made of mahogany and cherry, and measures 11.5" x 6.5" x 2". I finished it with BLO, dewaxed shellac, and three coats of gloss Arm-R-Seal. I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out, and my Mom was absolutely thrilled!!

Thanks for looking!

- Keith

[Jeff Mohr]

Nice bowl! Wow!

[Don Bullock]

Your mom will be happy. Great bowl.

[Mike McCann]

Keith

great moms day gift. What type of router bit do you use to route out the bowl?

[Jim Becker]

That's awesome, Keith!!!! Lucky mom!

[Bob Grimshaw]

Gorgeous bowl! Anyone I know would be very happy to receive that as a gift. Is that actually something that would hold liquid? I'd be really interested if it could bc I'm looking at doing a square vase.

I'm also curious if you glued up the pieces of mahogany and cherry first and then routed it out, or routed them first and then glued them up (which I would think would be REALLY hard to do).

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks, guys!! I gave it to her the other night, and she loves it!

Bob, I'm not sure if it would hold liqued or not. In its current form, I don't think it would, but I would think there is some sort of finishing schedule you could apply that would make it water-tight. Does anybody have any ideas?

As far as the routering, I use a Whiteside bowl/tray bit, with a guide bearing. I glue up a the whole blank first, then screw on a pattern of my choosing. I have a 1/2" collet extension from MLCS that helps me hog out all of the material, once I "hit bottom" with the regular collet. If you haven't seen it, check out this link for a great tutorial.

- Keith

[Walt Caza]

Hi Keith,
Great looking bowl..... you have every right to be happy with it!
Terrific gift for your mother, I should take inspiration to build something for mine, shame on me...
Thanks for sharing pics,
take care,
Walt

[Clara Koss]

After my Mom saw my first router bowl, she was very interested in what other things I could do, and dropped not a few hints that she'd love one! Very subtle...

This piece is made of mahogany and cherry, and measures 11.5" x 6.5" x 2". I finished it with BLO, dewaxed shellac, and three coats of gloss Arm-R-Seal. I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out, and my Mom was absolutely thrilled!!

Thanks for looking!

- Keith

hey i'm a mom and i surely would love one of these!!!! it's great for so many things...serving, bathroom tray for company's supplies, makeup tray wow... great job and elegant art work...

[John Thompson]

Excellent and quite beutiful Keith, as evidenced by the picture. I don't know what they have done in the last few weeks with pictures on the site, but the quality of them is exceptional compared to what they were several weeks ago.

Again... the piece is very nice as seen by all of us... you know well your mom would say it does regardless if it looked like a dumpster overflowing with rotten vegetables. Mom's do that...

Well done...

Sarge..

[J. Z. Guest]

Very nice Keith. There are those who are not too keen on the glossy finish, but I like it. My wife loves it, and tells me that most women prefer a glossy finish too.

I bet it was a big ol' mess of shavings after you were done with that!

[Louis Reed]

Nice job Kieth,

I've been doing woodwork for years and have not been aware of these bits and extentions. thanks for the video link. I'll have to try one. A bowl like yours would make a good gift to a friend when invited to dinner at thier home.

Once again nice job !!

Louis

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!! I appreciate it.

- Keith

[Lee Koepke]

Amazing.

This is something I really want to try now. I keep seeing all of the amazing things people do here with wood and realize I have only scratched the surface.