The Handcarved Bowl: Design & Create Custom Bowls from Scratch

The Handcarved Bowl provides step-by-step photos and directions for every stage of the bowlcarving process that will appeal to everyone from beginning woodworkers to seasoned carvers.

Carving wooden bowls by hand may appear to be just a romantic notion (don’t worry, it’s that too), but there’s also lots to learn about this natural material and unique process that will be undoubtedly serve you for every future woodworking project, no matter the tools or methods used. Bowl carving gives unparalleled insight to the basic properties of wood behavior, intimate knowledge of how tool edges interact with different grain, and the importance of learning to reframe failure as one of the keys of building deep understanding.

The Handcarved Bowl is the beginning of many projects, not just the three designs outlined here in step-by-step instructions, and both seasoned woodworkers and beginners alike will find the inherent value of carving using these methods. Along the way you’ll learn tips and tricks that will keep you safe, help you make informed decisions about your own designs, and give you the confidence to take your work in any direction you’d like.

Danielle Rose Byrd is a wood carver and sculptor who blends traditional and modern methods with ample experimentation and a wide range of tools to create pieces with varying degrees of function and heavy doses of texture.

Raised in the western foothills of Maine, she made many creatures, structures, and inventions using found items, sand, plants, sticks, trash, snow, and fabric. In college she explored music and sound sculpture, and while building a handmade fiddle-ish instrument constructed from burn pile wood found on campus, began carving scraps into spoons.

She has written for various magazines and journals, and from 2014-17 was a member of the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Hand Tool Event Staff, traveling the country teaching hand tool woodworking fundamentals.

Danielle lives and works in Bar Harbor, Maine, with her partner and two cats, Teddy and Baby. Find out more about her work on her website, daniellerosebyrd.com, on Instagram @danielle_rose_byrd, or on TikTok @daniellerosebyrd.