Show me some Popcorn Bowls

[John Hart]

Hey gang. Today, my neighbor Eli asked me for some advice. He cut down a couple of large Poplars (3 foot diameter) and cut them into 10 foot lengths. He'll be taking them to the sawmill in the next couple of weeks to be sawn into 5/4 lumber. Anyway...They've developed cracks and he's worried. So I grabbed my chainsaw and he grabbed his....we made fresh cuts and I introduced him to Anchorseal. He was so happy that he asked me to order a 5 gallon pail for him and then he gave me 1000 pounds of Ambrosia Maple! Big pieces. 2 feet in diameter and 15 inches thick. The figure is awesome.

Anyhoo....what this long story boils down to, is Eli and family are popcorn fanatics....so I thought I'd make them a popcorn bowl. What's a good form, size, thickness for a nice unique popcorn bowl? Anyone have pics of their favorite? I'd like to rough this out tomorrow.

Thanks in advance!!

[Mark Pruitt]

No pics, but the popcorn bowls I am accustomed to eating out of are 12-14" diameter and about 6" deep. That'll hold a bag of microwave popcorn.

[Keith Burns]

John, I'm sorry bot no more being nice..............YOU SUCK

[Jeff Moffett]

Show me the Ambrosia Maple...I'll show you a popcorn bowl.

[Nancy Laird]

John, my favorite popcorn bowl is about 10" in diameter and about 8" deep - lets the unpopped kernals drop to the bottom out of the way of the good stuff.

Nancy

[Curt Fuller]

John, I don't know how the Amish families are but here in Utah the Mormons could clean out a 14" popcorn bowl in one grubbing. I'd say take the number of kids Eli has and make that many nice 12" bowls with a big 14"er for Eli and Mrs. Eli to share.

Half a ton of Ambrosia, eh?

[Bernie Weishapl]

John my favorite popcorn bowl is 11" X 6". I agree with Curt on the bowls.

[Earl Reid]

Nice going John,
My old popcorn Bowl was about 12 " X 6"
No more PC for me.
Earl

[George Tokarev]

Microwave 3.5 oz bags make 10x4 a useable size. From there on up, you border on community use.

I consider that a popcorn bowl will be passed around, so I make a thumb grip undercut on the inside of the rim. I also favor deeper rather than broad designs like salad bowls, because popcorn benefits little by being tossed toward the middle as you do with lettuce.

Two other things I consider important are a bottom of at least a half inch thickness for insulation and center of gravity and a resin-free finish which will not blister from the old maids. Walnut oil is good.

Maple shows the configuration, cherry a closeup of a large thumb hook. You can do with much less.

[George Conklin]

Here's mine, John

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Maybe if I could get somebody to send me a large enough blank (hint, hint) I could make one from wood.

[Brett Baldwin]

I've got a large chunk of pine that my mini won't spin George.

[Rick Smith]

A chunk of dunno that kept getting underfoot. 7 1/2" tall by 6". Good for one bag of Orvil's... with room to shake the kernels down to the bottom. One coat of lacquer on the outside, and mineral oil on the inside. The "lip for grip" makes a difference.

[Rick Smith]

Didn't upload the first time...

[John Hart]

Thanks Everyone!! First, I have to satisfy Jeff's morbid desire to look at pieces of trees:

Here's a few. These pieces weigh about 200 pounds a piece. The neighbor boys hefted them into the truck and I just rolled them off.
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Then I cut out a piece this morning (about 5am) and mounted it up. Now this was intended to be an experimental piece, just to see how the wood behaved. It had some spalting and some maple syrup tap holes so I figured that it would make a good test case.
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[John Hart]

So....considering all the input and trying to add a little of my own style....I came up with this.
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Now...I'd really like some honest, and even painful criticisms on this. It's only 10" diameter and 5" deep and I'd like the gift to be 13-14 inches in diameter. I used walnut oil on it...but it kept soaking it up. (fairly dry) So I decided to experiment with finishes again.

So the end result was a little DNA...a little Oil....a little Behlen's....and a little shellac. Seemed to work pretty good and frictioned up a nice semi-gloss look.

Oh....And while I was running around yesterday, I saw this sign in a little Amish chainsaw repair shop
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