How I made the Snack Tote

I have had some questions about how I made the bowls I posted in the Projects area. I thought a Blog entry would be the best way to respond. This one is for the Snack Tote.

I created my own paper template based on the Wood magazine plan but sized to fit the 10” x 10” piece of wood I had. Each bowl of the snack tote is 4” in diameter and 1-7/8” deep.
Placing the paper template on a 1/2” piece of MDF I used a circle cutter and made an Inside template.

I created another paper template with circles large enough to create 1/2” sides in the bowls. This paper template was placed on a second piece of MDF, and used to cut out the outside shape with a jig saw. I then sanded to the paper template. I then placed the circles that were left over from the Inside Template on the MDF template aligned them with the Inside template and fastened them down.

I placed the Inside template on the block of wood and drew lines for the bowls. Using a 1-1/4” Forstner bit I hogged out most of the wood from the bowl. I fastened the Inside template to the corners of the wood with screws, then used the template and the CMT bowl bit and extension collet to finish off the bowls. I now had a square block of wood with three round holes.

I placed the Outside template on the block of wood, the circles fit into the holes aligning the template. I drew a line around the template, cut just short of the line with a Jig saw then used the template to guide my router around to clean up the outside.

I used a 2” bowl sanding kit from Woodcraft to sand the inside of the bowls and hand sanded the outside. A wooden ball from my “stash of stuff” and a piece of walnut dowel finished it off.

I hope this answers the questions that were raised. If not, give me a shout.

-- LafayetteJack