Mark's Poker Night Bowls

Mark writes “This idea all stems from the fact everyone in our group likes to eat. We always take a break in the game to eat what can only be described as a feast. Trying to keep up with who put their chips where, got to be a hassle. So I started bringing a bowl I'd turned to keep my chips in. Well, everyone decided it was a good idea, so I went to work. I found dimensional hardwood at one of the big box stores, (where you save big money), and picked up 1×4's in mahogany, poplar, maple, aspen, alder, and yellow birch. Cut them to length, and glued them together.

The thin blue line bowl is 3/4" plywood from the orange, big box store. For this one, I cut five 10" squares, then cut to round, then glued them together. Turned to round on the lathe, sanded and sealed to 800 grit. Then I cut a groove approximately an inch deep, and applied sealer in the groove. Then used packing tape to wrap around it. Using the cut corners as a cradle, poured resin while the blank was on its side. When the resin cured, I turned it to shape, sanded, and applied black gel stain. When that dried, I sanded it back to expose some of the natural wood. Sealed, then added numerous coats of "shine juice". Did the same process for the inside. All bowls are finished with shine juice, or Howard feed n wax. The maple and Aspen bowls, for whatever reason, I sanded too thin. Actually put my thumb through the maple bowl. For those, I coated the inside with resin, using a rod drier to keep them moving. ( I also build custom fishing rods) that's about it. Oh, my bowl is the striped one. I used leftover pieces from all the others.”