Did you know that you can make a wooden bowl from two pieces of scrap wood? For reals. You can transform two pieces of rectangular wood and turn them into a beautiful DIY large decor dough bowl in just a few steps! Check out my tutorial below to find out how to make your own!
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Length of time for project: ~24 hours (only 1-2 hours active working time- the rest is glue drying time)
Cost: <$15 (free if you have scraps)
What you’ll need: 2″ thick wood (any width you desire), wood glue, jigsaw, table saw or circular saw, multitool or grinder to distress, sander, wood filler
What I learned: This project is surprisingly easy to achieve if you have the right tools! I will totally be making another in the future. Wooden dough bowls are perfect for tablescape decor!
Step 1: Gather supplies
You will need two pieces of 2 inch thick wood for this project. The width and the length can vary based on your desired end size. For this project I used two 2 x 10 boards each measuring 30 inches in length.
Step 2: Cut your wood
Based on the information above, cut both pieces of wood to the exact same length. Then do a rough outline on one piece of wood to create an oval or circle that you will cut out of the top board. You should leave an approximately 2 inch border around all edges.
Once the outline is drawn, take a large drillbit and drill a few holes scattered along the outline. These holes will be used as a starter holes for your jigsaw to cut out this middle piece.
Take your jigsaw and cut along your outline until you have the oval or circle cut out of the middle of your top board. I also rounded my outer edges here which is optional.
Step 3: Glue up
Glue your cut out top board to your bottom board. Be generous here with the wood glue. Clamp in place and let dry for at least 24 hours.
Step 4: Cut the angled edges
Once the glue is dry, run your two connected boards through a tablesaw or circular saw to create an angled edge. I set my tablesaw at a 30° angle and ran the boards through on all four sides.
Step 5: Beat up your wooden dough bowl
Use whatever tools you have on hand to create a weathered vintage hand carved look to your bowl. I used my Ryobi multi tool here to take out some chunks and add some cuts and character. You don’t want super straight edges here so make sure to soften those up by removing bits of wood here and there. Have some fun with it!
Step 6: Fill Seams
Apply wood filler along any seams where the two boards meet. Once dry, you will want to sand the whole piece.
Step 7: Apply a finish to your DIY dough bowl
At this point you can apply whatever finish suits your space or tastes. My hope initially was to keep this a bit more natural but all the furniture in my home is darker in color so ultimately I opted to make this a bit darker as well. Dark wax was applied all over the natural wood surface to fill-in the gashes and dents and create depth. I ran out of dark wax along the way and substituted with a bit of General Finishes Java gel stain to finish it out.
Step 8: Decorate your DIY dough bowl
Fill your new gorgeous DIY large wooden dough bowl with any type of decor you like! It’s fall here and I wanted mine on the dining table so I added some fall florals along with some cute pumpkins.
This scrap wood dough bowl is a super fast and inexpensive project that will provide so many new decor options for your home! I can’t wait to change this up for the holiday seasons and love having this dough bowl as a centerpiece for my dining space! Looking for an even easier project that add some decor to your dining table? Check out my wooden box centerpiece as well!