Although I try to keep to local woods when I saw this massive Spainish olive bowl blank I couldn't say no. The tree was thought to be over 1500 years old and was so big the local sawmill were streteched just to get it cut up. You can see for the untouched blank that there is so much promise in the wood with all it's endless swirles of grain.

The photo on the left shows the unfinished bowl with a large 'foot' cut into the bottom. I choose an extra large foot to cope with the massive weight of the bowl.

On the right shows the bowl mounted and ready to begin hollowing out the inside. I had finished the outside at this point as you can see the grain looks fabulous. I now had something to lose, when it looks this good halfway the pressure is on to make the rest look as good and most importantly not to drop it!

Here's my attemp at an action shot! The inital few centimetres of the wood are extreamly hard but once through the wood gets a little bit easier to work and the lovely olive smell begins to fill the room.

Here's the finished product, I'm very pleased