“Chippin’ Right along …

 The first 30 Bowls for the MARCH 9th sale are now on the “Bowls” page so that you can preview them thru 3/08. I have had so many people contacting me wanting my work, but I couldn’t tell them exactly when the sale would be as until the bowls were sufficiently dried “I didn’t know myself”. I want everyone to have an equal chance of getting one hence the 2 weeks advance notice. March 9th is the first sale date for 2026.

There’s an easy “Homemade Bread Recipe” at the bottom of this page !!!

 Thank you for your interest in my “Food Safe” Handmade Wooden Bread Bowls. 

    After making a bowl, it takes several weeks / months to carefully “dry” them. It all depends on the wood, the temperature and the humidity. This winter had been brutal. I was behind schedule as the bowls hadn’t got sufficiently dried. 

 To Buy A Bowl …

  Send me an email late on 3/08 or after – list the bowl(s) that you want that have prices under them, also for your “BEST CHANCE” list the ones you would be happy with so that “IF” your #1 choice has already been requested by someone else before I got to your order, I can go to your #2, #3, etc. quickly to hopefully match you up without delay.  BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE ADDESS THE BOWL WILL BE SHIPPED TO. I need to know where it’s going because all bowls with a “ship to” address in North Carolina – will have sales tax added for the county they’re shipped to. There is NO SALES TAX FOR ANY OTHER STATE.

   I PAY All SHIPPING in the lower 48 states (no international sales!). My bowls are of the best quality you will find anywhere. Every bowl I sell has been sanded to at least 220 grit smooth, most to 400 grit. 

 “Thank YOU” to the many people who have offered up prayers on my behalf. It really means a lot !!! Old age and health issues are really slowing me up.  There may not be many more bowls made by me as my health continues to go downhill.

Why Does “Someone” Make Doughbowls?

  There’s right many dough-bowl makers around the country. I’ve taught many of them myself. But I don’t think that many of them are making bowls simply “for the money”. There’s many other ways to make a lot more money, with less work or risk of injury.

  At 1st glance a “Handmade Wooden Bread Bowl” seems awfully high priced. That’s one reason I learned to make them – I wanted my wife to have one but I couldn’t afford to buy one back then. But before you think I’m getting rich off off of them … By making bowls as a business here in NC I pay the following …

28%  to State & Federal Income taxes, Social Security and Medicare –

22% for my business for sand paper, buying trees, food safe mineral oil, property tax, shop and tools supplies and upkeep, internet access and all the fees for this website.

Plus I pay the shipping  (in the lower 48). East coast averages around $42 bowl – west coast up to $69.75 (WA and Oregon state). If you chip out a bowl you can easily put 10-14 hours in it. Mine are also fine sanded. If you do the math – A $300 bowl would put less than half that in your pocket for 10-14 hours of hard work … you may get minimum wage for your efforts.

  I make them because I’m hooked on the beauty! Seeing what GOD alone put there for me to uncover. For those who just make them for the money, that will quickly show up in the quality of their work (or the lack there-of).

But why do I Make Doughbowls ???  The letters below – they tell it all…

Below is the first 2 letters that I received last year from some after receiving their bowls …

A Special Christmas Present

   For Christmas of ’23 – I wanted to do something special for my granddaughter. She had worked hard getting her nursing degree and we are so proud of her. She’s a person that really holds on to memories and family is everything to her.

  When she was small, she loved to play in the leaves each fall. My wife Nancy and I would rake up all the leaves from a big maple in our front yard and go over near the woods and gather even more from all the trees that surround our yard to make her a nice big pile. The two dogs that we had at the time “Sadie and Daisy” would join in the fun and all three of them would have a great time playing in the leaves.

  In May of 2022 a tornado tore up several houses just down the road from us. It also uprooted or broke off over 60 big oaks, maples and other trees around our house and destroyed a building I had recently built. I often wondered how the big maple in our yard seemed fine with no missing limbs when almost all others suffered severe damage. In the summer of 2023 after my first surgery of the year for cancer, I was sitting under the tree watching the Purple Martins flying around the houses we have for them and looked up at the tree admiring its beauty. I was shocked to notice a large crack in the trunk where it split into two trunks. The tornado had damaged the tree after all and if it split further, it would be on our house. I had a tree company come cut all the limbs off of it – leaving only the trunk so that I could preserve it until fall so I wouldn’t lose the log.

    I cut it down in November after the sap went down and made several nice bowls out of it. These were special to me because I actually planted that tree when it was very small – and here I was cutting it down to make bowls from it. Then using one of those bowls as a “canvas” to burn a picture of my granddaughter Katie and the dogs – playing in the leaves beneath the very tree that the bowl was made of. 

Easy Bread Recipe

I get asked for Homemade Bread Recipes from time to time. I’ve never posted one until now. This one is so easy you can’t mess it up !!!

  In your mixer – pour 2 cups warm water (105-110 Deg.) 1/4 cup of honey and 2 packs (1.5 Tbsp.) of quick rise yeast (I used Fleischmann’s). Mix this together well until the honey dissolves. Let set about 5 minutes. Then add 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 cup olive oil. Stir this together then add 5 1/2 cups of bread flour. Mix all of this, kneeding it well. Lightly grease your bowl and place the dough in it to rise for one hour covered by a towel. Punch it down and divide it into two loaves – place in your pans, cover with towel and let rise an hour. Place into oven and cook at 350 deg for 25 minutes. I brush mine with butter when they come out.  … Enjoy!