treenware wooden trough rock and hard place

[photodog]

Well I think I wrote a check I may not be able to cash.
The wife and I were looking at antiques and she found this bowl / trough that was about 30 inches long by 10-12 inches wide and about3 or 4 inches deep. Looked like a block of wood with sides rounded off and center dug out.
Seizing the moment to acquire another tool, legitimately, I have a $15 coupon from Woodcraft, and wanting a two handed scorp which would work perfectly for this application. I stated that I could kick out one of those in an afternoon. Oh Boy! She says “OK! You can get the tool if you can deliver a bowl/trough.
OK what kind of wood?
The antique was very dark wood, not to heavy / dense stained walnut perhaps, not pecan, not hickory, not basswood, OMG now she has reminded me about the fourth time, that she wants me to make one, “just like that one, like you said you could.”
I have done some googling and treenware covers everything from made in china plastic replica bowls to some very primitive Real Antique plates and “troughs”

I had thought I would use an old draw knife I have and a rasp to shape the bottom n sides and use a drill press to hog out most of the center of the bowl to where I could scoop out the remaining wood and after working it over come up with a semi smooth inside and less smooth outside. As long as it sits flat and doesn’t rock and looks old and dark, I think I am safe. She wants it to be a table center piece, fill it full of “stuff of the season” for our harvest table.
Am I on the right track on executing the plan and what type of wood do I use and do you recommend any type of finish?
Thanks All

[Claude]

Since you're not going to put actual food it, it could be most anything. I'd suggest basswood, just because it's easier than many to carve. As to the finish, if you really want it to look "antiquey", use a light stain on it all over, and then in various places, add a dark stain to give it a mottled look - around the rim, in the bottom, on the side where one might grab it, etc. Then a nice flat varnish, followed with a bit of lemon oil furniture polish. To add to the aged appearance, take a hammer and a table knife and whack it in 3 or 4 places (before you finish it).

For that large of a piece of basswood, you could give Heinecke a call Heinecke Wood Products - they will cut any size you want at no additional charge.

Claude

[carver33]

I think I'd go for butternut if you can get it. It would be fairly easy to carve and has a beautiful grain. I'd finish it with a couple of coats of danish oil or similar hand rubbed finish. I've never tried it, but a medium stain might even bring out the grain and darken it a little.

On the other hand, black walnut isn't that much harder, has a very beautiful grain and is nice and dark to start with.

[Farmall]

Many of the original ones around here were either made of old growth pine (heartpine) or poplar. I've got a breadboard that is 30 inches long and 16 inches wide that I got from the granddaughter of the original maker who made it from a single piece of a poplar that a storm felled in 1905.....