Carving bowls - with or against the grain?

[CAL]

I'm very new to carving, so far I've made spatula and a couple of whistle's.

I'd like to try a small bowl / kuksa and have just cut back the trees in my garden so wood isnt a problem...

From some of the guides on here I see that people tend to carve into the grain, i.e. the bowl is started at the cut face of the branch and is carved into its length. Would it be disasterous if I was to cut a branch in half length ways and then carve the bowl into the wood. That way the handle would run in the direction of the grain and the bowl would start in the centre of the branch and go towards the outside?

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks,

Craig.

 

[Kerne]

Carving as you suggest will be easier than carving into endgrain - especially if the wood is dry.

 

[robin wood]

Yes definitely the way you suggest is the way to go, carving into the end grin generally results in a weaker vessel more likely to split (can be done if you know what you are doing)
After splitting yur log in half make sure you remove all the pith and central growth rings before you start to carve otherwise it will split as it dries.

 

[CAL]

Great. Thanks for the advice, I'll have a crack at it this weekend.

I'm finding wood carving really addictive and satisfying which is odd becuase I'm not artistic at all so I normally find craft based things very difficult.