Cool bowl, and quite an accomplished "helper".
That color and combo remind me of a psychiatrist's office I did decades ago. He wanted a mahogany wood veneer wall paper. But he wanted it to be very dark - black. I told him I did not know how unless I had it painted black. I had just gotten finished with a mid-rise in Lexington, KY that was supposed to have black precast - ain't no such animal and probably impossible without paint - and even then the sun reflections would cause it to be less than black. The Doc's interior designer furnished some 9-step formula for a "black" stain. Turned out very similar to your bowl - not really black - but he was happy. So all was well, well except for the cost of another 3 weeks of overhead while the 9-steps were done.
The poplar molds are interesting. My dad sent me a boxful of molds he had picked up at garage sale - also butcher block, but out of some sort of softwood.
