simple salad bowl (for 20) PIC

Re: simple salad bowl (for 20) PIC

Tom Mullane, Hagerstown, MD

>SWEET.. I love the grain...

Where in MD are you... Hagerstown here...

Re: simple salad bowl (for 20) PIC

Arch

>Mike, that's a proper woodturning; form, finish, and choice of wood (artistic craftsmanship) all blend to make your bowl a winner for both using and viewing. If you never put salad greens in it, just knowing that you could adds to its appeal because "truth is beauty". Thank you Mrs. Schwing. You should critique more often. Arch

For a salad bowl, the wife is always right. *LINK*

Russ

>Have you read my criteria for a proper salad bowl?? Item No. 1 is "Shape", with the advise to ask your wife, or the neighbors wife if you don't have one, because they KNOW what a salad bowl should look like; we don't.


What Makes A Good Salad Bowl

Yes, and that is exactly why I asked her

Mike Schwing from Maryland

>Russ, I have always remembered that line vividly from your article on salad bowls, and it was that line that made me take the thing, chuck and all, upstairs for her critique! Funny the stuff that sticks in your brain, eh?

I can imagine you walking around a grocery store fresh foods aisle,(haven't I seen a pic of you in a grocery/convenience store?) with a few roughed out salad bowls, asking the various women shopping "Is this a good salad bowl?"

Re: Yes, and that is exactly why I asked her

David Galloway

>Having been turning LARGE salad bowls lately, I really like the bowl.....shape and finish. I have enjoyed a video produced by Trent Bosch, a production bowl turner, called Decorating Utility Bowls. I have seen him demo at AAW and at local gigs. He opens your mind to some very interesting and tasty ways to accent the bowl without becoming gaudy. Great job on the bowl and an even better job listening to your wife.

By the way, I tried a vessel, Bihn Pho style, and my wife told me it looked like........(fill with any derogatory term you wish). I got the hint.

Spalting

Fred G - Cincinnati

>That�s a wonderful piece. If I may say so, your pieces are always very impressive � you also have a very good eye, salad bowls notwithstanding, of course.

Russ� alder bowl in his link looks spalted, which got me to wondering: is it acceptable to have any spalting in a bowl meant for actual use? If so, where do you draw the line? With use, any finish would eventually wear through and expose the spalting, I would think. The reason I ask, is that I have not completed any bowls, but have several practice blanks roughed out, some slightly spalted, waiting for me to turn them into firewood. Which is kind of ironic, since they started out as firewood anyway. I�d love to hear your thoughts on it, or Russ�, or anyone else willing to chime in.

Re: Spalting

Mike Schwing from Maryland

>Thank you for the kind words. I would base my comments to you on the spalting question primarily based on Russ's salad bowl article. Does it look like something you want to put food in? Pencil line spalt looks super, but I'm not sure everyone would believe it to be safe, it is kind of mysterious, especially to an uneducated user. Other spalting effects, like the light discoloration of apple, etc.. don't seem scary to me, but thats just me. They may seem unappetizing, all the while looking beautiful just the same.

I see quite a few silver maple salad bowls with some blue stain in them, but it is so hard to air dry silver maple and not get some blue stain that it seems acceptable, or at least the norm.

I'm no expert in this, but I think for the most part, not totally though, I'd save spalted pieces for display purposes.

Re: Spalting

Fred G. - Cincinnati

>Thanks for your response Mike. I was just wondering, since some people are highly sensitive to spalting fungi, and I'm assuming the fungi can reactivate if enough moisture is present. I know they also feed on sugar, which can be in salads (especially fruit salads).

I think without any objective data to the contrary, I'd have to pass on using anything with more than very minor spalting for food. Sort of a "gut feel" thing.

Re: simple salad bowl (for 20) PIC

Jennifer@Indy.USA

>Nice Mike,

I always enjoy seeing what you're up to with your lathe. Always something different!

Jen

Re: Spalting

Russ

>Spalting is one of those things that depends on degree, color, and whether it has progressed to where the wood is soft. If it looks dirty or rotten, it will not be purchased as a salad bowl; if it looks clean, it will.

It may not be my best example, and it may not show in the photo; but the spalting in the Alder bowl is very subtle, and a darker tan coloring than the wood, and there is nothing about it that looks dirty.

Re: Spalting

Guest

>Fred,

I'll not comment on the asthetics of using spalted wood as it didn't really seem to be the topic you were really concerned with. I read your question as being one dealing with the health issues.

Put quite simply, no-one really knows what the health risks of SPALTING and the fungus that produces it are. Like you said before, take your gut feeling and run with it because there's no definitive link in the medical and scientific community on this subject. I know, I've researched the heck out of it.

There's some anecdotal "proof" floating around every once in awhile but when the doctors are pressed, it falls apart and they admit to not being able to pinpoint the exact cause.

Put the best finish on the spalted piece as possible (it takes awhile to go through a poly or lacquer in normal use!) and inform the owner of it's potential problem. It *probably* has no more risk than most products but it's best to be safer with a warning, if you're going to do it for a foodservice item anyway.

Personally, I do make foodservice items from spalted woods but that's just me. You have to make up your own mind as usual.