Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Bowl finish
Barry in Richmond BC
>I turned a nice small bowl out of western birch this weekend, and finished it with mineral oil / beeswax (a la Richard Raffan). My son then proceeded to use it for cereal. After washing, the grain, of course, has risen, and its got a fuzzy sort of feel to it.
Is there a different foodsafe finish that I can use that will stand up to water, so the grain won't cause this sort of problem?
thanks
Re: Bowl finish *LINK*
Mk
>This guy used non-toxic acrylic coating on his.
http://www.aspencolor.com/bowls.htm
Re: Bowl finish
Denis Lalonde
>You could try "General Salad Bowl Finish"...It is available from Woodchuckers in Toronto or maybe try KMS in Coquitlam BC...
Denis
Re: Bowl finish
JL work
>In the words of a variety of people, but specifically Nick Cook - "Most finishes are food safe". You figure as soon as the solvents have evaporated, all you are left with is the finish - so you figure 48-72 hours for Waterlox, polyurethanes and the like. For BLO and tung oil, it takes longer as the oils take longer to set.
Re: Bowl finish
Mike Schwing from Md.
>My mother-in-law took a bowl that in my opinion was decorative and started serving food in it. Hey, it was hers... I didn't know this and when she told me she had been using it for food service I was shocked because it looked as good as new. It had been finished with Waterlox and she had been washing it by hand with a mild detergent.
All of the other salad bowls I have done received Watco. They look fantastic for delivery/presentation but water does to them the same thing you have noticed. Behlen Salad Bowl finish may be longer lasting than what you have now but it will also wear off and you'll have fuzzy grain - and so will the Waterlox if my MIL uses it very often.
I'm afraid the best you can do is to frequently perform some upkeep with the finish of your choice. Bare wood is probably the best choice of finish for salad bowls, but milk products might soak in and sour.
Re: Bowl finish
Edward
>After the sanding and before the finish is applied wet the bowl, dry it imediately, resand the raised grain and then apply your finish of choice.
I hold my kitchen tools under the tap, wet them thoroughly with warm to hot water and dry the surface with a towel. Resanding is done lightly with the last grit that I used. Then the finish.
Regular use may raise the grain some more, resand and apply more finish.
Re: Bowl finish
Russ Fairfield
>The reason that Waterlox is lasting so well in the salad bowl are those phenolic resins that are in the surface film. Watco is a Danish Oil and has no resins, just the polymerized oil, and it is not as durable. Yes it will have to be replaced. Like all finishes, nothing is permanent.
It may not be what you want to hear, but, my recommendation for milk and cereal is ceramic, glass, or plastic. There are some things that wood should not be used for, and serving a breakfast cereal is one of them.
When the dairy industry used a lot of wooden utensiles and storage racks for glass bottles, they were always bare wood, no finish, and they were cleaned with boiling water, followed by a strong Trisodium Phosphate bleaching solution every day. That was the only way they could control the bacteria count that was monitored by the local health officials. The industry went to 100% stainless steel for a reason.
If you want to continue the use of a wooden cereal bowl, the daily washing in boiling water and a strong bleach solution is the only way to control bacteria from the milk. That dictates using bare wood because there is no finish that we can put on the wood that will stand up to the washing and sterilization.
Re: Bowl finish
Don Henthorn
>Right on, Russ.
