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Using Red oak for bowls

Joined
Nov 1, 2013
Messages
325
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Location
Gulfport, MS
Website
www.woodtreasuresbybreck.com
Over all the years I have been making bowls I have made them from just about every local wood and oak except red oak because of their large pores. I remember a guy blowing bubbles through a piece of red oak when I was a boy. That stuck with me I guess, but I keep seeing people and companies selling red oak salad bowls. I was always afraid if a customer made a watery salad some of the juices might leak out and also food getting into the pores and people getting sick because they couldn't keep them clean. Please tell me what you know about using red oak is there a sealer that will effectively close off the endgrain pores that allows companies to make and sell them without any problems. I have always used it for firewood but never for food ware. It is a truly beautiful wood and would make some fine utility bowls if there is a solution to the permeability issues.
 
I’ve made many bowls out of red oak. The biggest problem is the tannin when turning it green, it will turn the cast iron on lathes and the steel on gouges black. Some elbow grease and steel wool *after* you complete green turning fixes that.

The finish I’ve used most of the time on red oak is General Finishes WTF. A little difficult to apply as discussed in another thread, but a half dozen coats or so and it looks good and holds up well. I have a couple cereal bowls that have had no problem holding milk for several years and still look brand new.
 
Howdy Breck......I wouldn't use red oak for a salad bowl, specifically because of the pores. I'm sure there are some sealers that would work, but then you might have to deal with toxicity issues. Perhaps, if it's big enough, you could always go the "fruit bowl" route......or maybe nut bowl, or candy bowl, or ring dish, etc. Red oak is such a beautiful wood, that it can always be used for decorative purposes.....

-----odie-----
 
I've sold a large number of red oak bowls. I apply two thin coats of Minwax quick dry poly, straight from the can. Both coats are sanded back pretty heavily. No returns, no complaints. Best way to judge, do an experiment for yourself to see if it leaks.
 
I’ve done a few red oak bowls from Quercus rubra — northern red oak.
mostly for friends who had a tree go down in their yard.
It is always fun to wipe first coat of Waterlox on the outside and have enough on the inside to wipe around.
After 2 coats there is no more bleed through so it would not leak salad oil on the table. After 5 coats the pores are level.

There are many red oak species
I have turned a bunch of laurel oak bowls.Quercus laurifolia
It is a southern evergreen oak that is classified as a red oaks but the pores are rather small.
It is a great wood for natural edge bowls and I often use it to demo cut rim bowls.

Oaks a three groups red, white, live.

Below are four dry unfinished oak bowls top two are laurel oak ( a red) for size the upper right is 16” from tip to tip.
Lower left live oak. Lower right a road pickup probably larel oak.
2485B911-6FDA-4E44-B07E-370B7D9FBCE7.jpeg
 
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