What do you suggest for care of wooden bowls?

[Odie]

We've all been asked by others how to take care of wooden bowls and other turnings.

For those intended for food use, I suggest doing what you would for a cutting board.....wipe with vegetable oil after use. No immersion, or heaven forbid.....a dishwasher!

For the decorative bowls, just about all of them are finished with Carnauba wax using the Beall polish/wax system, I suggest they use any of the commercial household waxes they may be using on their other furniture, and buff by hand with soft cloth. They will probably never get the high luster I get with machine polishing, but the bowls still look good and are protected. I have personally used a spray on.......Without going and checking the brand name, I think it's called Liquid Gold.....or, something like that. I believe it came right off the shelf at the local grocery store.

What do you suggest to those who ask for your advice?

ooc

 

[David Somers]

Similar thinking for me Odie! For the utility bowls I am leary of using vegetable oil, or any oil that can become rancid unless that is all they have. Even mineral oil is fine so long as they keep in mind it evaporates over time and will need to be reapplied more frequently.

Happy New Years Eve!

 

[steelguy]

Odie - don't let my wife hear about only wiping cutting boards. In our house, if she thinks chicken has even driven by the place, in the dishwasher goes the board. They look like hell, but the critters are dead!!!

A friend purchased a partially segmented bowl of mine at a church fundraiser. She put it through the dishwasher - a real finish and shape changing experience!!

Happy New Year - wll it be 2010 or 1810 in the Great Northwest Territory????

Jerry

 

[MichaelMouse]

Depends on what they're being used for and what you've done to them in the way of a finish. Two things I won't do is tell people to put a non-curing oil on them to collect dust, nor to store bowls exposed deliberately or in the course of use to (non-curing) vegetable oils in a way that limits exposure to oxygen. That's rancidity.

Certain bowls, like popcorn or salad types must be exposed to oils in the course of use. I advise people to wipe them after use with a paper towel, and use vinegar as an antibacterial wipe before use. I generally have a couple of applications of a curing finish in such bowls to help reject penetration.

Bowls with film finishes can be wiped with a bit of detergent as an antibacterial, and dried.

Bowls with no finish can be cleaned with hand dishwashing methods. Doesn't seem to affect the taste of the oatmeal.

 

[Odie]

Rancid


Thanks MM and David.......

Your comments mentioning "rancid", is making me rethink my recommendations of using vegetable oil on bowls intended for food use.

I'm wondering if there is some kind of food-safe oil that could be used as an alternative oil base.

This may be one of my usual nutty ideas......but, doesn't margarine have some preservatives in it? If so, couldn't margarine be used on a bowl for maintenance?

I have been using General Finishes, salad bowl finish on my food-safe bowls.

ooc

 

[Vaughn]

...I'm wondering if there is some kind of food-safe oil that could be used as an alternative oil base...

Pharmaceutical grade mineral oil is food-safe and doesn't go rancid. I've used it on cutting boards for years. I've also used it on raw wood bowls with good results.

 

[Odie]

OK, thanks Vaughn and David.......

Mineral oil is now on "the list".

I've been using vegetable oil for as long as I can remember. If you use vegetable oil in cooking, then there is a replenishing supply of it, and rancidity isn't much of a consideration......I don't think.

ooc

 

[David Somers]

Good Morning All!

Odie.....Vegetable Oil is probably not really bad if the utility bowl is used alot. Then it is always being washed and replenished on the bowl and turning rancid is not an issue. The bowls I made for Casey though sees furious bouts of use followed by long stretches of dust collecting depending on need and whims. So there is lots of opportunity for oil to oxidise and go rancid.

As Vaughn said, Pure Mineral Oil from a pharmacy is great. (not baby oil....baby bottom smooth is lovely, but the scent is terrible in salads!...the scent of the baby oil I mean....not the scent of baby bottoms....though both seem like they would be undesireable in your salad) I use Mahoney's Walnut Oil or any equivalent walnut oil I can find....meaning a stabilized walnut oil rather than a raw oil....but that is hard for a bowl owner to get so mineral oil is probably as easy to deal with as you can ask for...cheap, easy to apply, readily available in the corner drug store, etc.

Vog here in Volcano is wicked today! Higher levels than I have seen in a while. Thank goodness for tight windows and a good SO2 filter chugging away! On the good side.....the Koa trees have blossoms galore and bright red Apapane birds are everywhere feeding on the bugs the blossoms attract. Pretty cool. Hope you are having a spectacular day!

Dave

 

[robo hippy]

I can't think of an oil that I haven't seen recommended from time to time: sun flower oil, grape seed oil olive oil, linseed oil, canola oil, peanut oil, and a few others. I prefer the walnut oil. Oiling them really isn't necessary, but they do feel and look better for sales purposes. I had a bowl made from a kiln dried piece of eastern ash, for 10 years that went to all my craft shows, and served as my food dish. It was snow white, and now is a nice deep amber color. Original treatment was mineral oil and walnut oil from the grocery store. I ate everything that would fit into a bowl from it, from soup to ice cream, from bar-b-q to stir fry, fish, salads, you name it (I do draw the line with oysters though). I never retreated it. Most of the time I would just rinse it out with water and some times use a plastic scrub pad on it. The only time I soaped it was when it started to feel a bit gummy on the inside. You can soap, or I have also used table salt and a wedge of lemon or lime. Never a problem with going rancid. They do need to be out so they can breathe. Just think what happens to a piece of wood if you leave it in a plastic bag with some dampness. They are not made to store food in, put in the fridge with food in them, go in the micro wave, or the dishwasher.

robo hippy