Bowl Finishing question-Waterproofing with previous Beall process

[Glenn Torbert]

Finished up a beautiful spalted maple bowl two days ago using Behlen's Master blend followed by the Beall process. However my wife decided yesterday to use the bowl in the kitchen for dinner. After a limied exposure to water the exterior and interior of the bowl is now rough. Has anyone had any experience with treating a bowl with a salad bowl finish or making this type of bowl water resistant. If the wax need to be removed should I try to sand it out or remove the wax using Hot water........I really like the finish I am using but I want to make these bowls cross functional in the kitchen. Any suggestions.?

[Reed Gray]

Raising the grain is common with sanded wood. The fibers tend to lay down, then when it gets wet, they stand back up. You can reverse sand to keep that down to a minimum. Also, getting the wood damp before final sanding (220 grit and above) then sanding again does the same thing. I have found that power sanding reduces this to almost nothing. If you want, a couple of scrubs with a scotch brite pad will also do it.

robo hippy

[Dale Bright]

Hi Glenn,

I would just sand the bowl again to 400 grit. Spray some water on it to raise the grain and sand again with 400 grit. On a bowl for use in the kitchen, I use walnut oil and somtimes a mix of bee's wax and walnut oil. I usually but several coats fof walnut oil for a good soaking.

Dale

[Bernie Weishapl]

Glenn I would also do as Dale suggested. I use Mike Mahoney's walnut oil usually 2 or 3 coats putting them in the sun to cure. I just sit them in a window that gets sun as the sun will cure the oil according to Mike. I also Minwax Antique oil generally 3 coats drying 24 hrs in between. Ernie Conover told me that is all he uses on his utility bowls. Both are very serviceable. I do not buff my utiltiy bowls as I feel is doesn't add anything.

[Michelle Rich]

spalted maple would not be a choice I would make for a "kitchen" bowl.. cherry/walnut/maple or such would be a much better choice. oil & wax mix is what I would use.

[Mark Levitski]

I would be careful with using certain waxes for kitchen bowls, only for how some kinds of it react to water. Years ago we had one of my big cherry bowls in the kitchen as a fruit bowl, and over time, after having fresh fruit sitting in it and getting wiped out a few times with a damp sponge, it looked awful. I had used a walnut oil finish followed by carnuba wax. I also used this for the pieces I took to art shows. When it rained, every little drop that landed raised a white spot. Those water marks from the wax might be what you're seeing as "rough", rather than just raised grain. The bowl basically becomes one big water mark. That big cherry bowl needed to be completely refinished by putting it on the vacuum chuck, resanding all the wax off, and reapplying walnut oil. Like Bernie, I use and like Mahoney's oil for utility bowls.

Mark

[Chris Burgess]

100% Pure tung oil. I pick mine up at Woodcraft. Can take up to 10-20 coats to quinch the bowls thirst but the results are well worth it. There are some good articles out there on how to use it. I will let the bowl dirct me. The first couple of days I will coat every 3-4 hours until it stops soaking in w/ the 1st few coats a 50/50 blend w/ Mineral Sprits or other thinner and Tung Oil. Then I will move to every day then every 3-5 days. You want to check it daily and clean off what weeps back out. Then entire process could eat up a month so you have to be patient w/ it. Again this is 100% Pure Tung oil not the blend you get at the box stores. I have seen some vids on youtube whith a guy the blends equal parts Tung, Lemon Oil and Poly w/ very nice results but am not sure if it is water tight like just using Pure tung. The Tung w/ fill the grain and dries hard. Water will bead on the surface.

[Prashun Patel]

This may be heresy, but I'm of the mind that for most food applications, any varnish is a good choice. The only caveat is that you have to let the finish completely cure, and you have to wash it gently.

I'm not talking about building up a big film that can chip and crack and can be hard to repair. I'm talking about varnish or oil/varnish applied by rubbing in and wiping off to create an 'in-the-wood' finish. You apply it just as an oil finish and stop when the sheen is uniform and even. This creates a good moisture barrier (vis a vis drying oils like tung and BLO) that is still easy to repair.

I've used Waterlox on serving bowls and cheese trays with no ill (literally) effects. Again, you have to wait until it cures (which is conveniently very close to when it stops smelling like varnish). Polyurethane is probably an even better choice because it is less brittle than other varnishes.