Soap experiment Salad Bowl set

[Kathy Marshall]

I finished up the salad bowl set this afternoon when I finish turned the big bowl. It probably could have dried for a couple more days, but it had gone out of round enough that I worried that I wouldn't have enough thickness to true it up if I waited and it moved anymore. It should be fine though, the weight loss had slowed down quite a bit, and it sure turned like dry wood.

The big bowl is 10" x 5", the core is 7 1/4" x 2 1/2" and the small bowls range from 5 1/2 - 5 3/4" x 2 1/2". All are finished with a generous application of walnut oil and will be followed up with Mahoney's walnut oil wax.
My youngest nephew is getting married this month, and this set will be a wedding present for him and his bride.

As far as the results of the experiment, I'm calling it a success. There was movement in the roughouts, but it didn't seem as bad as other elm bowls I've turned, and not a single crack in the lot. The big advantage for me was being able to twice turn a bowl in less than a week. I do very few roughouts since I don't really have the space to store them and I don't have the patience to wait for months to finish turn a project, but it will be nice to be able to rough out a green chunk of wood, give it a week or 2 to dry and be able to finish turn knowing that movement will be minimal.
I'm sure different woods will give different results, so I'll be trying other varieties,and I imagine drying times can vary depending on wood and climate.

I hope you all enjoyed the experiment and if you give it a try, please post your results, I for one would be interested in how it worked for you.

236323
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[John Kent]

What a great wedding gift. Your nephew and his bride will love the set. There is nothing like a gift with all the love that goes into making it. I would say your experiment had very positive results!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

What a great looking bowl set! Your gift will be loved for long time!

I'll have to go back and read up on your drying process a bit. No problems with applying an oil based finish over the soap? Seems like it would cause problems...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kathy those are a great looking set. It will be cherished for yrs to come. I tried the soap experiment a year or so ago on some cherry. I had some problems with the walnut oil not taking in spots. I am sure it is something I did wrong but didn't like the outcome. I just anchorseal them now and set them aside till they are dry. It does take up space but I have plenty.

[Greg Just]

Very nice set of bowls - I'm sure they will be used for many years.

With regards to the soap, I have used this method in the past with good results. I would say a 90% success rate with only a few cracks. I always rinse the rough outs in cold water to wash away any soap residue and never had a problem with the final finish.

[Keith Westfall]

Kathy,

What kind and what mixture of soap (and I assume water?) did you use?

Thanks

[terry mccammon]

Kathy

I appreciate that you are a busy woman but could you post a detailed description of what you did, the kind of soap used (if it is dish washing "soap" it may actually be a detergent), did you rinse out the final turning prior to the oil finish, etc. I have studied all the prior postings and I am sure it is me, but when I began to plan to actually duplicate your steps, I got confused. Yes engineers are a PIA. Sorry.

Thank you for this interesting and useful exposition and the bowls are wonderful, someone is getting a really nice gift.

Terry

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks everyone!

What a great looking bowl set! Your gift will be loved for long time!

I'll have to go back and read up on your drying process a bit. No problems with applying an oil based finish over the soap? Seems like it would cause problems...
Steve, I didn't have any problems with the walnut oil. Once the piece has dried, you'd never know by looking that it had been soaked in soap and water, and there was no residue that I could feel, just a slight scent from the soap.


Kathy,

What kind and what mixture of soap (and I assume water?) did you use?

Thanks
Keith, I used about a 50/50 mix of Costco brand concentrated liquid dishwashing soap.

Kathy

I appreciate that you are a busy woman but could you post a detailed description of what you did, the kind of soap used (if it is dish washing "soap" it may actually be a detergent), did you rinse out the final turning prior to the oil finish, etc. I have studied all the prior postings and I am sure it is me, but when I began to plan to actually duplicate your steps, I got confused. Yes engineers are a PIA. Sorry.

Thank you for this interesting and useful exposition and the bowls are wonderful, someone is getting a really nice gift.

Terry
The basic steps were:
1. Roughed out the bowls leaving plenty of wood to return later.
2. Left the roughouts to soak in a 50/50 mix of soap and water (Costco brand concentrated liquid dishwashing soap) for about 24 hours. The big bowl soaked for about 48 hours.
3. Took the roughouts out of the soap mix, let them drip dry, then brought them in the house to finish drying. I weighed them twice a day and when the weight loss slowed way down, I finish turned them. The smaller bowls took about 5 days to dry and the big one about 8.
After finish turning, they were finished with walnut oil (I did not rinse the bowls before finishing).

[Michelle Rich]

thanks for sharing your process..great bowl set