Bottom of Birch Bowl Keeps Drying Out

[Eric Jacobson]

Any advice on how I can keep the bottom of this birch bowl from drying out?

276018

This is my personal salad bowl. I've used it every night since 2009. The bottom is pretty cut up because I cut my salad with a sharp knife in the bowl before I eat it. Also, I wash it in the sink each night with soap, hot water, and a scrubby. The inside bottom dries out, like in the picture, after about 4 nights now. The original finish was Watco Danish Oil (I didn't eat from it until the finish cured). I apply walnut oil several times a year. Recently, I let a pool of walnut oil soak into the bowl bottom for 2 days, hoping it would do the trick. I've also tried Chapman's Salad Bowl finish; it did even worse.

What should I do?

[Fred Perreault]

Maybe eat more Doritos instead of so much salad?? :-) I think that the frequent use as indicated, coupled with the water for washing, is the answer. You say "drying out". Is it cracking or otherwise failing, or does it just look "used", faded and opaque like a dry baseball glove? Using a bowl nearly every nite for 4+ years indicates some kind of success, rather than failure. Cutting through it's surface with the knife is probably not very good for it, either. Most heavily used wooden bowls and plates that I have seen, including my own, show signs of color fading. The more we use them the more we oil them.

[Reed Gray]

Using soap every time will dissolve the oil in the bottom. With my apple bowl, most of the time I just hit it with a plastic scrubby, and rinse. If I feel any food/salad dressing oil build up on the sides, that is when I use soap. The oil does need to penetrate and cure, and walnut oil does take a week or more to cure. Since the bottom of the bowl is all side grain, the oil will not penetrate as well as it does into end grain, so that area will always look to be more dry.

robo hippy

[Michelle Rich]

well, you could chop your salad outside the bowl..and if you use vinegar & olive oil, just wipe the little bits out, and leave it. don't wash it so much. The oil will keep the bottom from drying out. (I've done this for 40 yrs..it's not unhealthy. Olive oil never degrades & has anti-bacterial properties as does vinegar.)

[Paul Engle]

well, you could chop your salad outside the bowl..and if you use vinegar & olive oil, just wipe the little bits out, and leave it. don't wash it so much. The oil will keep the bottom from drying out. (I've done this for 40 yrs..it's not unhealthy. Olive oil never degrades & has anti-bacterial properties as does vinegar.)

I agree , don't chop your salad in the bowl and a warm water wash and rinse and wipe dry , unless you use a buttermilk dressing or something similar ( other than O&V ) I retired from Litehouse Salad dressing company and some tests we did with bleu cheese and etc. on my wood bowls . We ( the lab ) found traces from the buttermilk cultures so a soapy wash was needed ... I use Red wine vin and olive oil ( better for your heart ) instead and have had no problems since 2006 . Also Birch is a bit porus, better salad bowls from closer grained wood ( mine are Elm and Walnut ) not Oak , will help but not if you chop up you salad in the bowl, Or get a piece of granite round , or Corian or marble to fit the bottom for chopping ...

[Eric Jacobson]

I was hoping for a magical finish I guess. Perhaps I just need to let my oil cure longer before using. And, I'll stop using soap as much.

Funny that some of you are saying not to cut in my bowl. If we can build face-grain cutting boards, surely we can build bowls to cut in, as well. When I say "utility" bowl, I want to believe it. :)

I'll respond later and let you know how it goes. Thanks!

[Hayes Rutherford]

No magical finish Eric. The typical scenario for a salad bowl with hard finish is first it gets used, then scratched up, then oils get under the finish, then it gets thrown away. Simply wet sand the dreaded finish out of your bowl, minimize the cut marks and continue on. You might try cutting with the grain so the knife cuts do the least amount of damage and when it gets bad enough to need attention, sand it again. Its your bowl so cut away. No finish is an option and works fine. Face grain cutting boards are not the best, just easy to make.

Abe Lincoln once said "Don't believe everything you hear on the internet"

[Paul Engle]

I was hoping for a magical finish I guess. Perhaps I just need to let my oil cure longer before using. And, I'll stop using soap as much.

Funny that some of you are saying not to cut in my bowl. If we can build face-grain cutting boards, surely we can build bowls to cut in, as well. When I say "utility" bowl, I want to believe it. :)

I'll respond later and let you know how it goes. Thanks!


Rock maple boards are the only one I will use for cutting boards as the grain is very close and not porus so bacteria will not stick or grow ( we did a test in the lab and plastic held more bacteria than wood as the wood dries up the bact dies but not so much on plastic . Now we use an antibackterial towel { at home } on the wood and you are good to go once dry ) my wifes favorite is the first one I ever did it is 16 x 28 and is cherry and maple laminated 3/4 in x 24 sticks ... the glue kept undoing so she only uses it for veggies , bread etc - no raw or cooked meat . she ran a resturant for 25 yrs and never used plastic cutting boards . I think I would use only face grain or 1/4 sawn and not end grain as this grain is the artery for the tree and it's like the super highway of moving liquids , even collasped by drying / dying . anyway , back to the bowl ...... i'd stick with what Hays said and use the mineral oil for finish and then you would not have to worry about cuts so much ... just don't put 'em in the dishwasher .... :eek:

[Kelvin Burton]

Abe Lincoln once said "Don't believe everything you hear on the internet"

And I thought Lincoln pre-dated Al Gore? :eek:

[Robert Edington]

Nice bowl. Here is a thought. Some use liquid dish soap for drying wood during various phases to prevent cracking in turnings. It is the surfacant in soap that draws the moisture out. If you abrade your bowl by cutting in it and then wash it with soapy water, the risidual water will migrate to the bottom of the bowl (if placed upright) or just soak in to the abrasions causing the wood to react. The soap may be causing the finish on the bowl to lose adhesion and flake off.
I'd stop using soap as suggested, or only use it by exception and stop abrading the bottom. Treat the bowl with an oil and enjoy.

RP

[Dale Miner]

Any advice on how I can keep the bottom of this birch bowl from drying out?

276018

This is my personal salad bowl. I've used it every night since 2009. The bottom is pretty cut up because I cut my salad with a sharp knife in the bowl before I eat it. Also, I wash it in the sink each night with soap, hot water, and a scrubby. The inside bottom dries out, like in the picture, after about 4 nights now. The original finish was Watco Danish Oil (I didn't eat from it until the finish cured). I apply walnut oil several times a year. Recently, I let a pool of walnut oil soak into the bowl bottom for 2 days, hoping it would do the trick. I've also tried Chapman's Salad Bowl finish; it did even worse.

What should I do?

In about 25 or 30 years of daily use cutting up your salad, the bottom of the bowl will get thin and start to leak. Turn a couple more bowls that can be used when this one wears out and put them away for then.

Seriously, wooden bowls age well and the signs of use add to their charm. Wipe it with a bit of an oil of your choice from time to time and keep on keeping on.