varnish in bowl - Uses?

[alex grams]

I recently sold a bowl to someone, and was clear to them it was an oil varnish (waterlox to be exact), for a display bowl. Fine for maybe fruits/etc, but not a finish I would use if they intended to use it for a salad bowl. They later came back and said they would like to use it as a salad bowl and asked me if that was ok.

As far as durability, I have little concern with waterlox, it has always been a very hard, durable finish. But what about VOC/chemicals. Any thoughts? To be safe, I would say no, but after so many days of curing and no more offgassing, I personally wouldn't be too concerned,but still not sure I would advocate it as safe for someone else to do.

[Brian Kent]

I think it is safe to use as far as being food-safe. Because it is over wood that moves, it still could not be soaked or washed in a Dishwasher. Water could get in any cracks in the finish.

[John Thorson]

Brian is right, the Waterlox folks say it is food safe when fully cured although some buyers might not agree.
http://www.waterlox.com/faqs/woodworking/food-safe-non-toxic-wood-fnish

[Reed Gray]

After every thing cures, what is left is supposed to be 'inert materials'. If some one is hyper sensitive to the solvents, then they may have problems. It does take a month or so for every thing to cure. If it is a water based finish, it is a surface finish, and the biggest problem is that it will eventually crack and chip. They do look awful when they do, and the average bowl owner can't fix them, so it may come back some day with a "can you fix this?" Penetrating oils are better, and depending on the ones, can be easy for the owners to repair.

robo hippy

[Fred Perreault]

What Robo said. I have had a few friends come to me with their favorite salad bowl they bought from one boutique or another, and the bowls had been finished with a hard shell laquer, or varnish of some sort. The chipping and peeling was plain ugly, and they wanted to know if I could fix it. I explained to them the reasons for their problem and offered to try to fix it. I used my vacuum chuck and was able to hold the bowls and sand them inside and out, with a little hand sanding as well. Of course, I used a lot of sandpaper. I then used an oil finish, and they have been happy ever since.

[Lee Koepke]

The use of metal forks and knives to cut and toss salad would also increase the risk of chipping the finish. Would it be worthwhile to make another and swap it out? or sand the finish like above and use a walnut oil ? Thats alot of effort, but it would increase the lifespan.

[Pat Scott]

How many coats of Waterlox did you put on? My usual salad bowl finish is an oil/varnish, but I put on no more than 2 or 3 coats. Sometimes I will thin the oil/varnish 50/50 with Mineral Spirits. My bowls finished this way look just as good today as they did when I first made them, and I have not had to refinish or reapply more finish to any of them. I do make sure the finish is cured before using or selling (stick your nose right up to the bowl, if you can still smell the finish it's not ready yet).