Salad bowl finish

[joe marra]

Looking for ideas on how to finish a salad bowl I just finished turning for a friend( Ambrosia Maple). What good food safe finish do you recommend? Thanks

[Don McIvor]

Beautiful bowl, Joe.

First off, all finishes are food safe once they have cured, so I wouldn't choose a particular finish just because the manufacturer is marketing it as "food safe."

For a food service bowl, I like to go with oil-based finishes because they are easy to maintain. My personal preference is for tung oil (the real stuff, not "tung oil finish") thinned with mineral spirits, turpentine, or limonene. Walnut oil is a reasonable alternative, but it's not quite as water resistant as tung oil. Walnut oil also adds very little color to the wood--whether that's good or bad is a matter of personal preference.

[Wally Dickerman]

Turners like Mike Mahoney and Dale Larson who turn hundreds of salad bowls use walnut oil. Mahoney markets a walnut finish which I have used. I like it. It does take a long time to cure

[Dale Miner]

A very nice looking bowl and a nice piece of maple. The contrast between the ambrosia stain and the wood is attractive.

As to a finish, others have given you good advice, but I would like to add that it will be neccessary to plug the beetle holes to keep the salad dressing from getting on the table and to keep food bits from lodging in the holes and starting a culture of undesireable bacteria between uses.