Best finish for a rolling pin

[John Ziebron]

A friend asked if I could make her one of those French style rolling pins and, of course, I said yes. I'm not exactly sure which type of wood would be good but I have some 8/4 hard maple that I think would work. My bigger concern is what type of finish would be best. I have no experience in making anything wooden that's used in the kitchen other than cabinets.

[Paul F Franklin]

I made a rolling pin for my wife maybe 30 years ago out of hard maple. I finished it with 3 or 4 coats of behlens salad bowl finish. It still looks like new even though it gets a fair amount of use. Of course, it has never been in a dishwasher; I think you need to set that expectation.

[Jim Becker]

My mother's wooden rolling pin was unfinished and very smooth maple.

[John Ziebron]

I'm liking the unfinished solution; less work.

[John K Jordan]

A friend asked if I could make her one of those French style rolling pins and, of course, I said yes. I'm not exactly sure which type of wood would be good but I have some 8/4 hard maple that I think would work. My bigger concern is what type of finish would be best. I have no experience in making anything wooden that's used in the kitchen other than cabinets.

I’ve made a bunch of those, various woods. I generally applied beeswax while spinning, then gentle heat from a heat gun to soak better into the wood.

I think hard maple would be a great choice.

[roger wiegand]

I much prefer using unfinished rolling pins, the ones with finish on them seem stickier. Of course they pick up oils from the things you are rolling out over time and end up with a finish of some sort. My rolling pins also never see soap or water; brush them off and back into the drawer. Hard maple or beech are great choices for wood.

I keep thinking I should make one, but the one I inherited from my grandmother continues to work just fine after 100+ years.

[Stan Calow]

I've made several with just unfinished curly maple. I will sand them up to the highest possible grit I have on hand - at least 1200-1500. If they're used as intended, no finish will survive long.

[John Goodin]

I have mineral oil on mine and it seems to help when working a sticky dough.