I bought a very nice rosewood fruit/salad bowl along with matching serving utensils while in the carribean last month. As they were bought from local craftsmen, I am certain they have not been finished with anything.
I want to avoid staining the bowl with the organic materials (fruits, veggies) which will sit in it for up to 10 days, and received a suggestion to finish them with linseed oil. Someone else told me that linseed oil isn’t the best choice, as it is somewhat water permeable, and that I should use a simple vegetable oil to finish them instead.
If anyone has some surefire suggestions as to the best way to finish the rosewood bowl and utensils, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Joel
Replies
joel,
If the bowl is really "rosewood" you will not be able to finish it with any oil (mineral-based or vegetable-based) as rosewoodS have natural oils which reject oil finishes. But there is a lot of variation in the rosewoods.
For instance, cocobolo and Brazilian rosewood will reject just about anything but shellac or lacquer.
The type of rosewood you have is the important factor.
First, before the discussion starts about toxicity of finishes, ANY cured or dried finish is non-toxic. I suggest you use shellac. Shellac is not water PROOF although it is water RESISTANT. But I don't think you will have to worry about water if you are going to put unpeeled fruits in there.
Actually, I think you may find that leaving the bowl unfinished may work for you. The wood itself will reist moisture. I don't think fruits will stain it. If the wood WILL take an oil (and by the way, linseed oil IS a vegetable oil) no oil "finish" will really give it much protection. But you could re-apply periodically.
Rich
A film finish is going to be your best bet here, and I'd choose shellac. There is no (and I mean no) arguments that can legitimately be made that shellac is not food safe - it's used to make pharmaceutical drugs designed to be ingested (primarily as tablet coatings). Laquer would work very well too, and perhaps be a bit more resistant to the occasional rotten piece of fruit.
Perhaps the biggest reason for choosing a film finish is that you may not know what the species of the wood used to make the bowl and utensils was. A fair number of tropical hardwoods can provoke an allergic reaction, and ingesting an allergen can be very dangerous to those that are sensitive.
>> There is no (and I mean no) arguments that can legitimately be made that shellac is not food safe -True, but shellac will be destroyed very quickly by cleaning chemicals. Also, any type of vinegar based foods will quickly dissolve the shellac. I would not consider shellac based on those reasons.One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that some tropical woods are toxic in and of themselves. I haven't taken the time to check it out but googling "rosewood" "toxic woods" might be a good idea.Howie.........
Personally, I think Bob Flexner's mantra is largely correct - any cured (modern) finish is non-toxic and food safe. Some of the older formulations used heavy metals and they should not be considered food-safe when cured, but it's unlikely that a modern woodworker would grab a 50 year old can of BLO and use it on an eating utensil.
That said, you have a point about shellac deterioration in contact with certain food items, though part of the reason I recommended shellac to the OP was that I got the idea that the bowl was largely intended as a (dry) display bowl for fruit.
I did mention that certain rosewoods are allergy potentiators (one of the reasons to consider a film finish), but the toxicity info that I found on the net did not mention any rosewoods as direct toxins (unlike yew, for example).
Here is one "Wood Toxicity" chart that I sometimes use. It's easier to read than most.http://www.lumberpost.com/ArticleID-105.htmHowie.........
Edited 9/8/2008 7:18 pm ET by HowardAcheson
Hey Howard - I'm thinking from the wording of your post that you meant to post a link to a toxicity chart on the 'net, but there's no link in your reply. If that's what you meant to do, I'd very much like have a link to a toxicity chart (could be useful for those customers that insist I make eating utensils for them out of yew!)
Opps. Sorry, fixed it.Howie.........
I agree with Rich. Just leave it unfinished.
Bee's wax.
Rub on like a crayon, warm it up in the sun for a short period or on a high shelf in winter, or use a hair drier on warm. Then rub the heck out of it as hard as you can to keep the wax warm as you spread it evenly and rub off the excess with a clean white (undyed) rag, Old bed sheet, cheese cloth, old hankie. Turpentine or paint thinner desolves wax but there is a question of being safe around food. If you use thinner DO NOT use hair drier because of danger of fire/explosion.
I get my info partly from James Krenov using wax for oily wood; partly from wood turners who I have read apply bee's wax while bowl is still in the lathe.
In Mr Krenov's book The Fine Art of Cabinet Making page 53 he says Rio rosewood should not be oiled he recommends a synthetic wax or "polish". Polish in his book is very thin shellac. But warns it is very susceptible to moisture. It mostly is a barrier to finger prints and dust.
See also Fine WoodWorking magazine #38 p71 = Food Safe Finishes for Wood Bowels
Edited 9/6/2008 2:30 am by roc
Edited 9/6/2008 2:34 am by roc
Thanks for the advice. I'll try it out.
Oops. I intended to include the reason for not using oil on oily dark woods and that is it tends to make them even darker, dull, dingy and boring. Turns nice reds and browns to dull black in some areas.We have a bowl that we got in Taos made from cherry. It seems to not have been turned; more likely it was hewn out and nicely smoothed. It is rather thick and primitive and we loved it at first sight. We drove out of town and then went back for it after we discovered we both wished we had bought it.Any way we oiled it with walnut oil and a few other oils over the years. It looked OK but never great. Then we washed it down and waxed it and it looks brighter and more crisp. With the oil it seemed we never could polish it up at all, later the oil would come to the surface in an almost unnoticeable way, then dust would cling to it and it would be very dull in deed.So even for the lighter cherry wood we like bees wax.I read about an emulsified wax that would be perfect where water is mixed with the wax. This would make it easier to apply for one thing. Sounds crazy and impossible but comes from an author whose reputation is par excellence; George Frank.I have not taken the time to try making the emulsion. Some day perhaps. See the last chapter of his book Adventures in Wood Finishing. A very entertaining read even if you do not make the wax.
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