Cherry Bowl Finish

[Birdhunter]

I bought a cherry bowl blank 13” round diameter by 4” deep. I’ve had problems with cherry blotching before.

Any recommendations on a food safe finish for the bowl?

 

[rvieceli]

I have not used this but I have friends that use it on bowls and cutting boards.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/...jOyXwZKIorUsrw2gGMwtM7cmUkDa65WUaAosCEALw_wcB

Ron

 

[Michael Kellough]

"blotching" on cherry is when the grain intersects the surface plane and the areas of exposed end grain hold more finish than the surrounding areas where the end grain is not exposed. The darker the finish the greater the difference in color.
On flat cherry use the clearest sanding sealer to fill the exposed grain and then lightly sand again.

On a bowl nearly the entire surface is exposed end grain so there will be little variation in finish color but the entire bowl will be darker than you expect as it will absorb much more finish.

 

[Birdhunter]

thanks for the info

 

[mrFinpgh]

I find (as has Christian Becksvoort) that the key to reducing blotch in cherry is to sand it to a high grit.

I've confirmed this in experiments with resawn pieces of cherry from the same board. 400 shows a significant difference in blotch compared to 180 or 220.

On a bowl, I'd guess it would be easy to work through the grits while it's on the lathe.  Though it will be dusty..

 

[Birdhunter]

I have a super dust collector! I usually sand to 320 and then switch to Scotch Pad green then white.

 

[Birdhunter]

Ended up using WipeOnPoly from Minwax. Got a glorious warm finish that enhanced the extreme figure in the wood. I used the satin finish. I did have to do a lot of sanding around the grain reversals. Eventually tamed them.