Salad Bowl Finish

[Birdhunter]

I am turning a salad bowl for a friend from a roughly 15” by 18” block of cherry. I expect to find cracks in the wood. Normally, I use T88 two-part epoxy mixed with coarse sawdust to fill large cracks and just superglue for hairline cracks. I use wax as a final finish.

With this bowl contacting food, I need to be sure the crack fillers and final finish are food safe yet strong enough to withstand normal use.

My searches have been inconclusive.

 

[Rob-GB]

The epoxy should not be an issue as it is impervious to most things according to the spec's. I'd use a food safe oil to finish the bowl for salad use.
I have used walnut oil on spoons and raw linseed oil on bowls before but I think Liberon make a food safe oil that dries fairly fast.
Not sure about the superglue but Cherry tends to suffer from small checks if overheated during turning or sanding and these would fill with the oil with a few coats.
Hope that helps, Rob.

 

[Birdhunter]

Thanks for the response. I have never turned cherry so the overheating info is valuable.

 

[Birdhunter]

I’ve finished turning the first of two cherry bowls. The T88 two part epoxy seems to have filled the cracks and punky areas very well. I drip thin super glue into the cracks first and later fill with T88 mixed with fine sawdust.

I tried some walnut oil finish I had used on cutting boards. It turned the cherry into a hideous orange color.

Back to the lathe to skim off the finish. A really sharp scraper worked. Sanded to 320. Pretty now.

I tried again with Minwax wipe-on poly in a satin finish. Three coats followed with wax. No wax on inside of the bowl. Looks great and even my wife liked it.

The walnut oil is going into the trash.

I hope to use the negative rake scraper I’ve ordered on the second bowl.

 

[Rob-GB]

I tried some walnut oil finish I had used on cutting boards. It turned the cherry into a hideous orange color.

Was the walnut oil finish plain walnut oil?
I ask as the food grade oil I have used imparts very little added colour, more like how wood darkens a bit when wet.