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Evan Pavlidis
27th April 2002, 04:15 AM
Hello fellow woodturners,

I'm a novice at woodturning and need some
advice regarding how food safe are bowls
turned from the following timbers:

New South Wales Scented rosewood
Mulga
Indonesian Teak
Banksia
Padouk
American walnut
Olivewood

I intend to finish these with organoil while
spinning on the lathe and then with
Gully Stephensons canauba wax polish.
Any advice is most welcome.

Regards and thanks,
Evan

ubeaut
27th April 2002, 02:59 PM
Evan - I would not use rosewood as I have seen its natural oils eat a coating of polyurethane off a surface.

Mulga - contains a virulent poison principly, used for spear heads by aboriginals. Dust may cause irritation to mucous membranes, headache, vomiting.

Teak - Causes dermatitis, conjunctivitis, over sensitivity to light, swelling of scrotum, irritation to throat& nose, nausea.

Walnut - Irritation to mucous membranes, nasal cancer, irritation of alimentary tract.

Padauk - Asthma, dermatitis.

Banksia - ???. But definitely one I wouldn't use.

Olivewood - Has a strong pungent, fruity fragrance that may taint food but is an unknown quantity to me for a bowl. Possibly the only one of the lot I would try.

My rule of thumb is if it is open grained, has a very strong pungent odour or natural oils don't use it.

I also wouldn't use Organoil for the inside of a bowl. The smell hangs around for years, I would think this might taint the food just a little.

Use your timber to make decorative bowls, not functional ones for food and this problem should not arise. You might be surprised to find that most people do not use wooden bowls for food instead they opt for plastic, glass, ceramic, even metal before wood.

If you want more information on bowl finishes try a search of this forum.

Personally if I make a bowl for food I don't finish the inside but leave it raw with a light wipe of a first rate oil, grapeseed, walnut or similar (not olive oil). This will present a nice surface for the purchaser to look at. Either that or I use Shellawax or Shellawax Cream and tell the recipient to use it for dry foods like nuts, chips, biscuits.

Hope this helps.

Cheers - Neil http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

PS I have a pepper & salt mill finished with organ oil some 4 years ago and still won't use them because of the smell.

Oh yes and the carnauba wax will mark as will all waxes with water, etc.

I like Richard Raffans Statement in a recent Australian Wood Review While the first dint or stain of daily use is a disaster, a thousand make a patina." http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/biggrin.gif

Try both of these links U-Beaut Polishes (http://www.ubeaut.biz) and Bad Woods (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/badwood.htm) By the way the Bad Woods list is far from comprehensive. Read from the very first line. It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the product you have chosen to work with.

Also realize that just because a finishing product is food safe doesn't mean it is going to make the wood food safe. If you start with a potentially dangerous piece of wood then it will remain dangerous throughout its life even if coated with a plastic finish.

OK thats all for the PS rave.

[This message has been edited by ubeaut (edited 27 April 2002).]

Evan Pavlidis
27th April 2002, 10:05 PM
Thanks for the advice; I think I'll stick to
using plastic bowls for food and wooden for
decorative purposes and live longer.

Thanks again,
Evan

[This message has been edited by ubeaut (edited 27 April 2002).]

Tim the Timber Turner
28th April 2002, 01:27 PM
Having made quiet a few bowls in my time this subject got me to thinking about what we use in our house. We use the first bowl I ever made for holding fruit. It is made from a glued-up blank of radiata pine and is a awful shape, much the same as many turners make when they start turning.

It seems that human nature dictates that one must make a bowl that has the biggest internal volume that is avaliable from the blank. I have seen this many times in other turners first effort,s. I think that what happens is that as ones toolskills develop you can then think about form & function.

As you develop as a turner and are exposed to other peoples ideas, in most cases but not all, ones learns about design and although difficult with turned bowls, developes your own style.

We also use a wooden bowl for nuts. Other than than we use plastic or ceramic. We never put wet food into wood. We do use some round celery top pine boards 230mm dia an 12mm thick. These are great for eating toast or cutting up and eating fruit off of.
I tried selling these as a production line once and found out you couldn't get much money for "Toast Boards". I changed the name to "Sushi Boards" which was more finacialy rewarding.

Tim the Timber Turner (some days I turns disaway and other days I turns dataway)

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Jeff
28th April 2002, 02:40 PM
I generally consider trees that have edible fruit to be a good choice for salad bowls, but check it out as suggested for safety on a wood to wood basis. I use a mixture of one part beeswax to five parts mineral oil, it makes a nice paste, smells good too. Tests in laboratories have shown that cutting boards of plastics harbor bacteria more than well maintained wood cutting boards and bowls. That means keep the finish up and wash them after every use, don't store wet food in them. If a bacteria gets growing in a salad bowl you can kill it off with a mild bleach/water solution, but expect the bowl to lose some of it's natural color, better than a moldy bowl. I've used wooden salad bowls all my life, and consider anything less a compromise! Also, if you've selected a piece of wood you think would be nice for a salad bowl, cut off a little piece and have one of the fairer sex give it an odor evaluation, you may save yerself a bit of work and disappointment. Best not to rely on the patrons of the local pub for this tho........

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"Always cutting corners...!"

Iain
28th April 2002, 07:48 PM
I thought that pine would be OK given that the dreaded Retsina is stored and aged in Pine casks.
I believe that a log was halved lengthwise and then hollowed making a storage facility for this 'brew'.
Having said that, this probably explains why Retsina tatses like a blend of cheap Moselle and Pine O Clean.
With apologies to any Greeks who think this is wonderful.

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: http://community.webshots.com/user/iain49

ubeaut
29th April 2002, 01:28 AM
Jeff - What you say is true. "Cutting boards of plastic and nylon etc not only harbor bacteria more than well maintained wood cutting boards and bowls but they actually assist in the groth of the bacteria." This is a well known and documented fact. However, it is well maintained raw timber that is the safest.

Using and maintaining a finish be it oil, wax or a combination on the timber surface can actually make it much less safe as these stop the timber from preforming its natural function of drawing the bacteria etc away from the surface of the wood.

Beeswax and oil is fine as an initial finish however continual use is defeating the purpose. By the way mineral oil (paraffin oil or whatever else you call it) is a hydrocarbon derived from petrolium. It's main use is as a laxetive. (Wouldn't that give you the ). http://www.ubeaut.biz/smiledunny.gif

Cheers - Neil). http://www.ubeaut.biz/beersmiley.gif

Evan Pavlidis
30th April 2002, 03:42 AM
Originally posted by ubeaut:
Jeff - What you say is true. "Cutting boards of plastic and nylon etc not only harbor bacteria more than well maintained wood cutting boards and bowls but they actually assist in the groth of the bacteria." This is a well known and documented fact. However, it is well maintained raw timber that is the safest.

Using and maintaining a finish be it oil, wax or a combination on the timber surface can actually make it much less safe as these stop the timber from preforming its natural function of drawing the bacteria etc away from the surface of the wood.

Beeswax and oil is fine as an initial finish however continual use is defeating the purpose. By the way mineral oil (paraffin oil or whatever else you call it) is a hydrocarbon derived from petrolium. It's main use is as a laxetive. (Wouldn't that give you the ). http://www.ubeaut.biz/smiledunny.gif

Cheers - Neil). http://www.ubeaut.biz/beersmiley.gif


Thanks for all your replies and advice; they've been a real eye opener.

Cheers,
Evan

wheelinround
31st October 2007, 05:59 PM
Going through some old old threads I came upon this question regarding wood and its uses looking at the food use.

Neils response which has excellent links to Health Hazards & Woods.

:oo: We're all gonna die is my first reaction :doh: no not really

I do have a question regarding wood use for Pepper mills and such

most are raw inside would this not effect the herbs if natural oils are still present

I have seen many morta and pestles sold which are both natural and coated not sure what in but have always told LOML to by raw as the coating will ware of and end up in the food.

She uses stone ones for herbs mixtures gets better results.

ss_11000
1st November 2007, 12:33 AM
Going through some old old threads

I do have a question regarding wood use for Pepper mills and such

most are raw inside would this not effect the herbs if natural oils are still present
.

its a good thread though:2tsup:.

i guess thats why you wouldnt use Huon as a mill:D. it would taste a bit different i would imagine.



When wooden bowls are made and finished with shellawax, are they right to use with food ( not cereals and wet stuff ) like chips ( doritoes etc ), fruit, salads?
if they have no finsh and are raw, they should be washed after each use right. is that just a quick wipe over with a wet towel or something or is it a full wash in the dishwasher? wouldnt the water soak into the timber and cause it to crack or warp as it dries back out?

:cool: