Salad Bowl WAX Finish? I Don't Get It

[Eric Jacobson]

I just don't get it. Whenever I open a woodturning catalog I see about 30 varieties of wax finishes that say something about being food safe.

IMHO, "food safe" means you eat food out of the bowl, then you wash it in soap and hot water. "Wash" means, you scrub it with a scrubber, sponge, rag, or whatever tool you use to hand wash your dishes. Am I right so far?

Here is where I get confused...Anytime the above washing occurs, the wax comes off; either all of it or part of it. Either all the folks using a wax finish on utility food bowls never wash their bowls (which is gross) or they're not actually eating food out of their bowls.

What am I missing here?

[Curt Fuller]

I don't think you're missing anything. I think that's why plastic, Corelle, glass, etc, etc, etc are more popular for bowls. But if someone insists on being able to eat from, then wash, and then eat from over and over again, a wooden bowl, I would suggest something like the walnut oil products or mineral oil that can be re-applied by simply wiping some more on.

[Maria Alvarado]

At some point, presumably, people will re-wax the bowl...at which point, one would hope that the wax and the solvent are food safe for that next salad. A beeswax/mineral or walnut oil mix would fit the bill.

[Ted Calver]

Our daily salad bowl gets washed with warm water and soap and immediately hand dried. The paste of bee's wax/Mahoney's Walnut oil mix I use gets reapplied once every couple of months and the bowl remains good as new--going on three years now. The oil penetrates and dries in the wood. The wax provides an additional moisture barrier and doesn't wash off all that easy.

[Chris Hayes]

OK, here's what I've learned and why I look at those adverts and giggle.
According to Bob Flexner, Jeff Jewitt, and Mitch Kohanek, (all I've had as instructors and all said almost the exact same thing) -- once dried and cured, almost all modern finishes are 'food safe'...all urethane finishes put a plastic coat on a piece. Shellac is a wax made from bug eggs. And all oils have an agent that catalyzes them into a non-reactive non-moving finish (which is why I like using oils on my end grain turns--helps stabilize somewhat).
But I'm only a some what untrained nonprofessional weekend hack at it sort of guy...

[Wyatt Holm]

Wax is for selling. It looks good till you wash it. Some put oil on first so it still has the color, then the wax for gloss.

[Ted Calver]

Not all waxes are created equal. Carnuba spots like crazy when it gets wet. Microcrystaline (Renaissance) doesn't seem to mind a few drops.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have a set of plates and salad bowls that we use 3 or 4 times a week for about 2 yrs now. I used Mahoney's walnut oil on them and then applied his utility finish (walnut oil, carnuba and beeswax). I reapply it about once a year. When done you can't hardly tell they have been used.

[Allen Neighbors]

I attended the SWAT symposium in Wichita Falls. Mike Mahoney was one of the demonstrators. He passed a couple of utility items... one plate, one bowl... around the class that he uses daily in his home. They were scratched and scarred by eating utensils, but still very usable and clean.
He stated that when he finished a bowl for sale, he put his Walnut Oil Finish on it, because people didn't want to buy a bare bowl. Then he stated that when he was making a bowl or other wooden utility item for his own house, that when he finished sanding them, he took them to the kitchen. He said his own items for use never had a finish on them... just bare wood. I have since started doing the same thing. I have a set of three Black Walnut bowls that we use in my Travel Trailer... One I eat cereal out of nearly ever day. I have a DO finish on them, but the latest I've made for my house, are bare. The grain doesn't pop without a finish of some kind, but they still look good!
Wonderful to use something you've made, ain't it.