thelastgizmo
Established Member
I'm turning an oak fruit bowl as a present. What finish would best suit this use. I generally use a shellac then wax finish on turned items but wasn't sure if this was applicable for fruit.
fruit bowl finish
- Thread starter thelastgizmo
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CHJ
Established Member
The risk of over ripe fruit being left in the bowl is the main problem.
I have fruit bowls that have just been finished with cellulose sealer and Carnuba wax that are still fine after 10+ years holding Oranges, Apples, Bananas etc., but they are a tight grained wood.
I have smaller bowls that regularly are used to hold fruit such as grapes etc. which need watching for ripeness and are prone to 'sweating' and these are finished with Melamine enhanced sealer/lacquer and can be wiped with a damp cloth to remove leakage juices.
For Oak a couple of problems I can envision are that the grain is rather open so difficult to seal and any 'juice' leakage is likely to react strongly with the tannins in the oak.
Personally if requested to use Oak for a fruit bowl I would finish with several coats of a Hard Wax Oil, this will penetrate well into the open grain to seal it and be reasonably resistant to fruit juice leakage.
I have fruit bowls that have just been finished with cellulose sealer and Carnuba wax that are still fine after 10+ years holding Oranges, Apples, Bananas etc., but they are a tight grained wood.
I have smaller bowls that regularly are used to hold fruit such as grapes etc. which need watching for ripeness and are prone to 'sweating' and these are finished with Melamine enhanced sealer/lacquer and can be wiped with a damp cloth to remove leakage juices.
For Oak a couple of problems I can envision are that the grain is rather open so difficult to seal and any 'juice' leakage is likely to react strongly with the tannins in the oak.
Personally if requested to use Oak for a fruit bowl I would finish with several coats of a Hard Wax Oil, this will penetrate well into the open grain to seal it and be reasonably resistant to fruit juice leakage.
thelastgizmo
Established Member
Ah, I hadn't thought about the "bad fruit" scenario. Thanks for the advise. I have an oak bowl I did about 20 years ago and just sealed and waxed. It has stained somewhat but I have never retreated it! I'll check with my local finishers tomorrow to see if I can get any hard wax oil locally.
