It is my thought that wooden bowls have been around for thousands of
years, and during those few millenia, bowls have been considered to be
something that you put stuff in, and use. It is not until recently
that bowls are considered to be anything but utilitarian, so I think
it's natural that someone would like to put their popcorn, or salad, or
ice cream in the bowl. The price would certainly convince them to take
good care of the bowl...or just go to walmart if they need something
for their stir-fry.
There are plenty of ways to finish your work to accomodate some of the
rigorous uses that people choose for their bowl. But also, dishwashers
are too, a recently created device that cause havoc with wood during
the intense heat of the dry cycle. Microwaves play havoc with the
moisture content of the wood.
I think the questions are natural, and as a turner, you have a bit of
an obligation to educate your friends and family about the nature of
wood, the recommended care for their new dish and the probable
ramifications if they don't abide by your care instructions.


A Lurker wrote:
Last year this time I started on a slippery slope making some tree
ornaments on the used Jet lathe I picked up on a good deal with some other
equipment. Well now a year later, I'm running out of room on the breakfront
for bowls so I decided to give some as presents to family and friends. So
these are ~12" bowls from spalted elm finished with shellic or Waterlox and
then Beall polished. Presented with sprigs of Xmas tree greens, holly and a
candy cane inside. Smooth as a baby's bottom with some nice spalting lines.

So now the question .... do I have idiots for friends and family or do
people say things like this to you also?

"Is it microwaveable?"
"Is it dish washer safe?"
"Can I wash it in hot soapy water?"
"Will (various foods) hurt it?"
(all comments by different recipients)

Do I have all practical utilitarian friends and family who don't see any
artistic display value (these were really nice bowl forms with nice finish
...REALLY ) or do you get comments like these also? The only other bowls
I've given out, were to people who gave me the wood and got some of their
tree back in return. They seemd to view them as a display item.

Jerry