I've turned a small amount of pine. Here in Kentucky we have an abundance of
Virginia Pine (Pitch pine to those who are native). The bowls I've turned
from pine have also had some grey areas show in the wood after being turned.
I'm not sure if this is spalting. In Kentucky, we also have a major
infestation of beetles that have begun to destroy entire forests of pine.
I've turned a few that had the larvae of these beetles and the wood was
always gray around the area the worms had bored through. If you put a good
finish on the bowl and don't emerse it in water, it should be safe for food
use.

JD (Kentucky)
--
He that will make a good use of any part
of his life must allow a large portion of it
to recreation.
- John Locke

"TWW" wrote in message
...
This is a separate post since I could not be of much help with the
post on spalting below but have something similar. I made two bowls
our of red pine (perhaps not the best wood but it grows well where I
live). Both bowls developed dark areas (I assume some sort of fungus
or bacteria) as the rough bowls dried. Because of the dark areas the
bowls hardly look as nice as the picture in the link in the post
below. But does anyone know how safe it is to use a bowl with
potentially a fungus in the wood for food - say popcorn? Would certain
finishes help?