Making a Bento Box
 

A friend of mine likes Japanese food and I've been looking at Bento
boxes as gift ideas for him. It seems that it costs approx =A320 to buy
one bento box and that is likely to be plastic.

I'm assuming that traditionally they would have been made out of wood
and covered in something like lacquer.

So I'm wondering how tricky it would be to make a Bento box and finish
to look reasonably authentic.

Making a multi-compartmentalised wooden box would be reasonably easy
it's the finishing I'm worried about.

I'm assuming it will be finished using lacquer so questions a

What is lacquer?
Are there varieties or types or brand names to watch out for?
How do you apply it?
Is it safe for serving food off of?
What's the longevity of the finish like?
Is this the most suitable thing for the application I describe?

Although this is a gift idea it's not for Christmas so I'm not going to
try and get this done in the next couple of weeks!

Any help gratefully appreciated.

Oh - and I reckon reading this group has saved me several thousand
pounds over the last couple of years so merry Christmas to everyone.
--
Steve F

A friend of mine likes Japanese food and I've been looking at Bento
boxes as gift ideas for him. It seems that it costs approx =A320 to buy
one bento box and that is likely to be plastic.

http://www.jlist.com/SEARCH/bento/1/

--=20
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

Unless you give us a link to a pic, most of us wont have a clue what
you want to make.

Think

NT

On 6 Dec 2004 10:39:37 -0800, "Fitz"
wrote:

I'm assuming that traditionally they would have been made out of wood
and covered in something like lacquer.

Sometimes lacquered, often not. Size varies a bit, some have
compartments, some have separate inner boxes, some have neither.

So I'm wondering how tricky it would be to make a Bento box and finish
to look reasonably authentic.

Here's a few that I make from time to time.
http://codesmiths.com/shed/things/maplebox.htm

You're probably best buying one. They'e nice things and fiddly to make
a thin-walled one yourself, if you're not making a batch. Thick
walled unlacquered ones like mine are easy enough - it's just an
exercise in hand shaping and getting an attractive curve to the sides
and top.

What is lacquer?

Unobtainable (google the rest - I've posted tons to rec.woodworking
and rec.org.sca on the subject)

You can fake it tolerably well with shellac. Use black shellac, or use
red ochre to colour blonde shellac.
http://codesmiths.com/shed/things/knives/daisho/

Is it safe for serving food off of?

Yes.

What's the longevity of the finish like?

Keep lacquer out of the sun. It's waterproof when new, but the usual
mechanism for damage is that sunlight loses the water resistance, then
you get water damage.

Is this the most suitable thing for the application I describe?

If you're working in Vietnam. If you're in the UK, you can't do it
with lacquer.

Fitz wrote:
snip
What is lacquer?
Are there varieties or types or brand names to watch out for?
How do you apply it?
Is it safe for serving food off of?
What's the longevity of the finish like?
Is this the most suitable thing for the application I describe?


You're thinking of knocking out an urushi box for crimbo? Obviously a
man of ambition!

As with many things Japanese, the practice of lacquering is an art form.
I think you're supposed to start with a very thin wooden base and then
apply many coats of the stuff over that - each one has to dry, and then
get polished before the next coat is applied. Oh, and you'll need to
grow some special trees from which to get the necessary sap and fruit to
make the lacquer itself. Since the overall process is very
time-consuming and difficult, top-quality urushi sells for one hell of a
lot of money some times, particularly if it's old (it'll last for about
a thousand years or more if you're careful). So if you get it right you
could make a few bob!

Although the vapour is poisonous, lacquer once dry is very good for use
in holding foodstuffs as it's wipe-clean, insulating properties are nice
for soup bowls and indeed bento-boxes and the like. Not dishwasher safe
though. A quick google overview:

http://www.lacma.org/art/perm_col/ja.../j-lacquer.htm

http://faculty.vassar.edu/anwatsky/art358/lacquer.html

Let us know how you get on. It may be a good idea to enlist the help of
the Japanese embassy to get you a visa to visit an urushi artist for
some tips. Although it generally takes about thirty years to master the
art, I'm sure you could pick up the basics in about a tenth of that time
- Japanese always like to make things sound much more difficult than
they really are.

Jonathan

In message , Colin Wilson
writes
A friend of mine likes Japanese food and I've been looking at Bento
boxes as gift ideas for him. It seems that it costs approx £20 to buy
one bento box and that is likely to be plastic.

http://www.jlist.com/SEARCH/bento/1/

.... To keep your bukake in ?

--
geoff

In message ,
Jonathan writes
Japanese always like to make things sound much more difficult than they
really are.

Yeah, why don't they just say "How's tricks ?" instead of "Konnichi wa
?"
?

--
geoff

http://www.jlist.com/SEARCH/bento/1/
... To keep your bukake in ?

You`d have to explain this, but I don`t think the rest of the group would
want to know !

--
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

Jonathan wrote:
Fitz wrote:
snip
What is lacquer?
Are there varieties or types or brand names to watch out for?
How do you apply it?
Is it safe for serving food off of?
What's the longevity of the finish like?
Is this the most suitable thing for the application I describe?


You're thinking of knocking out an urushi box for crimbo? Obviously a

man of ambition!

shake of head I thought perhaps the sentence that said this IS a gift
idea but NOT for chrsitmas so I'm not going to try and do it in the
next couple of weeks answered this one.

snip useful stuff Thank you for these useful bits - very
interesting.

Let us know how you get on. It may be a good idea to enlist the help
of
the Japanese embassy to get you a visa to visit an urushi artist for
some tips. Although it generally takes about thirty years to master
the
art, I'm sure you could pick up the basics in about a tenth of that
time
- Japanese always like to make things sound much more difficult than
they really are.

Bloody text based medium. I honestly can't decide whether you're being
humerous and light hearted or utterly condescending.

You don't practice martial arts by any chance do you? Aikido maybe or
Ju Jitsu... it's just that the only people I've come across before that
were as precious about Japanese culture - as you seem to be - are those
that think they have some sort of understanding born through diligent
training. I've seen it become quite an obsession in the past.

If I've got you all wrong then I'll just appologise now to save any
mucking around.

--
Steve F

Jonathan wrote:
Fitz wrote:
snip
What is lacquer?
Are there varieties or types or brand names to watch out for?
How do you apply it?
Is it safe for serving food off of?
What's the longevity of the finish like?
Is this the most suitable thing for the application I describe?


You're thinking of knocking out an urushi box for crimbo? Obviously a

man of ambition!

shake of head I thought perhaps the sentence that said this IS a gift
idea but NOT for chrsitmas so I'm not going to try and do it in the
next couple of weeks answered this one.

snip useful stuff Thank you for these useful bits - very
interesting.

Let us know how you get on. It may be a good idea to enlist the help
of
the Japanese embassy to get you a visa to visit an urushi artist for
some tips. Although it generally takes about thirty years to master
the
art, I'm sure you could pick up the basics in about a tenth of that
time
- Japanese always like to make things sound much more difficult than
they really are.

Bloody text based medium. I honestly can't decide whether you're being
humerous and light hearted or utterly condescending.

You don't practice martial arts by any chance do you? Aikido maybe or
Ju Jitsu... it's just that the only people I've come across before that
were as precious about Japanese culture - as you seem to be - are those
that think they have some sort of understanding born through diligent
training. I've seen it become quite an obsession in the past.

If I've got you all wrong then I'll just appologise now to save any
mucking around.

--
Steve F

wrote:
Unless you give us a link to a pic, most of us wont have a clue what
you want to make.

Think

NT

Not a brilliant pic but gives you an idea. Second picture down.

http://www.cherryblossomgardens.com/adishes3.asp

Basically a square box with a lid, divided internally into
compartments. I've since discovered that a 'bento box' is basically a
japanese lunch box and come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
These black shiny square ones are most commonly found in restraunts.
--
Steve F