I always use mineral oil, just the drugstore variety.. then I put with the
bowl a note telling the user to re-oil from time to time until the wood has
really soaked up the oil. We have some individual salad bowls at home we
have used for about 15 years and they still look good.

Bob Moody

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like I should know this already, but cannot for the life of me
recall the answer. I want to know what finish(es) is (are) acceptable for
cooking, eating and drinking utensils.

I'll be more than satisfied if you have a good link to pass along that has
a fuller discussion of this topic (maybe a website devoted to finishes in
general?)

My choice is usually no finish or shellac depending on the particular use.
Here's a link to the results of a "Google" search for "food safe wood
finishes":

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...+wood+finishes

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

"Anonymous" wrote in message

I feel like I should know this already, but cannot for the life of me
recall the answer. I want to know what finish(es) is (are) acceptable for
cooking, eating and drinking utensils.

I've used walnut oil (it's occasionally used for cooking). After allowing
it 24 hours to do whatever oils do in that amount of time, I apply a couple
of coats of Clapham's Salad Bowl Finish (Lee Valley), which is little more
than mineral oil and beeswax. Either component would make a good food-safe
finish by itself.

Max