I just picked up some finishes from Amazon this morning, I still need to acquire some varnish how ever, I did pick up a pint of General Finishes Wood Bowl Finish 1 pint

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DSXD52/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and I also picked up some food grade mineral oil, I only went with a 12 ounce bottle of it because I figured I wouldn't need much more than that to start out. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B5ECU3O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

In the long run I am usure of the  General Finishes Wood Bowl Finish product, if any of you guys have used it and it works decently.  I've seen a couple videos on it this morning.  So I'm wondering if that was worth the buy.   I'm also wondering if I should pick something up other than the can to store the wood bowl finish in as well rather than its original can.

I haven't used the wood bowl finish, but in looking at the documents available (SDS and TDS) it appears to be little more than a polyurethane varnish. It will gel up once it's opened...but until you open it it will last a long time, the shelf life of unopened oil based finishes is extremely long. Once you open it, it will start curing. A relatively common practice to make it keep longer (after some has been used) is to put marbles or clean gravel in the can until the fluid level is near the top of the can. This gets most of the air out and slows down the curing considerable. If you really want it to keep consider buying some Stop Loss bags and transfer the varnish into one of them. I've been using these for a while now and so far they seem to work as advertised, though I do find them messy to use. Other tricks is to buy some Bloxygen and squirt into the can before closing it up. I think it's simply an Argon gas that displaces the air in the can. A lot of folks swear by it though I've never had success with this method. Regardless of what you do, it may help to store the varnish in refrigeration, the cool temps slow down the curing process. As for the mineral oil, I've only used the common mineral oil from Walmart and it seems to work well...and is considerably cheaper. I'm hoping some of the others have some hands on experience with the bowl finish to share.

Edited July 8, 20206 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

I'm sure our resident finishing expert, @kmealy, will be by to add the definitive answer., I'd wait to hear from him before buying too much stuff.

 

For food safe finishes, I like mineral oil (from the grocery store laxative aisle) or a combination of the mineral oil and beeswax melted together.

On the mineral oil I ordered it off amazon should be alright.  I may wind up having to pick up different varnishes to try them out.  I've had some that last considerably long and others that haven't.  Remembering the names of them on the other hand lol can be an issue. 

5 minutes ago, AndrewB said:

I may wind up having to pick up different varnishes to try them out.  I've had some that last considerably long and others that haven't. 

That's been my experience as well. The remembering part has been my experience also.

The mineral oil in drug or grocery is cheaper and no different than the expensive stuff intended as "food safe". After all mineral is a lubricant type laxative and it must be swallowed.

 

The bowl finish give a solid looking surface bur it takes practice to keep the runs down . I will call it an acceptable finish but has a little learning curve.

 

I would suggest you ask before you buy. True you will probably get both sides of the answer but you also may find better alternatives and foreknowledge is much better than after the disaster facts.

 

My suggestions for bowls food safe would be walnut oil. it is easy to reapply and It lasts longer than mineral oil and unlike mineral does not leave that oily residue under the bowl when it is on a table. By the way the saying is all finishes are food safe after cured.

 

Maybe later I can do a write up on some of the finishes I do use or have tried.

 

I think it depends on what you are planning to do with the pieces.   If you will be cutting on it (or maybe using forks to spear cheese or salad) then you don't really want a film finish.  So I'd go with one of the oils.  They do need refreshing from time to time, though.   Some people heat the oil in a double boiler, then add a little beeswax.  I've not tried that, though.  Nor have I tried walnut oil, but it's one of the few oils that cure (polymerized).   Other vegetable oils can go rancid over time; mineral oil is inert.

At one time (Steve Mickley noted this), General Finishes Arm-R-Seal (a poly wiping varnish) and Salad Bowl Finish shared an MSDS.  seemed to mean they were exactly the same but packaged differently.   The latter is now labeled "Wood Bowl Finish." That  A film finish like this would be appropriate for a fruit bowl or buffet sort of item.  They recommended the Wood Bowl Finish cure for 30 days.

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/finishing/articles_497a.shtml

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/product/flexner-on-finishing-the-folly-of-food-safe-finishes/

Folly of Food Safe Finishes.pdf

Edited July 8, 20206 yr by kmealy

All good points.  I'm just trying to avoid using seed oils on bowl projects and even other projects because from my understanding it rots over time.

3 hours ago, Gerald said:

 After all mineral is a lubricant type laxative

 

 keep the runs down

 

Coincidence?   I think not.