Soap dish

[Dan Wiggin]

I’ve had a request for small soap dish’s. I’m going to use Buttonwood with a live edge. Any suggestions for finish (wet environment) ?
Or not a good idea?

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

If it will be used as a soap dish the natural edge is defiantly a no, but an oily wood like rosewood without any finish would work. For a finish on most woods maybe completely encapsulated in epoxy would work, but a better choice would be to steer them to a pottery maker.

 

[hockenbery]

Buttonwood with a live edge. Any suggestions for finish (

I assume you are removing the bark
Bark would be problematic in many ways if it is to be used.
Epoxy is a waterproof finish.

 

[John Snow]

Cocobolo (if available, hah!) was commonly used for ship's wheels due to its ability to stand up to weather. I have a cocobolo kitchen knife handle that I made about 40 years ago, and all it's done is turn black. Ipe, unfinished, is reputed to have a 50-year lifespan in the PNW.

I have some scrap ironbark from an old tugboat. It didn't rot outside in the PNW for its 70-year stint on board, but the surface has checked rather badly, so it might not stay nice next to the sink. But it won't rot!

 

[Richard Coers]

Wood works for a lot of things, but having a wet bar of soap in it many times a day is really stretching the application. It's even going to get wet and scrubbed out to remove the dried on soap. I suggest you guy a piece of soap stone. It turns just as well on a wood lathe. You can even cut out the blank on your bandsaw. If you get a split piece, or chip the top edge, you'll even get a natural edge.

 

[Brian Gustin]

I'd do a drained dish similar to a coaster - It'd require off-center turning jig, but easy enough to do. As far as finish - the ones I made and they have held up very well are made from plain maple, white oak, and cherry , only finish is linseed oil & beeswax (Soap is a valid finish for wood, too, BTW...) and then park it in a small platter (also finished with oil & beeswax) of maple or other close-grained wood - easy to wipe out the platter. the dish/coaster allows soap to drain dry. Basically you start your soap holder like a coaster, cut just about exactly 1/2 way through using a parting tool or make v-grooves with a skew , then flip it over to the other side and off-center it maybe a quarter inch or so (experiment with it) and cut more v-grooves or square grooves on the other side again halfway through - the off-center turning lets the grooves intersect to make a sort of cross hatch and lets soap drain without collecting a lot of water/soap on the wood. I don't have pictures (didn't bother at the time) or I'd post them here. I started with just cutting square soap dishes similar to how you'd make a trivet, cut on table saw, then started making them on the lathe, to have some "round" options different from the square ones cut on the saw. I believe there's an article or two in American Woodturner regarding doing off-center trivets and coasters, (or maybe FUNdamentals?)

 

[Dan Wiggin]

Thank you all for your input. I think I’ll give it a whirl using west system epoxy I have on hand

 

[Michael Anderson]

I suggest you guy a piece of soap stone. It turns just as well on a wood lathe.

Interesting! Does it turn well with HSS (and related) or do you need carbide?

Dan, I agree with everyone’s advice. If using wood, total epoxy coverage will be best. Soap is amphipathic (attracts oil and water) so even a very oily wood would still end up looking crummy after a while (unless the dishes are treated on a regular basis).

 

[Brian Gustin]

Interesting! Does it turn well with HSS (and related) or do you need carbide?

Sure, if you aren't familiar with Soapstone, stop by a welding supply place and ask for some - commonly it'll be used (and shaped) like a carpenter's pencil for marking out lines on your steel (pipe, sheet, angle iron, etc) or writing dimensions, what have you... It's sorta like a chalk combined with a crayon , but much harder (Perhaps think of a piece of gypsum or talc which has been saturated with liquid wax... something akin to that - It'd be very fine grained, finer than sandstone, not quite abrasive, but still hard enough to almost feel like a rock.) It'd turn just fine with HSS or even carbon steel tooling (sharpen the soapstone stick with pocket knife when in want of a finer line on your pipe or angle iron.)