Redwood for salad bowl?

[Odie]

I have a couple of large, but very plain pieces of Redwood. This seems like awfully soft wood for a salad bowl, so what's the general opinion about that? Anyone see how this wood fairs with use?

ko

 

[hockenbery]

I have a couple of large, but very plain pieces of Redwood. This seems like awfully soft wood for a salad bowl, so what's the general opinion about that? Anyone see how this wood fairs with use? ko

Kelly

When I have a wood I am unsure of I will either turn a ball or turn a bowl from it.

In the 20 minutes or so it takes to do either I get a pretty idea of how I like working with the wood, how it will finish, and if it dents easily.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Oldie, I have not tried it, but would guess that redwood would hold up okay as a salad bowl. In my experience, serving bowls are not often subjected to serious abrasion and impact, and minor injury only adds to the character. We have used one or more wooden serving bowls in our house almost every day for the past 15 years or so and none are showing any significant abuse. Granted, they are somewhat harder woods such as madrone and soft maple. Just do not use a film finish; olive oil works for me and is easily renewed when you want to perk up the piece when company comes.

Dennis

 

[robo hippy]

Well, it does work, but is soft. One problem is when sanding, and the early wood and late wood hardness difference tends to leave ridges like aged pine or redwood will have if left outside. Some turners and woodworkers get sensitive to it after a lot of exposure.

robo hippy

 

[Bill Boehme]

I think that redwood is like most conifers in that it has a big difference between early wood and late wood hardness and as Reed said, that makes sanding a problem. Our redwood deck which is about 25 years old has a lot of deep erosion of the early wood while the late wood is still standing as proud as the day that the deck was built. I also suspect that because it is soft and lightweight that it is also pretty thirsty if you use an oil finish.

Perhaps a comparison to box elder might be useful. It is not quite as light as redwood and not quite as soft, but the best comparison that I can give from my experience. Last night I put a walnut oil finish (La Tourangelle Roasted Walnut Oil) on a large bowl (17½" diameter and ¾" thick) and it sopped up most of a cup of oil before I decided that was enough. I suspect that redwood would take up a lot more oil than the box elder.

 

[Mark Mandell]

Redwood

You want to be very wary about sanding redwood in a closed shop space. If it's coastal redwood, I've been warned that the fibers form tiny "hook" forms that lodge in the lungs much like asbestos fibers. A year ago I was given a piece of bone-dry Coastal Redwood burl, however it will sit in the shop waiting for the day when I can move the lathe outside on a windy day.

 

[Odie]

Here is the Redwood mentioned in this thread. I've done some redwood burl in the past, but don't think I've ever had any of this kind....very plain grained. Matter of fact, several years ago, I decided I didn't want to do any more redwood, so I don't know what possessed me to buy these two blocks. One block has been roughed and the other is untouched. They are both 11x3. These have been on the shelf for about 18 months, and I decided I'd better use them for something. The wood is very very soft, so it will nick and ding very easily. It's so plain looking that unless I decide to do some serious embellishment, I don't really see much use for it.....except for a salad bowl. I can do some simple wood burning design to spruce it up a bit. I was hoping I'd connect with another turner who had some experience making a salad bowl out of redwood. For other salad bowls I've done lately, I've been using Danish Oil cured for three days between coats.....then Lemon Oil Wax. (After curing, it will be non-toxic.)

One thing about it, this wood cuts extremely easily.....would be good for a rank novice to practice with.......

ko

 

[hockenbery]

Kelly,

Wondering why you chose to turn the bowl with the rim toward the bark which shows the grain in concentric ovals.
Usually, The hyperbolic grain pattern in the rim toward tree center orientation give the appearance of more grain more grain than the concentric ovals.

Might rough the other blank to see the difference.

We use to get a few redwoods in Maryland that were planted in yards. More of a novelty.

 

[Odie]

Kelly,

Wondering why you chose to turn the bowl with the rim toward the bark which shows the grain in concentric ovals.
Usually, The hyperbolic grain pattern in the rim toward tree center orientation give the appearance of more grain more grain than the concentric ovals.

Might rough the other blank to see the difference.

We use to get a few redwoods in Maryland that were planted in yards. More of a novelty.

Better look again, Al.....the rim is toward the pith, not the bark. It was a very big tree to begin with, and the annular rings are a very flattened horseshoe pattern......

edit: Went out to take another look, and the annular rings are more of a "W" pattern, but rim towards the pith.....which probably is why you are confused about the grain pattern......

ko

 

[Odie]

Check it out!

This pic is of the unprocessed block, but both blanks were one piece until I cut it in half.

It almost looks like the grain pattern could be leading up to a crotch, but I don't think Redwood normally has crotches......do they?

ko

 

[hockenbery]

Better look again, Al.....the rim is toward the pith, not the bark. It was a very big tree to begin with, and the annular rings are a very flattened horseshoe pattern...... edit: Went out to take another look, and the annular rings are more of a "W" pattern, but rim towards the pith.....which probably is why you are confused about the grain pattern...... ko

I see the wavy grain. Don't see anything that convinces me it is rim to pith.

If you say it was turned rim to pith then you turned it rim to pith.

 

[hockenbery]

Check it out! This pic is of the unprocessed block, but both blanks were one piece until I cut it in half. It almost looks like the grain pattern could be leading up to a crotch, but I don't think Redwood normally has crotches......do they? ko

Redwood has buttresses near the ground. These are rib like structures and the grain will follow them instead of being round.
Lots of ins and outs. MmThe wavy grain could be that.
Most large trees have some buttressing near the roots.

We don't know how close the sawn face was to being parallel to the bark or if there was lots buttress in and out if there is a parallel.

As fare as crotches big limbs can make a crotch with the main trunk.

 

[Odie]

I see the wavy grain. Don't see anything that convinces me it is rim to pith.

If you say it was turned rim to pith then you turned it rim to pith.

Redwood has buttresses near the ground. These are rib like structures and the grain will follow them instead of being round.
Lots of ins and outs. MmThe wavy grain could be that.
Most large trees have some buttressing near the roots.

We don't know how close the sawn face was to being parallel to the bark or if there was lots buttress in and out if there is a parallel.

As fare as crotches big limbs can make a crotch with the main trunk.

Well Al, I wouldn't know about crotches or buttresses in Redwood, but I do know you were mistaken about the rim orientation in the roughed bowl. With that "W" shaped grain, it's easy to see how a hill with two valleys on each side could be mistaken for a rim orientation towards the bark. Makes little difference, because I'm assuring you that the rim is towards the pith on that particular bowl. I normally orient the grain this way, otherwise known as a "horseshoe" pattern......but, there are times when I do choose a "rainbow" pattern (rim towards the bark).....but not in this example. The only time I would choose the "rainbow" pattern, is when I want to accentuate a particular area of interest in the bowl that would not be possible otherwise. At other times the "rainbow" orientation is used to eliminate some unwanted characteristic from the bowl. I'd say 95% of my bowls are in the "horseshoe" orientation.......

I also know that I'm going to avoid Redwood, unless it has some very interesting grain to it. This wood is just too soft.....like poplar. The finished bowl will damage too easily for my liking.

Now, if I had the opportunity to get some more of this Redwood burl shown here, I could be persuaded......but, I'm just not interested in any more plain grained Redwood........

ko

 

[Bill Dalton]

Odie, I love Redwood, for 7 years I built Redwood lawn furniture for Sears, Penny, etc., this was 1973-1980 for Little Lake Ind. Redwood if not finished properly is very porous which is perfect for lawn furniture as moisture moves through it well, my concern would be the dressings, i.e. vinegar and oils reacting to the wood. I guess what I'm saying is to try a small one and see what happens. It's been a while since I've done much with Redwood as it doesn't grow well in Florida, but.

 

[Odie]

Odie, I love Redwood, for 7 years I built Redwood lawn furniture for Sears, Penny, etc., this was 1973-1980 for Little Lake Ind. Redwood if not finished properly is very porous which is perfect for lawn furniture as moisture moves through it well, my concern would be the dressings, i.e. vinegar and oils reacting to the wood. I guess what I'm saying is to try a small one and see what happens. It's been a while since I've done much with Redwood as it doesn't grow well in Florida, but.

Hello Bill.....

Yes, you are right......Redwood does have a distinct character all of it's own. I've run a search of Redwood salad bowls, and there were actually quite a few examples that came up. From what I can tell, there doesn't seem to be any universal way of doing a finish on Redwood, and everyone seems to have their own way of doing it. I don't have the luxury of testing a small bowl for the sake of knowledge, because I'm not planning on getting any more Redwood.....these two large pieces are all I have. I do have some cut-off corners that I can test how well Danish oil works. I suspect it will drink up quite a bit, and I'll need plenty of cure time to feel it's suitable for food use.

Even though I do a few salad bowls, it's not where my main focus is. For this purpose, there are too many other kinds of woods available that are better suitable for salad bowl use.....

Thanks......

ko

 

[Michelle Rich]

oil will darken it...my concern is the "oils/resins" in the wood that make it unnattractive to bugs. I have no clue if that is bad for people...

 

[Odie]

oil will darken it...my concern is the "oils/resins" in the wood that make it unnattractive to bugs. I have no clue if that is bad for people...

Howdy Michelle........

I'm not so sure some "darkening" of the wood is such a bad thing.

I don't have any clue, either.....as, to how the implications of the natural Redwood will effect human consumption. It does appear as though Redwood is being used by other turners for use as food bowls. You would think that since many of us are tuned in to the "group thought" concerning this, that the subject would have been discussed to some degree, in our travels. Guess we can only speculate about that, unless some information comes to light on it. Your concern is certainly within the realm of reasonable consideration.......could it be that it might be like peanuts? Most of us can eat them, but there are some of us who have an adverse reaction. It's not reasonable to deny everyone from eating peanuts, because a few might be allergic.......or, would it?

If anyone knows more about this......I'm all ears!

It is my intention to finish off the one bowl that is already roughed in the near future. Will probably return the other bowl block to storage status.........

ko

 

[Bill Boehme]

Well, the bugs are eating the wood ... or they would if it weren't for the fact that the resins contain things that either kill or repel insects. When used as a salad bowl, we aren't consuming the wood except maybe in trace amounts compared to the rest of our intake. For the bugs, it is 100% of their diet. The question of the wood being harmful is probably moot because it isn't a very good wood for treenware anyway.

 

[Odie]

......but, there are times when I do choose a "rainbow" pattern (rim towards the bark).....but not in this example. The only time I would choose the "rainbow" pattern, is when I want to accentuate a particular area of interest in the bowl that would not be possible otherwise. At other times the "rainbow" orientation is used to eliminate some unwanted characteristic from the bowl. I'd say 95% of my bowls are in the "horseshoe" orientation.......

ko

Just so happens that I finished a walnut bowl this weekend with the "rainbow" grain orientation. This was done because I wanted that great looking swirly sapwood grain to be on the rim of this one.

Sometimes the "rainbow" pattern is the most interesting orientation of the two options!.......

ko

note: These bowls are still out in the shop and haven't been polished yet......