Quick and dirty bowl finish

 

For my beginning wood turning class, I just completed my first bowl. It had a few dings, and is made of plain poplar, so looks unremarkable. This is compounded by the limited amount of time I had in which to sand the bowl on the lathe. I was able to get it slightly sanded, but not thoroughly.

 

This left me with a dilemma. I could either hand sand it to a very fine grit, and get it to shine, or I could do something quick and dirty.

 

Being as I was planning to use this bowl to hold various bathroom toiletries, (as it’s too crude for a gift or for display, but is the right size and reasonably stable) and poplar is semi-soft, a labor intensive high polish would be scuffed in no time. So I went for something quick and dirty.

 

Step 1. I sanded it down to 200 grit. It still has some marks and dings, but feels smooth. A particularly prominent ding had a leaf carved over it.

Step 2. About twenty-four hours apart, I applied two generous coats of walnut oil. A denser wood may have needed to be wiped down after application, but the poplar was porous and swiftly absorbed most excess oil. Walnut oil is great stuff. It’s non toxic (which makes it great for kitchen utensils and toys), brings out the woods natural color without yellowing it unduly as Danish oil might, and it’s ridiculously easy to apply. As with any oil, oil soaked rags, paper towels etc have to be dealt with cautiously, and anyone sensitized to Walnut sawdust may wish to research its safety specific to them, but it’s really great stuff.

Step 3. There is no step three. Any repairs or maintenance on the bowl can be easily accomplished by sanding or adding more oil. I wouldn’t quite say that it glows, but it looks warm and does its job.