Wood Care & Info

I think the best way to live with and care for your wooden ware is to use it and wash with warm water and dish soap as needed. 

You can use wooden plates and bowls for anything.  If you want to ease into wooden bowl use, start by using your new bowl as a popcorn bowl, get two so you can share with a friend.  This is an almost daily thing at my house.  Salad is great, breakfast cereals and ice cream are absolutely best in wooden bowls.  I know folks who keep nuts and snacks handy in their wooden bowls.  Wooden bowls can totally handle soup, chili and pasta, anything...  Wood has the advantage of being really tough and forgiving, this makes wooden bowls great for children or others who tend to drop things.  They resist breakage and I've even seen them bounce off a tile floor.

After some time they may start to look dry or faded and this is normal.  You can leave them be this way, like a nice faded pair of jeans or you can oil to re-liven them at home.  Wipe oil on and wipe excess off.  

Choice oils are:

• Walnut oil.

• Linseed oil. Make sure the can/bottle says Food Grade as there are many different kinds and read the directions. Flax oil is from the same plant and sold in many grocery stores and health-food establishments and works well.

• Pure Tung oil. Make sure it reads food grade.

• Not my favorite but easy to find and widely used is Mineral Oil. It's a food grade petroleum product used by tons of commercial wooden cutting board and wood bowl sellers. This is about my last choice but is labeled food safe and seems to work for people.

If you purchased your spoon or bowl from me it was treated with a blend of Linseed & Walnut oils plus beezwax OR just walnut oil before it left the workshop.  

Patina.  Patina is a change of a surface through age and exposure.  Wood and many other materials gain a patina with age.  I think of these like the beautiful smile lines we gain as we age, or a broken-in pair of work pants.  As your bowl or spoon ages it will change and that can be an indicator that you own and use a quality natural product.  It's a subtle marker of time.  Keep using it, it's good. 

Paint. Occasionally I’ll paint the outsides of wood bowls or parts of the spoons I make. All the paint I use is a non-toxic, environmentally friendly Milk Paint. For a long time I refused to paint this work as I felt that the wood speaks for itself, however I’ve learned to notice how the painted surface highlights the grain of the unpainted bits and vice versa. Like how darkness helps us understand lightness, Yin & Yang.

I have found that some berries and other things like beets may stain wood.  The oils I treat them with will help combat stains and some of the stains do wash out or fade with use and care.

If you would like to get your your bowl or spoon to me for an oil & tune-up or other repair that would be fine, I'd be glad to do it.  Drop me a note and lets make it happen. 

Hand-wash, warm soapy H20 and avoid use in a microwave.