Wooden shaving bowls

Hey all got another question. Need to pick you brains again.

I received the soap pucks I ordered in the mail today. They are shaped like they were made in a muffin tin.

I have noticed that a lot of the higher end soaps come in a wooden bowl. So I am thinking about making myself a few wooden bowls for my new soaps. My question is how does that work out using a wooden bowl? I know that you are just wetting it long enough to pick soap up on the brush but I still wonder about how even that little bit of water affects the wooden bowl.

I would like to get some input from some of you who have used soap from a wooden bowl before I go to the trouble of making them just find it was a bad idea.

Thanks in advance for the info.

Ray

I had one of the Caswell Massey sandlewood soap in a teak bowl. I must of refilled it 100 times in the last 20 years and only last month was a small crack discovered.

I've only used the wood bowls supplied by the commercial soap makers (TOBS, Trumpers etc), and they are coated or shellaced. Waterproofed, in other words. I still dry them out in any event.

If you are making your own wood soap dish I would highly recommend applying some form of waterproofing agent, otherwise it won't last too long.

Try rubbing Tung Oil into them, over a period of about three weeks; or until they won't absorb any more.

Tung oil is fine for wood surfaces that may see occasional moisture, but you may want to consider something heavier for a bowl that will be subjected to water and lather on a constant basis.

If you use a wood such as teak or lignum you shouldn't have to do a whole lot of waterproofing.

In general wood and moisture don't mix. yea I know the old sailing ships were wood however they required constant maint. Some of the older vintage bowls made of teak especially stand up pretty good but the newer ones I would be careful with. I have an MDC soap bowl and it's doing OK. I have a couple Harris bowls and they aren't.

What about just using clear epoxy? That'd seal it up and I wouldn't think you'd ever have to worry about it. That or marine fiberglass.

I think I am just going to turn a couple out of some Eastern Red Cedar and see what happens.

I actually had a secondary thought. A lot of the craft stores around here have glass jars etc for flower arrangements and candles etc. I may just see if I can find a few glass bottoms to hold the soap and turn lids for them out of wood.

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Originally Posted by Ryan82

Tung oil is fine for wood surfaces that may see occasional moisture, but you may want to consider something heavier for a bowl that will be subjected to water and lather on a constant basis.

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Makes sense; never thought of that.

Attachment 139811 i like this thuya bowl/mdc combo...photo found on ebay.

I dunno about "treating" the wood... hey! I'm a guy who doesn't worry about water spots on his drinking glasses, ya know? I've been using some wooden bowls I purchased online about eight years ago, from the Old Dominion Soap Company (bottom of the page); I store soap and build lather in all of them, with no problems.

What I will say is that if you plan to build a lather in one, make sure it's sufficiently high -- about twice the height of the soap; if not, it gets real messy, real quickly.

Smooth shaving!

I am going to spin some out of redwood and soak then in polyurethane to see what happens. I am not going thru the expense of vacuum unless I find a jerry rig way to do it for nothing.

I use a oil product used for wooden Cutting Boards when I get a wood bowl. If I turn one, the Rockler's stores have a combination bees' wax and walnut oil mixture that has worked for me on new and used bowls and some early shave brushes and a lot of espresso machine lever and pf handles that I turned.
Were I to do the inside and lip of a bowl now I might favor repeated coats of CA rubbed and sanded. I would do it while the bowl was in the lathe and spinning and heated by the friction of a piece of the similar wood while applying it to seal all the surface. A common practice I find.
Have fun any way you can! that is how we learn!
Bye the way wear good eye protection. a trip to the emergency room to get a glob of CA out of you eye is not fun...at all. I have done that.
Cheers
~Richard

If it's a quality bowl and nice and hefty and a hardwood it should weather real good. The garbage Trumpers and Harris uses is highly disposable.

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Originally Posted by JBHoren

I dunno about "treating" the wood... hey! I'm a guy who doesn't worry about water spots on his drinking glasses, ya know? I've been using some wooden bowls I purchased online about eight years ago, from the Old Dominion Soap Company (bottom of the page); I store soap and build lather in all of them, with no problems.

What I will say is that if you plan to build a lather in one, make sure it's sufficiently high -- about twice the height of the soap; if not, it gets real messy, real quickly.

Smooth shaving!

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i have one of those bowls too....they are called KINGSLEY bowls on drugstore.com mine is starting to warp a little...i can tell because the lid doesnt sit evenly anymore. i do like the shape of the bowl though...has good hand-feel.

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Originally Posted by jmsodpc

i have one of those bowls too....they are called KINGSLEY bowls on drugstore.com mine is starting to warp a little...i can tell because the lid doesnt sit evenly anymore. i do like the shape of the bowl though...has good hand-feel.

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Thanks for the pointer! (especially to one with a $1.46 less-expensive price) -- at $6.49 a-pop, I can live with a lid that one day warped a bit. Thankfully, shaving soap ain't a dairy product! :p

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Originally Posted by JBHoren

What I will say is that if you plan to build a lather in one, make sure it's sufficiently high -- about twice the height of the soap; if not, it gets real messy, real quickly.

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Wish I had read this before I filled up my first soap bowl to about 80%. It is definately messy, but at least the soap I used was cheap, I wouldnt want to have to be bothered getting it out and re-grating it in, then storing the excess somewhere. In about 6 months the problem will most likely fix itself. :)

I bought a wooden bowl to make my lather in. Before use I put on 5 layers of matt clearcoat. Works out fine for me. Attachment 139869

Waterlox is another finish thats waterproof and will give you that oil finish look. Its expensive, and hard to find, but is some of the best oil finish you can buy in my opinion. Exotic wood suppliers usually carry it. Lately I've been getting sick of polyurethane finishes and this is something Im going to start using more of.

Waterlox Tung oil wood sealer finish protection for floors, countertops, furniture, cabinets, outdoor, marine applications

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Originally Posted by Pleegkoos

I bought a wooden bowl to make my lather in. Before use I put on 5 layers of matt clearcoat. Works out fine for me. Attachment 139869

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That looks quite substantial, don't reckon them lathers will be going anywhere

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Originally Posted by edhewitt

That looks quite substantial, don't reckon them lathers will be going anywhere

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Lol! Nope...

so far only the cheap kinglsey bowl has warped a little bit for me. thuya bowl has a nice wood scent to it.

I do not care how a wooden bowl is finished,long term it will never last with a puck of hydrated soap sitting in it, it will always be wet,it will warp, it will crack over time.Most woods in a finished product are not meant to be subjected to water,some are such as impregnated woods and woods such as Lignum.
are far better materials to use in bowls,ceramics,phenolics,one I used for yrs in water buff horn.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ornbowl001.jpg

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I do not care how a wooden bowl is finished,long term it will never last with a puck of hydrated soap sitting in it, it will always be wet,it will warp, it will crack over time.Most woods in a finished product are not meant to be subjected to water,some are such as impregnated woods and woods such as Lignum.
are far better materials to use in bowls,ceramics,phenolics,one I used for yrs in water buff horn.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ornbowl001.jpg

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That horn bowl is really lovely looking I would really like that in my shave den, I have a little Lignum bowl made from half of the bowling ball and the other half Bill made the brush for me, he left in the faux ivory disc from the original ball.

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