Caring for your spurtle or salad bowl is a simple case of washing it in
warm soapy water and drying thoroughly. An occasional application of oil
or wax may be called for, but for the most part timely washing will keep
your wooden kitchenware in good condition.

But if it takes on an odour such as garlic or onion, try rubbing it with
a slice of lemon, lime or orange, then sprinkle with salt and wipe with
a paper cloth.

In more extreme cases where food has gone off in the bowl, such as fruit
which has been forgotten, try making a mixture of mineral oil and pumice
powder. Rub this into the bowl with a cloth. Many applications may be
needed, but this is probably the safest way for consumers to fix a bowl.

I once had a customer come to me with an old bowl, not one of mine I
should add, that had had some fruit go off in it. The bottom was a
really sticky mess and I had to remove quite a bit of wood to get back
to a reasonably good finish. Sandpaper is not much use in cases like
this since it will gum up right away. I used a curved cabinet scraper,
but even then it was a tediously slow job.

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Posted By Derek Andrews to Seafoam Woodturning blog
<http://chipshop.blogspot.com/2007/02/kitchenware-care.html> at
2/06/2007 11:17:00 AM

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Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com