In our society we have become more health conscious lately and salads have become a mainstay of our meals. Many times we seek to make that salad special with a pretty salad bowl, one that looks good and feels right in one's hand. So many times a person heads for the store and too many of the bowls are cheap plastic or metal, quite serviceable but not really special. Enter the wood turner.

Salad bowls are a mainstay of the turner's art. For some turners this is all they make and in a great variety of sizes and styles. These bowls may range from little six inch individual salad servers to twelve inch bowls for a family of four or more. Eighteen inch bowls are not uncommon and some have been turned to three feet and more for corporate crowds. Sides of the bowls rise in great individuality. Low sides are especially good for those with children who need to reach over and serve themselves while higher ones may be best for those who like to toss a Caesar salad at the table and leave it in the bowl.

Wooden bowls are special and those turned by hand more special yet. Too many of our crafts that once were made by skilled artisans often working alone in small shops have been assumed in recent years by robotic machines in factories, turning out repetitious copies without the subtleties that make hand work so remarkable. Most if not all of the factory bowls are apt to be made of quite bland wood as well. It is easier for factories to deal with.

The skilled wood turner begins with a choice of wood. Bowls are pleasant things to turn but the novelty quickly wears off. Then the choice of wood makes a difference. As one wood turner said, "life is too short to turn ugly wood." Quite simply, there is a pleasure in taking a gorgeous piece of wood and making it shine with a well applied tool, sand paper and finish.

This is after all, not a short process. First the wood has to be obtained and for most wood turners that means working with log and chain saw to select the best block of wood for the bowl. Often it means going to a friend's house and cutting down the tree that needs to be removed. Pieces large enough for turning are cut to an appropriate length for later use and treated on the ends to prevent checking. Then they must be piled in the truck or van to be taken home while the branches and leaves remaining have to be cleaned up for later removal or chipping into mulch.

Once back at the shop the log section is cut into a working piece just big enough for the bowl to come. That piece goes on the lathe and is quickly roughed out. In other words it is turned overly thick from the wet or "green" wood into the approximate shape of the bowl to come. The wood is still green and will warp or crack while drying. To prevent this from happening a wax emulsion must be painted onto the end grain and the bowl left to dry for at least three months and for some woods in some conditions at least a year.

After the bowl dries, the warped but hopefully not cracked bowl is remounted to the lathe and the wood turner now proceeds a careful process of design and final turning. It is not unusual for the three quarters or more of the wood to be turned away, leaving a salad bowl behind. Once this bowl is sanded and oiled like a work of art it is ready to be used on the table. A treat for the hands and the eyes as well as for the taste buds, salad and bowl salute you at the dinner table.