Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - How to finish a wood sink? any thoughts?

I just had a farmhouse style kitchen sink made for me out of african mahogony. The creator didn't put any finish on it to keep my costs down. My neighbor is a painter/wood finisher and will help me out with that. I thought i'd come on here and see if anyone has any suggestions for a product to use to finish it. I'd like the wood to be natural color. Waterproof is obviously a concern as well as also being safe to use with food items.

any general thoughts on a wooden kitchen sink are also welcome.

Do you mean the sink cabinet? or is the bowl/tub itself made of wood?

The bowl itself. :) I know it might not be the best idea ever

I don't know what would be the best type of coating to use..... but whatever you use, it will need recoating every so often.

yeah, i agree it will need service... any other ideas how to finish it?

I'd suggest just contacting a few of the companies that show up in a google search for "wooden sinks". Some say they just use coats of varnish. I would think something like used on boats would be the best.

Hope it was kiln dried before carving..I'd think it would crack/split like crazy otherwise.

Similar problem with butcher blocks and wood salad bowls. Do a search for food grade mineral oils. You can re-apply them as needed and they should keep it from drying out.

Bud

I was thinking that some type of oil would be the way to go. A marine varnish/poly would repell water well but I suspect it would be a nightmare once it started to fail.

Yeah, I know...2 or 3 diff sites that I checked..some said they used some sort of impregnated finish, couple said varnish, one said oil for maintenance.

Wooden sinks (esp a kitchen sink in a modern home) just seems like a bad idea. I saw plenty of wooden bowls used as sinks in Africa and South America... but that was just for quick washups.