# Soap dish in wood - protection?



## spandadk (Dec 15, 2019)

*I'm working on a soap dish in wood and was hoping for some suggestions on how to possibly approach the matter of protection/finish.*

_A couple of questions:_
1. Knowing wood isn't happy sitting in water all day (or being exposed to water often), my guess is I would need some good finish/protection. What could be recommended here? Do I need to look at something like a marine grade wood sealer, shellac or something else?

2. Currently im working on my prototypes in Beech, Mable, Ash, Oak and Padauk. Would any of these wood species be a total no-go?


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

Welcome to the forum! Add your first name to your signature line so we'll know what to call you. Add your location so it shows in the side panel.

In all my years doing woodworking I have made exactly one soap dish out of wood and I drilled some holes in it to allow water to drain. It was years ago and I think I used a marine varnish.

David


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

welcome to the forum !!
a photo, drawing or sketch of what you have in mind will help
with the appropriate feedback.
there are dozens of nice soap "supports" on Pinterest.

I am like David, I have made only one for an example for a
member that asked the same question.
this is what I came up with . . . either stained or painted. 

























visit your local Goodwill or Thrift Store and find a nice dish
that will go with your decor and build your wooden base
around that. a nice oval ceramic dish in a wood base can be
quite attractive if you do it right.

.


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## AwesomeOpossum74 (Jan 27, 2017)

John Smith_inFL said:


> visit your local Goodwill or Thrift Store and find a nice dish
> that will go with your decor and build your wooden base
> around that. a nice oval ceramic dish in a wood base can be
> quite attractive if you do it right.


That is quite attractive. But no wood showing.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

AwesomeOpossum74 said:


> That is quite attractive. But no wood showing.


the beauty of anything is in the eye of the beholder.
I quickly made this soap dish strictly as an example for a member
that was asking how to make a waterproof soap holder for the bathroom.
in the above photos, one photo shows a stained wood base.
the other shows a painted wood base.
there are no rules as to how to present a wood project. (I prefer paint, myself).
in my world, any marriage of wood and other elements is very acceptable.
the member that asked the question never came back - so I guess they are experimenting.

this is also a nice project for anyone that sells soaps at a craft fair or farmers mkt.
buy a bunch of assorted sized saucers at the thrift store and make an assortment
of wood bases for them. makes an excellent display to show off the bars of soap.
.


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## spandadk (Dec 15, 2019)

Thanks for the answers guys.


I'll try and get an image up when I get one taken, for now was ofcourse curious whether going down the road of actually making a soap dish in wood, would be a total no-go.


I reached out to a few different webshops selling Marine varnish here in Denmark and asked for their recommendations.


The responses were a bit "depressing" - the "tone" was something a long these lines:
"we would not recommend to make a soap dish in those wood types,- in generel the wood would eventually crack from moist generated by the soap regardsless of threatment with oil, varnish lacquer. The best recommendation would be to possibly look at bamboo and teak which is more dense and doesn't soak up water as much as anything else.


Even though working with those wood types, you would often need to give it some kind of threatment"


This was the mixed feedback from 3 suppliers that I received.


Sooo, im like: Should I just give up on the idea?


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

of course not !! don't give up.
any damage to the wood soap dish will happen over time,
not overnight. just make what you want. and if/when it
gets to the point of not being usable any longer, make another one.
experiment with different woods and finishes.
what you have in Denmark is not what we have here in the USA.
so you will have to play around with the products you have access to.
all the best in your projects.

.

.


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## mjadams61 (Jan 1, 2016)

If you do a search of wooden soap dish's you will find a few that show a open base where the water will drain out. Now these are made for bathroom sinks that actually have places made to set a bar of soap on and these wooden soap dish's would work. But if your sink does not have a space for a bar of soap then I would make it a 2 piece soap dish. The top like you find online plus a dish to catch the moisture or water dripping off the soap which I would treat both like you would a wooden beer mug. This one is made out of beech wood


https://www.amazon.com/Piece-Wood-Soap-Dish/dp/B00L9CFDPA


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## spandadk (Dec 15, 2019)

*John Smith_inFL* + mjadams61 > Cheers, thanks for the added input. I'll keep my chin up high and take a wack at it and like mentioned, test different approaches towards protection versus wood species and such.


mjadams61 > Good point about possible sinks not being made for water to drain out for soap dishes - didn't think about that, only to make a few holes in the main soap dish, so draining was possible - ill surely think of an "add-on".


May I ask how you would treat a wooden mug?


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## mjadams61 (Jan 1, 2016)

Well I have read that a few use Minwax Polycrylic and or tung oil but since you wont be drinking out of it  maybe a Spar Urethane like Minwax makes or similar for outdoor use.


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## mjadams61 (Jan 1, 2016)

About any type of finish used to protect against moisture would work. But I would diffidently used a tight grain wood to make your soap dish out of.


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## AwesomeOpossum74 (Jan 27, 2017)

John Smith_inFL said:


> the beauty of anything is in the eye of the beholder.


Agreed! I believe the OP was looking for a solution where the wood was visible, hence my comment.

I didn't realize the sample wood base was stained/finished. I thought it was just unpainted.



John Smith_inFL said:


> I quickly made this soap dish strictly as an example for a member
> that was asking how to make a waterproof soap holder for the bathroom.


For this thread's OP? That's dedication to coolness, right there.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

Possum - sorry, no, it was about a year or so ago on another forum.
the requester never came back - so I don't know what he 
ended doing for his final project.
I was already working on the lathe, so it was a quick project.
in my very personal opinion, it is much easier to keep a ceramic dish
clean than wood coated with some kind of finish.
the last wooden soap holder I am familiar with is when my grandmother
had this big honkin bar of Octagon Soap she kept on a wood board by the kitchen sink.
(the vintage Octagon Soap is the equivalent of our Lava Hand Soap of today).
there are hundreds of good examples of pretty wooden soap dishes on Pinterest.
all the best to the O/P and looking forward to seeing his finished project.

** on the sample that I made; the base is a piece of very old T&G pine board
and the stem is Florida Sea Grape. just a quickie for a working example.

.

.


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## spandadk (Dec 15, 2019)

This might appear as a silly question:


Would the wood "benefit" from a "bath" in lets say marine varnish or similar? Here im thinking about making a big bowl of the protection fluid and for full penetration, let the wood sit in the bowl for 24 hours.
Then ofcourse let it dry until it hardens > mild sanding > paint a new coat > repeat until I have 2-3 coats done


Unsure whether I would "gain" anything from the "big bowl bath". Any thoughts?


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## spandadk (Dec 15, 2019)

And silly question 2:

Could an approach also be to:
- Use a wood sealer/ shellac to "close" the grain -> mild sanding -> then apply X coats of marine varnish or similar to create the protection layer

I will do an attempt to test the above approaches - but as always, value any input possible (I have no experience with finishes whatsoever)


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I don’t know if this would be overkill, but I recently stabilized a piece of wood using cactus juice and a vacuum chamber. It seems pretty well saturated with cactus juice and I’m kind of thinking if I wanted to, I could make it pretty impervious to water by adding a coat or two of epoxy and multiple coats of Epifanes.


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## TobyC (Apr 30, 2013)

How about DRYLOK® clear waterproofer, it works on birdbaths.


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