Great Post Alfredo...
Hello Alfredo,
Thanks for sharing the photos of your children...
It's always nice to see kids getting involved with woodturning! There's a nice article on my website about oil finishes and the protocols I use to apply oil finishes, check it out:
http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/oil-finish.html
This will give you a very in-depth look at various oils, how the cure and application tips.
Personally, I choose a finish based on it's ultimate use... Artistic bowls get different finishes than those designed to be used everyday as food bowls. It really depends on what the bowl will be used for... There are lots of finishes that will work on bowls, including oil based, shellac, water based, waxes, lacquers, binary epoxies, varnishes, and other solvent and water based finishes.
A quick and easy finish for food bowls is Walnut oil. If you want a solvent based oil finish, General's Salad Bowl Finish is excellent. Three coats will produce a very nice finish when buffed. Minwax #209 is another great finish, but it is more labor intensive to apply. Liberon Finishing Oil is a superb high build oil finish, but it will darken lighter woods like your White Cedar, unless you seal the wood first with lacquer or shellac.
Finishes cure differently, depending on whether they are evaporative, reactive or coalescing. When a finish "cures" it changes from a liquid state to a solid state in/on the wood. This is a basic definition for curing, without all of the chemistry behind the physical processes that take place. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Take care and all the best to you and yours!