BLO question

[Allan Ferguson]

Thought that I would make a finish or BLO, Bee's wax and Barnum. Looked at the can of BLO and the nasty warning label and held of getting it. To my understanding there should be no problem BLO for food contact. Am I right or wrong here? Thanks for any input.

[Luke Townsley]

You are both right and wrong and neither. "Boiled" linseed oil contains metal driers. It isn't boiled anymore. A lot of people protest that when completely CURED, any modern finish is food safe. If you want to be safe (and I do), you can polymerize raw linseed or flaxseed oil yourself by putting it in the sun or boiling it. Stephen Shepherd over at fullchisel.com talks about it in his book on finishes. Alternative, you can use a product like Tried and True danish oil which is a polymerized linseed oil. I use it straight and love it. A little goes a long way because it doesn't have any VOCs in it.

[Michelle Rich]

you are smart to read the labels. Are you eating out a the bowl? If not shellac is totally food safe ( it is used in vitamin pills and other things one eats) so you can rest assured that it will not leach thru your skin & hurt you, and the vapors will not. Some waxes contain Toulene..watch for that. Carcinogen. Pure beeswax (again check for purity) and walnut oil/olive oil, etc can be eaten if one needs to eat out of the bowl. My theory all these years is "eatin" bowls should be pretty much naked. Folks used them for hundreds of years with no finish at all & the bowls survived beautifully. We had this discussion awhile back here, so go to the search feature & read up.

[Allan Ferguson]

Thank you both for the input. I have mostly use food grade mineral oil and bee's wax that I have made. Have used tried and true lately that I had left over from years before and have liked it for some of my turnings.

[John Toigo]

Luke is correct about commercial BLO. Typically Cobalt and or Lead salts are added for driers. Neither one is good to eat. Some time ago I got a deal on a 5 gal can of raw linsee oil. I use it for a lot of things. If you are finishing something on a lathe you can use raw linseed oil and then hold your hand on it while it's spinning. OBVIOUSLY USE CAUTION & DON:T HOLD TOO TIGHT. The heat from the friction of your hand will polymerize the linseed oil. I do that a lot on simple shapes like tool handles & such.