Another epoxy/food safe question

[Tom Porter]

I've just finished rough carving a large shallow bowl out of fairly green wood. It's end grain and had started to dry out a bit before carving . It's bagged with sawdust to finish drying but it already has a significant crack in it. I'd like to fill the crack (and any others) with a contrasting color. I'm planning on using coffee grounds with 5 minute epoxy. I don't know if I will use the bowl for food but want to keep my options open. My original thought was polyester resin based on a instructable I happened across but I like the coffee grounds/epoxy idea.

I've been researching a bit on Sawmill and other sites trying to get a handle on this subject and it seems most opinion is that epoxy is food safe once cured. But there's a lot of information out there and since I'm new to this and don't know much about epoxy, I thought I'd see if I could get a little feedback.

Any suggestions, either in general or on specific epoxy brands I should look at?

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

I use CA with coffee grounds

if you want to use epoxy - mix some color into it. I'm not sure how well coffee will mix with it.

[Bruce Pratt]

System 3 General Purpose Resin + Inlace stone flakes. Unless the wood is extraordinary, consider starting with a new piece. Also, if you are starting with cross-cut disc from the tree, your probability of getting a crack-free final product is pretty low.

[Bob Rotche]

I use coffee grounds with 5 minute epoxy frequently and it works great. I don't believe there is any problem as far as food safety.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

You can mix artist oil paint (OIL based oil paint, not acrylic or water based) in 5 minute epoxy. A little dab goes a long way. Color is limited to the vast array of artist oils. Can't say what it does to the adhesive properties of the epoxy, but since its a filler, should not be a problem. You can also water epoxy down with Denatured Alcohol. Again, a little goes a long way to make the epxoy more fluid. I'm sure DNA would affect the adhesive properties....

If you ate the epoxy with coffee grounds, I'm sure it would keep you awake at night. :eek:

[Tom Porter]

I remembered that I didn't post a picture of the bowl. I used devcon epoxy with coffee grounds and finished it with General Finishes Salad Bowl oil, though I doubt I'll ever use it for food. It's not perfect but I'm happy with how it turned out.


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[William Bachtel]

epoxy is likely more safe, then some of the foods we buy and eat from the store.