Finishing wooden mugs?

[Royce Meritt]

I am in the planning stages for a couple of turned wooden mugs. What type of finish does anyone recommend that will stand up to either hot coffee or cold "adult beverages" and be safe to use for drinking? Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Other than embedding them in resin, it is unlikely that you can attain your goal of making these mugs usable for hot and cold beverages including those with or without alcohol. No finish this side of plastic will serve as a total barrier to liquids. You might get away with it with an incidental use or two, but...

[Ted Shrader]

Royce -

Have you considered plastic inserts? Would get the wood look outside with a sealed inside.

Back in the day (waaay back in the day) wood was used as vessels, so I suppose it will work, but don't know about durability. Probably, in this case, no treatment (or maybe just mineral oil) would be best.

Keep us posted,
Ted

[Glenn Clabo]

Royce,
I'm not a turner...but a while back I was researching a gift and found that there are coatings for wood that can be used that withstand any type of drinkable liquid. I saved this companies website because they claim that thier product is "guaranteed Forever (as long as we're alive and in business, whichever ends first)". They use a "Plasite Epoxy Resin. FDA approved food-safe. Water and alcohol proof." Check it out and note the prices!
http://www.goodlywoods.com/mugs.htm

[Wolf Kiessling]

I am in the planning stages for a couple of turned wooden mugs. What type of finish does anyone recommend that will stand up to either hot coffee or cold "adult beverages" and be safe to use for drinking? Thanks.

Here's something a little off the wall, Royce, that you might want to consider. I got the idea for this from one of my sons who is an arrow maker.

Dissolve 1 ounce of epoxy with 4 ounces of acetone. Apply the dissolved epoxy with a rag; when it is dry, apply one more time and let it dry. It is now finished. You can always apply a third time if you think it is necessary. The way this works is the acetone evaporates and all you have left is the epoxy finish. I tried this on two wooden kitchen spoons (one catalpa and one willow) about three years ago. SWMBO uses these spoons nearly daily and has run them through the dishwasher hundreds of times. The finish is still holding up.

I was told that the epoxy/acetone mixing should be done in a metal can with a tight lid (I use a brand new 1 pint paint can I purchased at Sherwin Williams) so the light doesn't get at it. I'm not sure what the light has to do with anything. The epoxy I used is the two-ton stuff I got in the two part tube from Wally World. (Devco?)

Wolf

[Don Farr]

Royce,
I'm not a turner...but a while back I was researching a gift and found that there are coatings for wood that can be used that withstand any type of drinkable liquid. I saved this companies website because they claim that thier product is "guaranteed Forever (as long as we're alive and in business, whichever ends first)". They use a "Plasite Epoxy Resin. FDA approved food-safe. Water and alcohol proof." Check it out and note the prices!
http://www.goodlywoods.com/mugs.htm

Wow!!! Thanks Glenn that is a really cool site. The only problem is, now I want to make one. :)

[Dean Baumgartner]

Royce,
I'm not a turner...but a while back I was researching a gift and found that there are coatings for wood that can be used that withstand any type of drinkable liquid. I saved this companies website because they claim that thier product is "guaranteed Forever (as long as we're alive and in business, whichever ends first)". They use a "Plasite Epoxy Resin. FDA approved food-safe. Water and alcohol proof." Check it out and note the prices!
http://www.goodlywoods.com/mugs.htm


Thanks for the link Glenn, I don't have anything planned right now that will need this but you never know when I might.


Dean

[Glenn Clabo]

Interesting crew making those drinking vessels...eh?