beer and wood

[Richard A. Rivera, M.D.]

I have been asked to turn some goblets for a neighbor's son who is in college. He wants them for his fraterinty, so I dare say they will not be drinking milk out of them.

My question...is there a beer proof finish for the inside of the goblet, maybe a polyurethane...I don't think a salad bowl oil would last very long...or would leaving the wood natural be OK? I was also thinking of getting a glass or plastic glass and turning the insde of the goblet so as to insert the glass inside and epoxy it in.

I know Jack is aged in charded oak casks...maybe I could char the insides of the natural wood, give it that aged feel.

Any idea which wood will work the best...need to make a dozen...I was thanking oak or walnut???

Any advise would be helpful...something safe for these Frat boys.

Thanks for all the past advice...Dr. R.

[Paul Engle]

The salad bowl finish from General Finishes, I used on my daughters goblets and several salad bowls for tossed salads ( bleu cheese , ranch, italian vin/oil with no problem ) , she and SIL have gone thru a ton of wine with them with no ill effect. I did the three coat process, finish sand each coat and let cure 3-5 days , longer cure time if high humidity. The stuff is great but the left over can set up and I tossed the remainder, next can got divided up into 4 -1/2 pint cans and nitrogen flooded and sealed ... so far so good after 6 months . I suspect a urethane would preform as well but have not tried it . the GF most likely has some U in it but not sure how much. The gloss finish on the GF sure is shinney....
PS
you might also try thinned epoxy as a seal , I used it on the LOML's segmented cookie jar inside and works very well, thinned to near runny applied on the lathe at dead slow and allowed to turn for 2-5 hrs to keep from saging ( 48hrs to harden up) . very glossy and smooth , used acetone to thin 5 or 6 to 1 part acetone and a flux brush to brush on while turning . I had to experiment some what to get just the " nice " consistancy.

[Clara Koss]

the safest thing would be not to give him the goblets till he's out of school hahahahaha.... but it is a nice idea and he will keep them always and have great memories of you and his buds....good luck with sealing...

[Barry Elder]

Drinking beer (or ale) out of wooden mugs has been done for hundreds of years. Or at least that's what various writers tell us. And besides, after quaffing a few, they won't know the difference. As gross as beer is, anything you add to the inside will probably improve it for a while. Make them out of oak since it's plentiful.

[Jim King]

We make these kind of wine glasses and also beer glasses and finish them with floor grade polyurethane and it works great. Much better than the laquer, wax and other things we tried.

[robert hainstock]

I would advise against walnut, and further reccomend Sugar Maple. It is thje hardest most durable of the woods, and has been used for a very long time for food utensils. :)
We'd like to see pix of the finished product.
Bob

[Terry Achey]

We make these kind of wine glasses and also beer glasses and finish them with floor grade polyurethane and it works great. Much better than the laquer, wax and other things we tried.

wow... very nice, Jim!

[Clint Schlosser]

I have experimented with Salad Bowl finish and not had any luck but I was probably doing something wrong. I have however had success with the west system 3 epoxy. It did take a long time for the odor to die down. If you want a more professional product I found a product called "BrewCoat" if you google it you will find it. I think it is about $200 minimum order but that would coat at least 50 mugs by my calculations. It is FDA approved and used in Beer Brewing Tanks!

[Andrew Derhammer]

plexitone finish might work. Used for pens sometimes but basically you dissolve Plexiglas w/ acetone and you put it on and it dries back to it's Plexiglas state but on the wood, doesn't take long to dry either, just wear gloves as it gets messy and the acetone dries your fingers out.

[Chris Barnett]

One vote for charcoal....think you might get a fabulous fad going!