Is there a Black food safe finish?

[Pat Scott]

A friend asked me if I could replace the wood on these utensils. Her parents have had them forever and she thinks they are from Thailand. She thinks the wood was painted black, and looking at the picture it looks to me like they are painted too.

I told her if they are painted to stop using them immediately! The wood looks to be in decent shape - not cracked or chipped - so I suggested sanding them down to bare wood and put a food safe finish on them. Oh, and I think she also has a painted bowl too!

So now she wants to know if I sanded them down, could I put a black finish on them? Is there a food safe black finish? I thought about dying them or tinting my oil black, but I don't know if that is food safe or not.

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[Tom Wilson66]

I would not be worried about painted wood being food safe. If it was unsafe, then there would be no painted toys, which get chewed on quite a bit. Most modern paints are safe to use once the solvents have completely evaporated. Just check the label or the MSDS for any toxic substances or warnings. My concern with using paint in this application would be that it would chip off fairly quickly with regular use. I would think a combination of dyeing and tinting the oil would be the most durable. You still might have to reapply the oil later.

[Brice Rogers]

I suspect that most black paint gets its color from carbon black. So, in theory, you could mix carbon black with whatever finish you were going to apply (like Walnut oil, etc.).

Another way of making the wood black is to apply tannic acid followed by a mixture of ordinary vinegar and a piece of steel wool. Toss the steel wool in the vinegar and let it age for a couple of hours. Apply the vinegar-iron solution to the tannin treated wood and it should turn black. If the utensils were high in natural tannins already (like oak naturally is), it will turn black with the vinegar-iron mixture. I saw a youtube video of a guy who took some tannin leaves and steeped them link tea leaves to make the tannic acid. He got the tannin leaves from an aquarium supply company on-line.

[John Beaver]

Most finishes are actually food safe once they are dry.

As Brice said, you can "ebonize" the wood with a vinegar/rust solution - depending on the type of wood (some woods don't have enough tannins for this to work. You can also make tannin with Quebracho Bark Powder, avail online. You make it into a tea and spread it on the wood, then add the vinegar/rust solution. This will penetrate the wood and give a deeper black finish then paint.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I would clean off the current finish and then apply a mix of wine tannin powder and DNA. A tablespoon of wine tannin powder to a cup of DNA should be a plenty, then allow to dry, then apply the ebonizing mix of vinegar and rusted iron. Do not using steel wool in the rust and vinegar mix, most steel wools can have all kinds of metal in it, get some wrought iron and make a big pile of filings.

I believe the wine tannin powder is food safe, the wine makers add it to wine to give the wine an "earth flavor". You can find it at home brewer stores or Amazon. My only problem with this method, is I have no clue what kind of wood you have, so I have no idea of what will happen. You can try it on a piece of oak to see what happens, it really helps to push the vinegar rust ebonizing effect to the maximum.

My other choice would be to use Fiebing's alcohol based leather dye. First dye it with royal blue, allow to dry then dye with Fiebing's USMC black. The reason for the blue is unknown to me, but I was taught that by a bootmaker about 50 years ago, when I asked, he said "Because I said so." Every leather item I have dyed black since then I have done as instructed, solely because he said so. I believe it would be food safe after drying, but nothing to prove that either.

[Pat Scott]

Thanks for the suggestions, I wasn't sure if dying the wood was safe or not. I don't know what kind of wood was used in the utensils, no telling what Thailand used but I'm guessing it's pretty tough because the utensils look in good shape for as old as they are.

Now my hesitation is if I sand it down to bare wood and can't identify the type of wood (to test dyes), that I won't be able to get it black enough again. Kind of out of my comfort zone so I'll have to think about it a bit.

[Paul Williams]

I don't see the problem of sanding it down. If the ebonizing doesn't work you can paint over it. I would bet that the original finish is black lacquer. No way to know that, but I believe that lacquer finishes are common on bowls and utensils from that area.

[Thom Sturgill]

If Asian, they probably are painted with Lacquer. It has been in use for thousands of years for dishes and utensils. Black and red are both common.

[Pat Scott]

I've never heard of black lacquer before, but that sure sounds easier than dye. Can you buy it that way or do you have to mix it yourself?

[JohnC Lucas]

I'm with Marvin. Black shoe dye followed by whatever clear finish you want. The finish may wear off but the shoe dye will stay there for quite a while.

[Bill Splaine]

Milk paint is supposed to be food safe. Check it out on Google.

[JohnC Lucas]

Milk paint is also extremely tough and wears better than just about anything.

[Tony Rozendaal]

To look at this from another perspective, refinishing these pieces may reduce any value that they have as antiques. If someone asked me to do this, that would be my response.

[John C Cox]

The really old Asian lacquered pieces were Urusiol lacquer.. Yes - a relative of poison ivy.. And the stuff can make you itch like mad and break out in rashes during application... But once it's fully cured - it's good hard stuff that is basically waterproof and nearly impervious to everything...

The black color was probably very fine carbon black pigment mixed in.

If they are antiques - leave them be... Put them up unless you really want to experiment with restoration of asian Urushiol lacquer.

If not - realize that most modern "food safe" finishes aren't particularly good finishes for water and chemical resistance. They will likely degrade quickly during regular use and require frequent reapplication.

[Thom Sturgill]

The pigmentation used to mix paint can be used with just about any finish. I've used the red mixed with pre-cat lacquer to make a rice bowl - solid red inside, translucient red stain outside over a sanded back black stain. It worked well, but the bowl broke with the vacuum chuck when i went to remove the tenon due to an unseen crack in the rim and the thin walls. I hand painted many layers, sanding between them to remove brush marks.