food safe?

[tony tomlinson]

I've turned several 6"wood bowls for candy,etc.and wish to finish them with a color - Transtint wood dye with a clear finish topcoat. One fellow at our local club suggested that after a suitable cure time - 30 days minimum the bowls would be safe for food. Does that sound right?Appreciate your thoughts

[Mark Bolton]

The overarching logic in the "real world" (not here, or any forum, and honestly I dont completely agree with the logic either) is that ANY finish, once cured, is food safe. Thinking that once a finish is cured, solvents are gone, its a non-digestible material, and the miniscule amounts anyone would ingest in use are for all intents and purposes, inert, and will just pass through and out the poop shoot and down the drain.

Ive heard this a million times from local turners clubs, woodworking clubs, garage cutting board shops, and so on.

I personally dont agree and I opt for no stains or dyes, and no conventional curing film finishes, on anything that comes in contact with food. That said, I have a 2 million dollar liability policy at the shop that I have to defend so even though I know for a fact I could eat the cured conversion varnish spilled on my bench and poop it out in the morning without an ounce of trouble.. I cant pull those shenanigans with paid work.

Its a rats nest/rabbit hole your post will likely fall into but its something that honestly only you can decide what is reasonable to you.

[Matt Uchida]

I use a specific oil/wax product made for food surfaces if I am making something that will hold food or on a wood toy a child might put in their mouth.

If you are putting fruit where you would peel the skin or candy that is wrapped already then I really don't think you would have to worry at all about your basic wood finishes.

[Jim Becker]

All finishing products sold today are "food safe" after a full cure. There is no "official food safe" designation.

[Mark Bolton]

All finishing products sold today are "food safe" after a full cure. There is no "official food safe" designation.

Tell that to every fish in the ocean that now 100% of which have plastic in their system when consumed. Agreed though.. the parties with financial interests at stake deem it all "food safe". Id imagine they are all also heavily leveraged in the health care and health insurance industries lol. Off to refill my salt shaker with dried ground 2k poly lol.

[Mike Monroe]

I've turned several 6"wood bowls for candy,etc.and wish to finish them with a color - Transtint wood dye with a clear finish topcoat. One fellow at our local club suggested that after a suitable cure time - 30 days minimum the bowls would be safe for food. Does that sound right?Appreciate your thoughts

Here's more info on "food safe finishes" for you to digest: http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/...les_497a.shtml