Salad bowl finish

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jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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NJ, USA.
All salad bowl finish is a selling pitch as a food safe product. take a look at the ingrediants on the can. Russ should chime in here being our finishing expert. Are we planning on eating with a pen as a chopstick????:drink:
 
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KenV

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Oct 28, 2005
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Juneau, Alaska.
A number of finish experts make the poiint that after the finish cures, they are all food safe. Not dish washer proof, just safe to eat from. Salad bowl finishes are different marketing. No odor no problem,

If you are really fearful, the mineral oil or mineral oil and beeswax finishes are eatable (though they will likely clean out your digestive system. Shellac is also eatable (coating on pills and M&M candy) and works as a sanding sealer to help get end grain to cut.

I use a product called "tried and true" oil and varnishes for many finishing uses on wood where I want a light buildup. That is a heat polymerized flax seed oil (also known as linseed oil) without solvents. I can bring it home in airplanes because it is not a flamable product.

You do not want the pre-80's lead paint --
 

jttheclockman

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NJ, USA.
Just was kidding. Kinda figured you wanted it for bowls or utensils. Salad bowl finish is nothing but tung oil and varnish. That is a marketing ploy. But it does have a whole lot of other ingrediants in it to help it dry and apply smoothly that are not good for you in their liquid state. Like other finishes once dry theyey become stable and are supposibly safe. That debate has been going on for years. I think Ken's post just about sums it up well. Here is some reading that might interest you on salad bowl finishes. Have a great one.

[PDF]
MSDS Distribution - #B603-0001
 
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Here is some reading that might interest you on salad bowl finishes. Have a great one.

[PDF]
MSDS Distribution - #B603-0001

John,
If you really read through these things it could make you steer clear of any and all chemical compounds.... In my former life, I used MSDS's quite extensively in packing and preparing shipments for transportation... most of what I read was the transportation information and then the CFR49 rules and regs... the people who write these things use could and may quite extensively.. kinda covers their back sides... the ones I really liked to get hold of were the ones that read: chemical content/forumla "proprietary".
No idea what's actually in the material.

 

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
Messages
19,131
Location
NJ, USA.
John,
If you really read through these things it could make you steer clear of any and all chemical compounds.... In my former life, I used MSDS's quite extensively in packing and preparing shipments for transportation... most of what I read was the transportation information and then the CFR49 rules and regs... the people who write these things use could and may quite extensively.. kinda covers their back sides... the ones I really liked to get hold of were the ones that read: chemical content/forumla "proprietary".
No idea what's actually in the material.



That was basically my point and you have to laugh when they use a sell pitch as salad bowl and food safe and things like that. Of course you need a hazmat suit to apply it but it is food safe. :)
 

RussFairfield

Passed Away 2011
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Feb 10, 2004
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Post Falls, Idaho.
My answer to your question is at

http://www.woodturner-russ.com/FSOriginal3a.html

Bottom line - There is no evidence that anyone, anywhere, has been harmed by the cured finish that has been put on a piece of wood in the past 30 years since 1978. That was the year that the the Government took Lead and Cadmium out of wood finishes.

If there is still a concern, it would be the thinners and solvents that are the problem, not the finish. Don't use it for food if it smells like paint. Do use it if it doesn't. That difference can be several weeks to months because it takes that long for the thinners to evaporate and the smell to go away.
 
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