Odourless finish needed for tea box

[Dengue]

In the process of making a wooden teabag storage box, and need an odourless finish to prevent the leaves from absorbing any smells.

Can anyone please suggest a suitable product ?

[AngelaPetruzzi]

Good Morning, we have real Queensland weather today in Melb.
Whatever coating you use, firstly ensure it is safe to come in contact with food. wether loose leaf or tea bags, odour will be absorbed.
Whilst the Kunos is food safe, if you treat the box and close it..you will trap the odour and it will smell like stale linseed oil. If though you treat it with the oil, leave open for the oil to harden and cure, the smell will go. When will it not smell? This depends on the temperature, timber, how sensitive one is to smell etc.
I have never tried it on boxes but I would think if you left the box open for a week or two, the smell would well and truly have disappeared.
Merry Christmas

[RoyG]

Consider using Shellac.

It's food safe..... once the methylated spirits has evaporated - say 24 hours after application. The Shellac is odourless after it's dried. The Shellac will also do the best job of highlighting the characteristics of the wood's grain pattern.

Spray or brush the Shellac. Multiple light coats - I usually apply about six coats, more if the wood looks like it could use it. Sprayed or brushed Shellac dries to a semi-gloss finish. Unless you've got a dust free spray booth, you'll need to use very fine sand paper, or 0000 steel wool, to knock off any dust nibs that dried on the surface of the last coat.

If you want a satin or matt finish, use 0000 steel wool to rub the surface back to the desired satin or matt finish. If you want a high gloss finish, there are numerous specialist cutting and polishing compounds that will do the job. To polished Shellac to a very high gloss finish, I first use steel wool, then cut and polish with a Meguir's Swirl Remover (Car Cutting and Polishing Compound), then applied car polish and buffed that to the final high gloss.

Have a look Woodworking Australia - Home Page (http://www.ubeaut.com.au). You'll be able to get the shellac from Ubeaut, or from one of the outlets that stock his stuff. Just in the last few weeks I've had good results using Ubeaut's Hard Shellac (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/hardshell.htm), which gives a much more robust finish than ordinary Shellac. The Hard Shellac is clear, so I put a layer of Orange Shellac on the wood first to enhance the wood's colour, then the layers of Hard Shellac. Caution - this stuff dries very hard, and cutting and polishing to a high gloss finish has been a lot of hard work, much more work than ordinary Shellac.

If you're in a hurry to finish the job in time for Christmas, Bunnings stock Feast Watson Shellac Flakes, and Masters stock pre-mixed Zinser Shellac. And, both Bunnies and Masters have had 0000 steel wool on the shelves recently.

RoyG

[cava]

Whilst it depends on the timber used, do you really need to seal it? Can it not be left open to vent/air until the smell dissipates?

[mark david]

Hi,Traditionally from the 18th century onwards tea caddies were lined with metal foil (usually lead ! certanly not advocating doing this now )
You could line it with aluminium foil which will keep it dry and stop the tea being contaminated by the timber or indeed the timber taking on the flavour of the tea.
If you still want a wood finish then definitely agree a shellac based finish would be fine.

[rustynail]

I do mine with a Kauri Pine lining or removable insert box also made from kauri. I dont put any type of finish on the Kauri. Kauri has excellent anti bacterial qualities, hence its extensive use in the past for kitchen furniture.

[soundman]

no question in my mind ... Shelac ..... i'd go white or hard from the U beaut range

cheers