Woods and finish for food

I have been comisioned to make a various number of different serving dishes and stands for a breakfast buffet of a hotel for occasional use! Having never turned wood for which to hold food such as rasberries, and other friut I was wondering if you can advise the following:

Types of wood allowed to use ( I know some are poisenous and some are very pourous)
What finish (bearing in mind they will need to be wiped down each day)

Any other coments welcome.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to your replys.

Richard

Kauri pine has no odour or taste. There is a Rustin's 2 pac finish that is non toxic.

If you use the search function you will find a few posts on here ref food safe finishes. I'm not sure if you can obtain a product called Organoil Wood Wipe in the UK, but it gives a nice finish and is easy to apply. I'd recommend using it if available.

For a very simple, safe and easy finish, go to your chemist and ask for some parrafin oil - it's sold as a laxative but you can use it on bowls, chopping boards etc without any bowel churning side effects - just don't drink it!

ubeaut polishes :cool: see link at bottom of the page btw

I have been using only pure olive oil, liberally applied with #000 steel wool, and then polish off with a soft rag. Does the same job as Wood Wipe at a fraction of the price.

Workgoose - You may have been lucky up until now but what you are using could make someone extremely sick and possibly even in the worst case scenario could even kill. Olive oil is a deadset no-no as a finish for food as it can go rancid and cause all sorts of problems to peoples health.

Using steel wool is almost as bad but combined with the oil could be disastrous.

The only 100% safe oil to use on timber, for use with food, is paraffin oil (I think it's called Mineral Oil in the UK) Walnut oil is also touted as being safe but I'm not really 100% sure about that one.

Richard - The Rustin's 2 pac that rowie mentioned is available in the UK and would be by far the best bet for the application you are wanting. You will have no control over cleanliness in the hotel so a fully plastic almost indestructible finish like the Rustin's would be the only way to go.

Different kettle of fish if you're making it for your own use then I would say the paraffin oil and nothing else ever. (Do a search of forums for chopping board or similar)

Cheers - Neil :)

Hi Neil,

Organoil say their Hard Burnishing Oil is suitable for finishing utesils which are used for food. Would this be right, or is my kitchen bench just waiting for the right moment to make us all cactus?

Regards,

Rob

Thank you so much for help guys, pretty dam impressed with Stirling website showing the stuff he's turned, keep it up mate.

Does anyone have a link to a uk website that seel the Rustin's 2 pac?

As always, looking forward to your replys.

PS. What would you guys charge for the 3 teir bowl? 15 inch wide at base, similar to the china one in attached pic in woodworking general forum.

Flowboy - If Organoil says it is safe then it is safe. They make very good products for all sorts of applications.

Only problem I find with some of their oils is the smell which hangs around for ever which I don't think is really very good for anything that comes in contact with food. I wouldn't fancy making my sangers on something that smelled strongly of turpentine, lemon oil or eucalyptus. Same goes for a bowl or anything else that may come in contact with food that could be tainted by the strong aromatics of the oils.

I don't use their oils, but one of their top demonstrators is a very good friend and has given us a couple of boards finished with their oils. After 2 years we still haven't used them as they still smell. Don't know which oils he used, never been all that interested. The smell turned me of right away.

Cheers -Neil :)

Neil, what do you think of the Ecowood "wood wipe" oil?
I believe it is a blend of citrus and nut oil.

Is it really just like a moisturiser for the timber?

matrix - In all honesty I really don't know I haven't used it or even had a look at it but citrus oil (d-Limonene, View MSDS) would be highly aromatic and I have no idea what nut oils would be used but as most visitors to these forums would know almost all vegetable and nut oils can go rancid.

However they're a pretty clever lot at Organoil and it's quite possible they may have found a way to stabilise these oils and stop them from going off or they may be using an oil or oils that will not go rancid. Like I said I really don't know.

Cheers - Neil :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by R12chard

Does anyone have a link to a uk website that seel the Rustin's 2 pac?

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try www.rustins.com.uk ? the stuff is called Plastic Coating

Shellac an FDA approved food product in the US. One of its uses is as digestible coating on pills.

Probably not durable enough though for your intents and purposes

www.rustins.co.uk

http://www.rustins.co.uk/product.htm?chgprod=PCGL

everybody, have look at www.woodcuttingboards.com, a US website which has a number of finishes suitable for these boards. I don't know whether they are available here.