finish that is resistant to heat and food-safe

Hi everyone! Peg here, I'm totally new to these forums, but it looks like a great forum already. I like "good environment" forums. :)
You'll also find me on musicianforums.com (which is now sputnikmusic.com actually) and the MIMF (musical instrument maker's forum), I've been on those for years, and just found this forum!

Anyway, I'm looking for a finish that is quite resistant to heat, but mainly food-safe. I would prefer it to be a glossy, lacquer-type finish, but anything that protects the wood will be fine. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!!

Welcome Peg,
You could use Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil. It will gie a satin sheen though. I've used this on a kitchen work bench and over the past 18 months its had heat, sparay and wipe and other general kitchen abuse including vege cut up and still looks great. You should be able to get it in the US. Google "Organoil"
Otherwise, you could use Wipe On Poly (available at Bunnings.) The satin will give a pleasant gloss, the gloss will give a plastic type gloss.

Regards,

Rob

Hey, thanks for the idea. I looked around online, and... well, it looks like it's only available in Australia... I live in the US!

One website said it was similar to tung oil. Is that food-safe and heat resistant?
Does anyone know of any types of lacquer or shellac or something really glossy that fits the bill?

Paraffin Oil Peg!

Just good ole paraffin oil


cheers
Wendy

You havn't said exactly what you want it for but if you need a glossy coating on the timber that can be washed/wiped over and made perfectly free from bacteria and that you can put a hot pot onto then a 2 pack polyurethane is what I would use.

Its what is used on timber floors to obtain a tough glossy surface and it can stand walking over with shoes, is hard to scratch, stays glossy and is able to take great amounts of heat.

On timber the wood acts like an insulted so all the heat goes to the finish and its hard to determine how hot it actually got but if you put polyurethane onto steel where heat would be absorbed by the metal you could heat the metal up so hot the polyurethane would blister your skin if you touched it without affecting the polyurethane itself.

If heat is a big issue this may be the answer, basically you are putting on a tough plastic coating over the timber (similar to putting a thin glass barrier). Oils soak into the timber and don't actually provide much of a coating on top of it.

It can be brushed on ( check the instruction and follow those relating to safety - mainly good ventilation).

There have been several threads about food safe finishes posted on the forum before which may be worth looking at.

Thanks for the suggestions, both of you! I'll check out each of them.

Durwood, your description definitely fits the type of finish I want. A hard coating covering the entire piece.
Thanks!!

Two coatings that are food safe are Shellac reduced in ethyl alcohol, and 100% Tung Oil, not diluted, use as is.

Polyurethane, is a much more durable finish, they say, that after all the solvents have evaporated and it is fully cured then it is "safe."

salad bowl, chopping board or benchtop.
the products are different for different uses
astrid

Astrid,

Salad Bowl Finish is !00% Tung OIl, if any solvents are added, it is no loger food safe.

Peg... If you are in the US you may want to consider a product called Waterlox. it's a polyermerised Tung Oil of some sort. Food safe and in a variety of sheens. A lot of people on the Ikeafans site have been recommending it to me, but I can't get it here in Australia. From what I can tell the Organoil is a good match in cahrateristics to it, and that's probably what I will go with.

I just did a search for Waterlox, I found this on their web site.

Waterlox’s exclusive process takes tung oil, resin, mineral spirits, and other ingredients to produce a complete wood finish that gives you the look and feel of a naturally-oiled wood, with the additional benefit of forming a surface that is waterproof, stands up to foot traffic, and protects against household spills. Like pure tung oil, Waterlox is easy to apply, repair, and re-coat when necessary.

Note, it mentions Mineral Spirits, if any solvent (except water) is added it is not considered food safe.

There are several types they make that contain some not so good chemicals, that definetly are not food safe.

If you do a search for "MSDS for Waterlox" and read the sheets you see what I mean. As far as the products are concerned for other usages they get good grades.