Food-safe finishes (again)

[Wizened of Oz]

As he says here, almost all common finishes are food-safe.
Read, and lets all stop being anal about the subject.

[watson]

Interesting to read the comments on the article from his readers. Didn't convince 100% of 'em.

[ubeaut]

Gotta love paranoia. The good old food safe subject just keeps on popping up doesn't it.

I reckon Bob is right. Up to a point. Most cured surfaces are food safe or at least as safe as the plastic bowls, bottles, etc that also consist of similar makeup to many of the modern finishes of today. I think. the problem lies more with pigmented finishes and lead based driers used in oils (shouldn't be any in cured finishes now - it's banned) however there are still many woodworkers who may be unwittingly putting lead driers into their oil, varnish or paint to help it dry.

A bigger problem stems from the use of household vegetable and nut oils as well as linseed and pure tung oil. Most of which can cause problems due to turning rancid and the upsurge in nut allergies.

The problems are probably very minute unless you have nut allegies. But some people will always ere on the side of super cautious and for them there are FOOD SAFE finishes.

There is a place in this world for everything and everyone and it's not against the law to be paranoid about stuff. Even something as seemingly trivial as food safe products. I don't think it's trivial, I even think that some of the so called natural and organic finishes could be doing as much harm or more than the good old lead based ones. But that's just me.

Anyway.... If in doubt, every finish made by U-Beaut Polishes is food safe, even our FoodSafe Plus oil. (sorry couldn't resist) Beware the sanding disks though, dust and particles from them might be harmful.... (I read that in the replies to Bobs article)

Cheers - Neil