Organoil - how long till I can eat off it?

[Madz]

Hi,
First up, I'm really really not much of a woodworker and I hate following too many instructions to the letter .... especially when they take a long time and lots of effort.

But, anyway, my husband (also pretty much verging on a virgin woodworker) and I made a kitchen benchtop. it is made from recycled rimu. We have probably done everything the wrong way round but we are pretty happy with it and proud of ourselves etc.

Anyway, after buying linseed oil then deciding not to use it cos I didn't like the idea of waiting forever and ever for it to cure etc and then going to get tung oil and walking out of bunnings with organoil's hard burnishing oil cos it said it was foodsafe, we have applied it basically according to instructions (note disclaimer in first paragraph) .... I'm not really much one for extremely shiny finishes so I didn't go for the whole extra wet sanding thing, we just bunged it on, then bunged some more on the next night (waiting the obligatory 24 hours). Now we are waiting and waiting till we can start banging our pots and knives and wet cups on top of it without completely stuffing up the whole job ..... oh, and buttering our sammies on top as well.

So, my question is, how long do we need to wait before the thing is cured enough to withstand madz - styled kitchen using and before it is safe to place food directly on it? It is still emitting a slightly scary, but on the edge of pleasant orange type solventish smell at the moment. Would you wait till this disappeared?

(ps. .... because I'm pretty much gung ho I did manage to sort of splash the surface a tiny bit which i noticed kind of left duller marks so i was thinking of adding another coat and started sanding it back a bit to do so, and went back down to 1200 (all by hand) and i think they have disappeared and the surface still looks as good as the rest so i'm thinking i don't really need to coat any more... what do you think?) .... is that too many questions all at once?

Cheers and thanks and love all in advance,
Madz

[Cruzi]

Oils are not a good idea for a surface thats going to get food, water and heat on it. Very hard to find a finish that will allow all three as different finishes have different strengths and weaknesses.

A 2 pack epoxy finish or good polyutherane finish are better ideas for heat and splashing, bare wood or mineral oil for food preparation


Before Neil jumps in, you should always, always follow instructions for finishing products to the letter.

[Madz]

Thankyou for your reply.

Well, I did actually follow the instructions (despite my distaste for it).... just not for the extra shiny (patina) surface .... the instructions state that for a matt finish you wipe some gloop on and then 24 hours later wipe more on.

I, for some inexplainable reason don't particularly like 'varnish' type finishes so chose an oil. also we were keen on 'natural' products so oil was again in that list.

hope that clears up some of my reasoning and explanations.

cheers,
Madz