looking for a finish...

[twelchPTM]

I have decided to try my hand at some small cups, just wondering if anyone could recommend a finish to use. looking for something food safe obviously but also needs to be okay when i put liquids into them

[hh_woodworking]

Food grade Mineral oil

[twelchPTM]

would mineral oil need to be reapplied every-so-often?

[scottp55]

Yes Thomas, Just the same as wooden cooking utensils. Wood"butter" (beeswax melted then mineral oil added about 50/50) gives a soft lustre to it.

[twelchPTM]

I used some stuff before that was already mixed, i forget the name of it but it was bees wax and orange oil, is this the same thing?

[Ajcoholic]

I buy both products. The citrus/bees wax I get us sold under the name "orange wax" and is a British made product. The mineral oil and wax I get in tubes from Boos Blocks (through Richelieu Hardware here in Canada) but it should be far easier to get in the USA since it's made there.

[Burkhardt]

Melted paraffin is a little more long term stable and waterproof than the wax/oil mixes. You can brush it on, let it soak in with a heat gun or even hair dryer, wipe dry while hot and polish after cooling. I believe the real butcher blocks (the ones butchers used) were often treated that way. A pound of paraffin is only 5 or 6 Dollar. Obviously not dishwasher proof and may sweat paraffin when sitting in the sun.

[scottp55]

Thomas, I'd be very leery unless the orange ingredient was clearly labeled FDA Food Grade.G.R.A.S. (Generally Regarded As Safe) and even then I don't know if I would sell it. I have mixed up small batches of Beeswax/mineral oil/d-Limonene Food Grade.G.R.A.S. , but have only used it on buttons(very pleasant to work with at 50/40/10 and about to try a 50/0/50). But I would stick to all mineral oil or with beeswax added.
You may want to research other finishes such as "Salad bowl finishes" (Behlen's springs to mind) and many finishes are non-toxic when fully cured, BUT do your homework as it can turn into a quagmire.
Mineral oil is safest.
Hopefully more will chime in.

[steve_g]

I can’t seem to find the thread… Didn’t Eugene recently do some testing of finishes for cutting boards?
SG

[scottp55]

Steve, This one I think.
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19592&highlight=finish

[Ajcoholic]

Melted paraffin is a little more long term stable and waterproof than the wax/oil mixes. You can brush it on, let it soak in with a heat gun or even hair dryer, wipe dry while hot and polish after cooling. I believe the real butcher blocks (the ones butchers used) were often treated that way. A pound of paraffin is only 5 or 6 Dollar. Obviously not dishwasher proof and may sweat paraffin when sitting in the sun.

Yes you are correct. I remember seeing some guys melt paraffin, brush it on until the wood was saturated and scrape off the excess. Just not as "easy" as the BW/min oil but certainly more long term.

[scottp55]

Somewhere in the house there's a chunk of Black Walnut I did that paraffin trick to back in the 90's. It looked Grand! I treated it like a wood X-Country ski and melted it in using a waxing iron(Swix?) that had a bi-metal temperature gauge, took off excess with a wax scraper and buffed by hand with a waxing cork. All stuff from X-country ski stores. I could burn in a pine tar base(looks a lot like Ebony afterwards) and put the hardest glide wax on in about 20 minutes a pair. The most time consuming part was cabinet scraping the base first to flat wood.
Totally impervious to snow and water.
Miss those top quality wood skiis--Real works of art.

[Burkhardt]

The hot air gun makes it really easy. The heated wood surface gets soaked with the liquid wax very well and allows removal of the excess with a rag (no scraping). I tried that a while ago for a cutting board just as an experiment and it still looks good. You can get food safe paraffin for canning.