Datasheet

How long does
it take
various
finishes to cure?
The container
label
should
give
you general
guidelines
about
how long to wait.
For
example,
one
salad bowl
finish recommends
three
days
of curing after
the final finishing
step, one brushing
lacquer calls
for
seven days of
curing before normal use.
But remember that temperature,
humid-
ity, and application thickness
can
stretch those
rules.
Just
to be safe,
add a
couple of days
to any recommendation
before
putting
the finished
item to use.
How
about
so-called salad
bowl
finishes? Are they any
safer
for
use
with food?
We looked at the material safety
data sheet
(MSDS)
for one type of
salad bowl
finish and
found
toluene-a
probable
cancer hazard-along
with
naphtha, ethyl benzene, and
cobalt, all of
which can damage
your
health with
suf-
ficient exposure.
So, these
products
are
as safe
as, but
no
safer
than, any other
cured
finish.
Are there any
finishes that con-
tain only
natural substances?
If
you
can't shake
your
concerns
about finish comins
in
contact
with food, rely on
natural oils,
such as
mineral oil and
walnut oil. Supermarkets
carry
mineral oil
in the health
products
section;
look
for
the
more expensive
walnut oil at
a
gourmet
food shop or a
health food store.
They don't offer
much
protection
to the
wood, however,
and
you'll
need to
reapply oil after washing
a wood object
a couple of times.
Avoid vegetable oils.
They can
turn
rancid, causing unpleasant
odors
or fla-
vors
in food touched by
the wood.
Are there other
substances
that
will
protect
cutting
boards
and butcher blocks?
The U.S.
Department of
Agriculture's
Forest
Products
Laboratory
suggests
melted
paraffin
wax. Apply as shown
below.
After it
soaks
into the
wood and dries, scrape
off
any
surface excess
with a
putty
knife.
i
Photographs:Mafi
Baldwin;
Hetherington
Photography
To melt wax, fill
the lower
part
of a
dou-
ble boiler
with water,
put paraffin
in the
upper unit, and
set the heat on
low.
a
A
a
^H'
Let us
put your
mind
at ease.
rI |I
lood finishes contain
all kinds
lit
of chemicals
that
you
would
t t
not want to
pu;
in
your
mouth, so
you
can't
help
but
wonder:
Is
it
safe to
coat a salad bowl or
a serving
platter with the stuff? The answer:
Any
commercial finish
is
safe.
once
it has
dried and
ctxed. Here's a
look at the
most
common
concerns.
Which
finishes
are
safe
for
children's
toys or
projects
that
come
in contact
with food?
il
You can use any
finish that's
f':t
appropriate to
your project,
including varnish,
lacquer,
shellac,
and
boiled linseed oil.
Before
putting
it to
use, be sure
to allow for complete cur-
ing,
a
chemical
process
that takes signif-
icantly longer than drying. Some
kinds
of
finish cure by evaporation of their
sol-
vent, and some cure by
reacting with
oxygen. Either way, the
process
contin-
ues after a
film has formed
on
top.
24
WOOD
magazine November
2002