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100% Food safe home made wood finish.

100% Food safe home made wood finish.
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Hello everyone, I made my first salad bowl on the lathe and was searching for a low cost finish. I found a few different types that are 100% food safe they are mostly in-expensive but I am giving this bowl to my fathers nurse as a gift and I wanted to send her something with the bowl that she could apply herself.
The ingredients are as follows
1 part Beeswax
5 parts Mineral oil (I used CVS brand (make sure you go with "orderless and tasteless"))

I used a metal bowl inside of a pot and made a makeshift double boiler. Temp is not important. just make sure that when the water begins to boil lower the heat to a little more than simmer and do not use too much water.
The bowl should only "slightly" float until bottoming out in the pot of water.
after the bar of beeswax is melted stir it until it completely dissolves. then let it cool
It will harden to the consistency of chap-stick and smells wonderful. 

To use the finish simply wipe on the butcher block or any wood product that you want to be "food safe", then wipe off.
 
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100% Food safe home made wood finish.
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8 comments
Dec 30, 2011. 2:26 PMkillbox says:
I just used beeswax and a heatgun. after two applications my wood tray looks great after about 2 years.
Dec 29, 2011. 8:08 AMgarret72 says:
I have used the same recipe for wooden spoons, but found it needed to be reapplied to often. I have taken to using flax seed oil, basically food grade linseed oil. After applying a couple of good coats, I "cook" it in the oven at about 170 degrees until all the wet spots disappear. Works great I've found.
Dec 29, 2011. 10:18 AMgarret72 says:
Ah, yes well that's true. The spoons will see a lot more moisture and heat. As for other conditioners, they are a little pricey. It really seems that these more simple solutions work the best for such things. Keep up the good work!
Dec 26, 2011. 8:42 AMrimar2000 says:
Beautiful bowl!

Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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Author:SlickSqueegie(MDWoodart)
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