Most durable non-toxic finish you can think of?

[Jared Walters]

I need some recommendations. I'm looking for something that is extremely hard wearing, scratch resistant, easily applied on a lathe, but also completely non-toxic. It's being used for eating utensils.

I know shellac is non-toxic but I was hoping to find something more durable.

[Scott Hackler]

That is going to be a hard call. There are a few non-toxic/food safe finishes (like shellac, walnut oil, mineral oil and/or pure bees wax) but non will offer the required "extremely hard wearing, scratch resistant" requirement. Taking that into consideration, most finished are considered "food safe" once fully cured out.

They only other thing that might work for your requirements is epoxy. That has the benefit of being water and liquid proof as well. But I don't know how easy applying it on a lathe would be.

Good luck.

[Thom Sturgill]

I am a proponent of lacquer. It has been used for well over 1000 years for food service and while it will chip it is repairable due to the fact the solvents will dissolve into even very old finishes will little or no sanding. Polyurthanes will also scratch and chip, but are not anywhere near as easy to repair. In fact pretty much all other surface finished require sanding between coats during the finishing process and thus require more sanding to repair and can create a 'lake effect' where you can see all the layers in the repaired surface.

Other than that, Walnut or Olive oil for salad bowls and other treen. The customer can easily renew them. Walnut will harden, Olive will not, but olive goes rancid only very slowly (2-3 years). Normal washing and renewing will allow a salad bowl to remain good looking for decades, esp if oil and vinegar is used for dressing.

If the end user has severe nut allergies, you may want to avoid Walnut for peace of mind, but Walnut Oil purchased for finishes is allergen free.

As Scott said, once *cured* the volatiles are gone, so all American wood finishes are food safe. Federal regulations require it. Wax may feel nice but is not as easy for buyers to replace.

[Michelle Rich]

my question is this: why put any finish at all? People have used wood utensils for thousands of years..wash/dry and use them. You can "refresh" them with oil & beeswax if you desire.

[Bill Boehme]

"Extremely hard wearing" is good marketing terminology because of its ambiguity. Manufacturers like it because it keeps you from holding their feet to the fire, but just don't expect any miracles from a film finish applied to wood to give a maintenance free service life comparable to ceramic.

I think of eating utensils as spoons, forks, and knives, but I presume that you are referring to bowls and not wooden handles in which case, no film or oil finish is any more durable than the wood beneath it. Rather than thinking in terms of the finish protecting the wood from wear, I would think in terms of choosing an appropriate wood for the intended use. If the wood is something very soft like western redcedar, for example, the finish will not make the wood any more suitable for the intended purpose. For a bowl, I would use a walnut oil finish because it keeps the wood looking nice and smells good, assuming that you like the smell of walnuts.

[mike rawl]

Urushi lacquer from Japan and Asia. It is 100% natural, is hard as a rock, is water proof, and is absolutely beautiful. It has been the Asian food safe finish of choice for thousands of years. The down side is that it can cause allergic reactions in some people who apply it. It is also kind of expensive and takes a while to apply, even for the easiest type of application, Fuki-urushi

[Stan Smith]

There was a thread on here a while back re wipe on poly for goblets. I'm going to use it on a communion goblet that I'm making for our church. Several posters said the finished project needs to sit at least 30 days prior to using to allow for all the fumes to leave. I'm not sure about how many coats to put on, but I'm going for 4. I just finished a tool handle (alder) using it and I didn't have to sand between coats. I did use the while synthetic wool on a couple of little spots though.

As noted above the Japanese lacquer ware is very durable. I've eaten from it many times while in Japan. Of course they didn't have dishwashers then either.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Be careful, "natural" and "completely non-toxic" have nothing to do with each other. Puffer fish poison is completely natural and 100% toxic. That said, I eat from Japanese laquered utensils and have suffered no ill effects that I can see......
There are few choices that fit the bill and even less that are "easy to apply". I'd go with Michelle and say no finish. Lemon oil and beeswax. Fits all but extremely hard wearing and scratch resistant. Well, I guess 50% is not that great.