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Double Bass OT: food safe finishes?

robobass

robobass

Aug 1, 2005
3,546
1,421
Cologne, Germany
www.basscapos.com
Disclosures
Private Inventor - Bass Capos
#1
Sorry this isn't exactly bass related, but I figure some of the luthiers would have good tips. I've been turning cups with bamboo plywood leftover from my kitchen renovation. I really like the result, but am wondering what to varnish them with. Ideally they would be able to hold wine. Walnut oil has many recommendations, but it seems like it -as well as other natural oils- would need regular re-application, and not give a nice gloss. Shellac has also been mentioned, but would the wine dissolve it? My instinct is to go with acrylic lacquer, but I'm not sure how safe that would be.
cups_zps10be54cb.jpg
 
#5
mimaz said:
Bass related or not, those are beautiful! Wanna make a set for me?
Click to expand...

Thanks! My web guy has already demanded a pair in exchange for a site upgrade. I didn't plan on selling them - I only had this stuff lying around and thought it would be a cool thing to do with my new lathe. If I get it together and decide to run off a bunch of them I'll pm you. TB discount, of course:)
 
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#9
SBassman said:
It's your skill, too. Really great job. Beautiful.

Would love to see a video of one of those cups coming to life.
Click to expand...

Frank,
That's quite a product you've got there yourself. I'd love to see my daughter popping out Motown beats on your 23" GT! It will be a long time before she can do anything with my J-bass or Pfretzchner. Wanna do a trade?
 
#10
Shellac is surprisingly resilient once it's cured for a few weeks. Any finish that you use would be suseptible to damage if you leave wine (or water) sitting in the glass. Shellac is food safe. Another food safe finish would be mineral oil / parifin that is used to finish butcher blocks. Take mineral oil, heat it in a double boiler and melt parifin wax in it (raw candle wax). Apply to the turnings, let soak in for 4-6 hours, wipe off excess, and reapply. After a few applications you can buff this out and it will look nice and be somewhat protective. If you use these for wine they will stain and you will need to redo the finish periodically. Of course you can just buff them out and let them get funky over time.
 
#11
I recently got one of Bob Flexner's books on finishing. He said any fully dried finish is food safe. I refinished my butcher block counter with his wiping varnish (3 parts oil based poly, 1 part paint thinner) and its great. The old mineral oil coating kept getting real dirty. This varnish cleans up well, looks nice and feels nice too
 

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