I often get asked questions on what I use when I apply a finish on my work. There is a lot of concern on “food safe” and “child safe” finishes, and the potential for contamination.
Finishing is a real art, and there is often excellent work that is created that gets ruined when you do a poor job applying finish to it (I know from experience)
Its often said that woodworkers typically have 2-3 finishes that they use consistently use, as they get very used to it and to repairing it if mis-applied. That is sort of the way it is with me.
My “go to” finishes are:
- Shellac: A Food safe finish (companies use it to coat their candy to give it a nice shine). It is a natural product made from insect secretions (no its not yucky). It dissolves with alcohol (I usually mix it 50/50 for a wipe on finish) and can be applied by brushing, spraying, or wipe on – which is my preferred method. It can be damaged if you spill and alcoholic drink on it, but is also easily repaired. In its dewaxed form, it is a great sealer and just about any other type of finish (paint, varnish, etc.) will stick to it.
- Cutting board oil: These are sold in various forms from different companies, but its basically a form of mineral or spirit oil that soaks into the wood. Easy to apply (mostly by wiping on) and easy to refurbish if the board dries out. Just recoat with grocery store bought mineral oil – flood it on, then wipe off the excess after 5 minutes. Again, food safe as well.
- Wipe on Polyurethane: I use the water based type, rather than oil based – though oil based has a better reputation for holding up. I use this on tabletops, countertops, or anything that looks like its going to get a lot of use. I will wipe on 5-6 coats over time, to build up the finish. Once applied and the finish dries, its perfectly safe to put food on it, but some folks might have issues, so I use shellac or cutting board oil for my smaller projects.
I have taken classes in spray finishing and have the equipment to do it, but have not really tried to do it yet. I will probably try something like that next year, in order to expand my skills.
Hopefully this will answer some folks questions.
Kevin