Waxing Lyrical

[Grethron]

My wife came up with a question I'm not completely sure of. Can she use my turnings for food use when they're sealed with beeswax?

Thoughts, comments and alternative products always welcome.

Cheers, Gav.

[seventhdevil]

what sort of "food use" does she have in mind exactly???

beeswax is edible.

the turnings however are a different story and i expect the answer will end up being, NO.

[Bryan Milham]

I'm guessing you mean to put food in.

There is a whole load of answers to that, but basically as long as the wood is safe, yes. Some woods are not advisable to for food use, yew & Laburnum being the best known and most widely available.

Otherwise, and I know some will disagree, wood is completely safe to use for food. Our forebears ate out of it for millennia. Robin Wood makes and sells bowls for just that purpose (yew tube link - https://www.youtube.com/user/robinturns, he uses and recommends using an oil on his bowls. Ash, Beech, Sycamore are all usable, Oak is still used to store spirits while they are matured, to no ill affect (except the occasional hangover, but that's probably not the wood!)

For something like fruit use, beeswax is certainly useful, but be aware that if the fruit rots, the acid from it will affect the finish and can eat through most of them.

[Grethron]

what sort of "food use" does she have in mind exactly???

I think she means just to eat out of rather than as cookware.

[seventhdevil]

i'll admit that i was thinking that you meant something like the shavings.

what items you turn are fine to eat out of, as bryan says, we have eaten out of wooden bowls for thousands of years and most likely coated the inside with wax to make them less permeable to liquids.

[Wood spinner]

You could try this
http://www.axminster.co.uk/chestnut-food-safe-oil-ax377292

[bodrighywood]

If it is for keeping fruit etc in then most finishes are OK but if it is to eat from such as a cereal or salad bowl then any vegetable oil will be OK (apart fro olive oil which goes rancid) I have several bowls of my own that have been in use for years with only the rape seed and / or sesame seed oil which I renew after use and they are fine.

Pete