Thread: Food Safe Sealed Finish

Originally Posted by woodlw1

Hi Guys,

just st wondering if anyone knows a good safe finish for serving boards for a restaurant. I have used raw linseed oil in the past but they want something that won't wash out. They would wash the boards 2-3 times a day in hot water and they have started cracking. Was wondering if there's anyway to seal the timber with a food safe lacquer? Maybe made from animal products.

Thanks

Raw linseed is not really the best, something like Mineral Paraffin oil would be a better choice
However, all oils will eventually (rather quickly) wash out.
Any sort of lacquer or polyurethane will eventually and also rather quickly crack and peel and look really bad.
Food will also be trapped underneath anything like peeling lacquer

The safest thing health wise might be to leave the wood in a raw state.
Raw Wood is naturally antibiotic as long as it is kept clean and crack free.
You might just have to throw the cracked boards away.

I have used Watco Butcher block oil and finish on my serving trays. It does build a film finish if you want it too, or with only a couple of thin coats it soaks into the timber and then cures. It may be suitable. it sounds like the restaurant is constantly submersing the boards in hot water which is asking alot of timber boards. If they insist on doing that, they should probably look into ceramic/glass/plastic/metal boards.

Tung oil is suitable for surfaces that food comes into contact with. It will form a hardened surface if applied correctly, Not sure how it would handle being washed repeatedly but I regularly wipe my pizza slide with a damp rag.

Originally Posted by Kuffy

it sounds like the restaurant is constantly submersing the boards in hot water which is asking alot of timber boards. .

Not just hot but also soapy - it's probably a requirement that they do so - in that case no oil on timber will handle that in the long run.

I like the Watco idea, it seems to old with rough handling. But I also like Hard Burnishing Oil. Done properly, it copes with almost anything. Cleaner of choice is Spray and Wipe. I have a kitchen work bench which was oiled 10 years ago and is still fine.

Originally Posted by LGS

I like the Watco idea, it seems to old with rough handling. But I also like Hard Burnishing Oil. Done properly, it copes with almost anything. Cleaner of choice is Spray and Wipe..

If the item is used as serving plate I think you will find H&S probably have an requirement that it has to be washed like a plate, i.e. hot soapy water.
It's one thing to do it at home but i'd also be very reluctant to eat at a restaurant that just used Spray and Wipe to clean its serving dishes ?

One of our customers has just been granted a contract with a major international food chain to finish food serving boards with our Hard Shellac. They have done extensive tests and had approval to go ahead initially with 3,000 of these boards.

For confidentiality reasons I can't elaborate any more, other than to say they were not to be placed in dishwasher or subjected to harsh cleaning chemicals.

As far as I know our Hard Shellac is one of the few finishes to stand up to constant restaurant and café use with flying colours.

If it's of interest, I believe he put a buy back and refinish clause in the contract that means he gets the boards back every 12 mths and refinishes them for the cost of the refinishing only. This will be an ongoing thing and an ongoing source of revenue for him.

For what it's worth he has also had great success with out FoodSafe Plus oil for use on his range of chopping boards and other wooden food items.

I have another chopping board manufacturer who uses nothing but our Traditional Wax and swears by it (Not on my recommendation). This person has supplied his benches and chopping boards to top chefs and restaurants around the world including Chef Marco Pierre White who fell in love with them on the Master Chef TV show.

My personal opinion:
Food boards/implements are best left unfinished however the most important thing of all is to choose the right timber. One that will stand up to constant washing in soapy water, will not crack up, does not have a strong fragrance or oil content which may taint food if in contact with the board.

If a board must be finished then heavy unadulterated medical/pharmaceutical grade paraffin oil, applied regularly and cleaned properly is the best.

In a commercial situation wooden boards used purely for serving and not for eating off use Hard Shellac or a 2 pack epoxy and rules for caring for the surfaces (which probably will be ignored but then the onus is on the owner and not you). Most other surface coatings like polyurethane lacquers are all food safe once dry but can cause problems like turning toxic when washed in a dishwasher, surface can degrade and crack allowing bacteria to breed, some finishes can go soft and sticky with constant cleaning especially with spray and wipe type cleaners. Wooden items should not be subjected to dishwashers and the harsh chemicals used to get the gunk off plates, etc.

I have 3 pine cutting boards I made over 30 years ago which are used regularly (each for different things) one in particular is used every day for cutting meat and onions, etc on. None have had any finish on them since they were made, other than an initial oiling with paraffin oil. All are almost like new, all are made from selected clear pine boards, none have ever made anyone sick, none have cracked or warped. All are washed straight after use under very hot running water and dried immediately. Once every blue moon the get a wash down using paper towel, about a desert spoon of salt sprinkled over the surface of the board, along with a splash of vinegar thrown on top. This works as a disinfectant. I dare say they'll still be as good as they are today in another thirty years.

Cheers - Neil
Whoa... Dude. Way to talk people out of buying your products.

Bob,
I'm not suggesting that Spray and wipe be used. This was an example of how well the finish copes in a home situation. I have chopping boards finished in HBO which do get hot soapy water treatment on a regular basis and these cope well also. I have to say that I'm not reluctant to eat food prepared on these boards. But that's just me.

If you used Charle's Law (basic physics of gases), you could bake an oil finish into the wood which cannot be washed out.
That's what I do for myself and for sale (kitchen prep spoons & forks.) You have to reheat my wood to 325F+ to get the oil to move.
Hot, soapy water isn't a problem.

Preheat the oven to 325F, certainly no hotter than 350F.
Slop up the boards with veg oil. On a cake rack over a sheet pan.
Into the oven for 3mins 30sec by the clock.
Coming out, you will see the hot, expanded wood air foaming in the surface oil.
As the remaining wood air cools and contracts, it sucks the oil down into the wood.
Done. The process can be repeated any time.

I've had good results with orange oil and also with OSMO oil/wax finish. Both last well, as long as care and maintenance instructions are followed.

Don't put them in the dishwasher. Hand wash with warm soapy water, avoid immersion, dry immediately with a clean dry cloth. Re-oil occasionally to restore lustre. With the orange oil i give them a couple of good coats and then burnish with a ROS. Seems to drive the oil deep into the timber and aids longevity.

I have done hundreds of serving boards for various restaurants and pubs. I have revisited most a few months later to look at how they are going. If they are following the cleaning regime outlined, then they have no problems. If they don't, well, that is another story. In my view, kitchen pigs are not the brighter sparks.

Cheers
Bevan

What's a "kitchen pig" Bevan? Won't they burn with bright sparks? Even hundreds of them?
For domestic/short term use, the oven-baking process is effective.
I did a birch/Betula wet dish in pure bee'swax in the oven to finish it.
Pleasantly surprised how well that worked but the bee'swax mess was a right chore to clean up.

Your description of maintenance is exactly what they need to be trained to do.

"Kitchen Pig". An unskilled worker allotted various tasks in a commercial kitchen. Chefs sometimes use far less kind terms to describe them.

Cheers

My description of maintenance is clearly stated on my invoices and on my delivery notes and is handed to the executive chef and placed on the wall near the sink, laminated.

No excuses accepted.

I'm hard but fair.

ummmm ... I know nothing about it. Except that I installed an IKEA kitchen, entirely of wood, (I picked my own items and fabricated them into a single kitchen, not a spec kitchen) .. including the laminated 'butcher block' bench tops.

I keep it dry (I'm fanatical about it) and I oil it with a food safe oil that IKEA sell quite cheaply. I bought about 10 litres of it. Every 12 mths or so I lightly sand the tops and re-oil.

Been doin that now for about 5 years and it still looks as new as the day I bought it. Not a stain. It's washed pretty well nightly with detergent water, then dried with the tea-towel, and then a paper towel. This includes the cutting blocks that I made from leftovers. The main bench is a center-isle and has both stove and sink in it.