Thread: Mash Paddles

I thought...."boy they must eat a lot of Mash potatoes".........then I woke up

You learn something new every day. I did not know what a Mash Paddle was so I looked it up in the www (library).

Very nice

Nice work there Jeff!!

I Guess on jobs such as this it's tempting to do a near enough is good enough job, but you have gone the extra mile and done a great job

Ah, a fine example of a 'cultural item'. Excellent job.


Now, has anybody got a good link to a list of food safe timbers? I'm thinking of doing some kitchen utensils etc.

Originally Posted by seanz

Ah, a fine example of a 'cultural item'. Excellent job.


Now, has anybody got a good link to a list of food safe timbers? I'm thinking of doing some kitchen utensils etc.

Sycamore is the only wood I know of that is least likely to impart any flavor to food and is completely non-toxic. Not saying any other wood falls into that category, sycamore is the only one I know of.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Jeff Mills

Sycamore is the only wood I know of that is least likely to impart any flavor to food and is completely non-toxic. Not saying any other wood falls into that category, sycamore is the only one I know of.

Thanks

Can't you get hold of hard Maple, Jeff? I notice that many spoons & similar items are made from that - it's supposed to be non-toxic & non-tainting. (Must be ok, given the amount of its sap you north Americans consume annually! )

The other wood that is extensively used for food-utensils up your way is poplar. When I lived in Saskatchewan there was athriving export trade in Aspen lumber - for chopsticks!

Seanz - the topic of which Aussie woods are food-safe & which not has been kicked about on this BB a few times. Doesn't seem to be any official list, and the opinions of forumites are vague & varied. This is a topic that needs urgent attention! We must apply for a government grant to investigate the safety and food-tainting qualities of Australian species. We would need to buy SUBSTANTIAL quantities of each species to get a proper sample-size, of course
And I can think of a few people we can ask to test the likely toxic ones....


Cheers,

Poplar is what I will use......just interested to hear of any others. Thought someone might have a quick link as I did a search and came up with too much to chew over...

Jeff, would your timber be from this tree?
Platanus occidentalis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We get this one
Acer pseudoplatanus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
in NZ but by the sound of it, it's not local to you.

I wonder if Kahikatea would be useful, it used to be made into butter boxes for the export trade.

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perhaps we could get funding for a joint international study of wooden utensils involving a lot of reciprocal workshops and conferences?

Originally Posted by watson

I thought...."boy they must eat a lot of Mash potatoes".........then I woke up

I thought exactly the same thing. Never heard of mash paddles until now. I think a 'teenager rectifier' would be a better use for them though.

Originally Posted by seanz

Poplar is what I will use......just interested to hear of any others. Thought someone might have a quick link as I did a search and came up with too much to chew over...

Jeff, would your timber be from this tree?
Platanus occidentalis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We get this one
Acer pseudoplatanus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
in NZ but by the sound of it, it's not local to you.

I wonder if Kahikatea would be useful, it used to be made into butter boxes for the export trade.

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perhaps we could get funding for a joint international study of wooden utensils involving a lot of reciprocal workshops and conferences?

Well here in North Carolina Sugar Maple / Hard Maple is hard to come by - it does not grow in the woods here, it's more or a northern tree. As far as Red Maple / Soft Maple goes... we have all kinds around here but frankly I can't keep any for myself becuase it's bought before it comes out of the kiln, so I've only got to build a few small things out of soft maple.

We also have lots of yellow poplar in my neck of the woods and I have a huge amount of 4 and 8/4 that's kiln dried and in the lumber shed. Personally I don't like to make much with yellow poplar it's softer than southern yellow pine is. Why Yellow Poplar is called a hardwood, I'll never know, it is not hard at all plus is has a black peppery smell that I find annoying .

Yes Platanus occidentalis is the same tree (American Sycamore) I quarter saw the heck out of that tree, it's stable and beautiful wood when quarter sawed but ain't very good when flat sawed since it likes to cup. QS Sycamore also sells like hot cakes I mainly cut it 9/4 thick and sell it as rocker wood.

Thanks

Originally Posted by *Kev

I thought exactly the same thing. Never heard of mash paddles until now. I think a 'teenager rectifier' would be a better use for them though.

One of my sons likes to make his own... A couple of longnecks of this stuff and you may just wake up on the booze bus