Thread: Finish for Goblets

Goblets are my favorite form of turning, but I do only consider them decorative.

Still, people will try to drink from them so you do have to take some precautions.

Me, I like to use Rustin's Plastic Finish on the inside. Because it is effectively a layer of epoxy and feels... 'plasticky' to me, I dislike using it externally. But on the inside it goes a long way to both keep the contents potable AND to prevent the liquid from staining the timbers. (Ugh! Red wine is baaaad for this.)

At one stage I used to also apply Rustin's to the top inch of the external rim - the lip contact or 'dribble' area, as it were - but I found that it was more effort than it was worth to blend in with the finish on the rest of the outside.

Blending doesn't really work so I tried beads, coves, etc. to delineate the two finishes but, frankly, I consider this approach less than successful. Perhaps if I was doing ornate goblets with decorative cabochons, etc. but I think they're gaudy and much prefer clean and simple forms.

So nowadays I just use Rustin's on the inside and either a good Tung Oil externally or Shellac on the outside. So long as Tung Oil is properly cured, it's food safe. (I believe it's the metallic driers added to Tung Oil when sold as Danish Oil that are the worry... but even then, once the finish is properly cured it should be food safe.)

AFAIK no one has had any complaints about this... at least, not to my face.

Thank you for the reply