I built a butter dish out of curly maple six months ago and finished it with Deft Lacquer. It dried and off gassed for months before use. The finish on the tray that holds the butter not only failed but is essentially gone in spots. (Sorry there are no photos to show as I am out of town at the moment). Is there something in the butter fat that is working as a stripper? What finish should I have used and should I now use when I re-do the piece? Anyone else have a similar reaction? Thanks for any input.
Chri7s
Replies
I can't really imagine a wood butter dish, first off. But if so, I think a liner would be in order--glass or plastic. And probably mineral oil for the finish.
Yum, Yum, LacquerButter. What will they think of next?
Shellac butter? ---sorry, I just couldn't resist!"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
Maybe a waterbased polyurethane would be a better finish, though I thing that a liner would be a better choice, as another poster suggested.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
All of the readers must be babies. In the old days, butter was made in a wooden churn, molded in a wooden press and served in a wooden bowl. None were finished with anything but butter itself.The lipids (triglycerides/fatty acids/etc.) in butter are the stuff of oil based paints, oil lamps and more.
And then voila',,, fine china was invented, stoneware, and other pottery vessels.
Besides, butter churns stink. And so do any other wooden vessels that have held dairy products over a period of time. Far from an appetizing fragrance one would like to have at the dinner table.
Build the table and chairs out of wood, serve the food on your nice china.
People used to $hit in wooden buckets too but that hasn't made the porcelain toilet manufacturers go out of business.
Far out, man.
Edited 8/4/2008 8:41 pm ET by BossCrunk
Boss,
Does that mean the market has dried up for outhouses!?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I have no problem with those tools at all. And I basically suggested to the OP that if any finish was used, then mineral oil would be it.
I have LOTS of antiques, including a churn. I do not have a wooden butter dish. Mine are iron stone or glass. I don't think wood is suitable for this as a SERVING dish, where the butter is left in it for a period of time. It would be very handsome,but as I said before , build it large enough to fit a specific inner liner to put the butter on--be it a stick or a round.
And if the butter solids were not eventually scraped or washed off the churn or press, they would go rancid. But so did a lot of other food in those days, so they might not care as much.Gretchen
It may be the butter is acting like a form of petroleum and causing the finish to break down . Did you thin the Deft ? If you used regular Lacquer you could have perhaps used a mixture of higher solids and higher build producing as well .
dusty
Since nitrocellulose doesn't crosslink, it's readily removable by compatible chemicals, perhaps one of the organic acids in the butter.
One of the finishes formulated for food utensils would be best such as Behlens' Salad Bowl Finish. Some others here: Food Safe Finishes
The issue isn't one of "food safe" finishes. All clear finishes now sold in the US are food safe in the usual sense.
My initial concerns were for a food safe finish, which it seems that all cured finishes are, and the best finish to pop the curl in the maple. I decided on the lacquer as the best to enhance the grain. Who knew that butter was so powerful? I will now refinish with oil. Thanks for all the responses.Chri7sI will post photos next week when I get back home.
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