I'm making my first Alaia and was wondering if 18 inches wide is too much for a 6 foot tall Alaia that's 1/2 inch thick.
Hey Grump. you may already know this but the salad bowl finish you have is merely Mineral Oil and some mixins’. Mineral oil is non toxic and very inexpensive.
You have to make sure you SATURATE the wood with several coats over several days. Mineral oil is available in most grocery stores. And with any oil it is a maintenance program.
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Hey Grump. you may already know this but the salad bowl finish you have is merely Mineral Oil and some mixins'. Mineral oil is non toxic and very inexpensive.
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I know that you are mistaken.
That particular product is tung oil based.
3 coats and done.
"Mineral Oil" is a petroleum product and non drying.
Grump, I stand corrected, didn’t know Tung oil was edible.
Tung Oil comes from the Tung Nut. It is not edible; it's inert when dry.
The oil pressed from tung seeds makes an exceptionally fine wood finish. Often sold under the name "teak oil", tung oil dries quickly to form a tough, glossy, waterproof surface. Tung oil is also used as a drying agent for paints and varnishes; as waterproofing for paper, cloth, and ceramic products; and in the manufacture of linoleum, oilcloth, inks, resins, artificial leather, lubricants, brake linings, and cleaning and polishing compounds. It is used in coatings for food containers and electronic parts. During World War II, the Chinese developed a way to process tung oil to supplement gasoline for motor fuel. Legend has it that their ancestors used it to seal the Great Wall.
Mineral Oil is a by product of PETROLEUM production.
Is Tung Oil toxic?
Hi all. I’m Gareth, the ‘friend’ Steff referred to in his posts.
Since Steff has moved to Vancouver I’ve been left with our stagnant project and have decided it is time to really put some effort into these boards. There seem to be three other manufacturers in the country - my problem is that one of them is in my town, Cape Town.
I have the facilities (family woodwork business) to manufacture professionally, and would love to make boards for a living, expanding into hollow wooden boards as well (my dad still has a 11’ 1964 Whitmore Brass Bung!).
Before Steff left, we made a 7.5ft Alaia without stringers, 18mm thick, and it has some pretty decent bend. I also planed the middle plank down to about 13mm before laminating all the planks, thus giving a concave which runs the full length of the board (tapers out into the nose). The edges of this concave are rounded as per the advise received here and it seems to have better straight line control.
As for the rails, I tapered them evenly from the top and bottom, for about 40mm in from the edge, to leave a fairly hard 6mm rail. Does anyone have a template for ‘best generic rails’? I am finding it quite difficult to steer the board at the moment.
Thanks in advance.
G