varnish on a press?

I disagree. Well cured marine spar varnish, e.g. Man O' War, is excellent for press staves and other wood pieces that come in contact with the wine. It isn't as though it contains any _lead_ salts, and once it is thoroughly dried the volatile elements are gone.

Tom S

I received this comment at my yahoo account, I'll leave the name off as they may have wanted to remain anonymous:

There are urethanes that are FDA approved for food contact and the same may be true for varnish.

Anyone know what the real differences are between urethane and varnish?

Don

Tom you may disagree but manufactures indicate that food paint should be used, the biggest problem with varnish is that it is oil based which in turn can contaminate the liquid when the press is in use. With regard to varnish have a look at the hazard or material safety data sheets,

I suggest that you have a look at different manufactures of presses and compare. Best regards Stephen SG

I went to a Home Depot up here in Canada and the guy, who seemed pretty knowledgeable, said there is a urethane that is food certified but they didn't carry it, he mentioned a few stores that might. He said another name for it was cutting board varnish and said that was one of the uses for it as well as wooden bowls and such.

I asked for the real differences between varnish and urethane and he replied "not much, perhaps varnish dries to a bit harder surface".

Don

Oh, that sounds like the stuff that I got in Ikea - to condition cutting boards. Seemed to work pretty good.

Pp

I just got done cutting the new oak staves for my press.

I will use it once a year, then store it in the garage. I don't plan on putting any finish on it. I use cutting boards on a daily basis, they are not finished.

What could possible happen to it? Get stained?

What kind of finish did it leave - soft like a conditioner or hard like a varnish?

Don