"Keith" wrote in message ...
Hello, all.

I have a bottle of siccative for adding to linseed oil. This contains:
cobalt carboxylate, calcium carboxylate, and lithium carboxylate.

The bottle is marked (among other warnings) "R65, noxious, can damage the
lungs if ingested".

This may be because the victim will continuously belch up noxious
fumes that will then be inhaled.


Am I right in assuming that this siccative is unsuitable for use on
articles likely to come into contact with foodstuffs (chopping boards,
salad bowls); that even when fully dry, some toxicity remains?

What about using it on a knife handle? Would some toxic residue be left on
the hands of someone who uses the knife?

You could just use 100% pure tung oil. It hardens on its own without
added driers. In my experience, it hardens better that boiled linseed
oil. It also darkens less with age and is supposed to have better
chemical resistance. The cured oil is supposed to be non-toxic,
the uncured oil may be an irritant--it is listed as such in _Hazardous
Properties of Industrial Materials_ by Irving R. Sax. It doesn't
seem to bother my skin though.

It may take weeks for the tung oil to fully cure, but as I said above,
IMHO, in a humid climate, boiled linseed oil retains a greasy feel for
months.

Contrary to what others have noted, I have never seen a product
labeled 'Tung Oil' that was anything other than tun oil. I have
seen many products labeled 'Tung Oil _Finish' that had little or
no tung oil in it. Check the ingrediants on the label.

--

FF