Drinking Cup

Hi Mark

I do not use a wooden cup/mug, however maybe one of those day's I will. I would not try to put on a finish, I would expect any finish you put on wood to fail after a short or longer period, when using hot/cold drinks, and then you would have coffee/tea or whatever under a finish that's failing/flaking off etc., an oil finish would not fail but you would be drinking it with every sip you take, might make for some interesting combinations though, like walnut/coffee or green tea/tung, . I have a friend who always drinks his wine out of a wooden goblet and has 2 one for red wine and one for white, more for the stain than the taste he says, no finish on them.

I agree with Leo 100%. I have S.A. friends who drink mate'. The cups I've seen or made for them have never had any inside finish although some of their cup's outsides are beautifully decorated with silver inlays.

Thinking(?) outside the cup....how about a laminated cup with corian or some other impervious material inside and wood outside? Shrink or swim, I guess, but I remember some BATO (before art took over) vessels with inserted mayo or spice jars & lids, even felt bottoms. Considered tacky in some quarters now, but I used to make them without shame or apology. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Is there a type wood that could be better suited for a cup use for hot and cold beverage?

It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Nice close-grained woods are best. Hard maple, beech, birch white oak are great choices. As you might have noticed, there are wooden beverage containers out there already, most of which are charred on the inside, and not just for flavoring the contents, but because case-hardening the surface makes them less permeable.

Other than that, might want to try some CA or thinned epoxy for a full plastic jacket.

I've heard and seen good things about Envirotex Lite for coating drinking horns in the SCA.

Mark,

My server didn't pick up your original msg, so I'm replying to this reply. I just made a coffee mug for my father for Christmas. Stupidly, I made it of elm. If you've ever smelled fresh elm while it's being cut...try to imagine elm soup! This was with several coats of WaterLox and over a month of curing time. The elm was about 4 years old, and very dry, too.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, I applied 4 coats of ZipGard water-based poly. My father has since drunk coffee out of it and said that at first there was a slight plastic smell to it, but that has since disippated. However, the next time I think I will just go with maple, birch or even cherry, give it a couple of good coats of WaterLox and let him enjoy it.

If you have it available to you, I would go with hard maple, birch, white oak, cherry, beech...pretty much any "sweet" wood. You don't even have to put a finish in it. Unless you use red oak, you won't have any problems with leaking unless there are hidden defects in the wood. I have successfully made a goblet for cold drinks out of red oak, and sealed it with several coats of poly. That keeps the stuff from pouring out the bottom!

Hi Marie

I would not use red oak, it would be leaky, but Dan Bollinger said that Sycamore is a very good wood to use for treen, because it stands up well against the wet/dry cycles, I know beech is used a lot for kitchen utensils, and my friend uses butternut a lot for his goblets. So I would think almost any hardwood, hard or not should work, except a few like red oak.

Actually, many of the drinking horns have a bee's wax liner - I know because I have 2 - I've never seen the Envirotex ones, I guess I'll have to look closer.

SNIP...........

================= Of course, you can always use red oak to make a goblet as a present for someone you don't care for too much! :-)

Wouldn't you do the same for a drinking cup as you would a salad bowl? I am assuming Room temp to Cold beverages. Nothing hot.

I have used tongue oil on mine. 3-6 coats. After a long curing period, month, I soak them in one of my favorite alcoholic beverages. Most of my cups are Mead Cups. Now for how long the coating will last, I am still working on that.

Frank NC