Waxes / Finishes: Saftey of ingredients

[Mark Meckes]

I like the high lustre polish of paste type (Johnson)floor waxes on bamboo, but I don't like the thought of breathing in the toxic petroleum distilate wax solvents that vapourize around me and get absorbed into my hands.
Some of these waxes and polishes have scary health warnings on their labels about prolonged use.
This is ridiculous!!!
If this was a hundered years ago, you could imagine all sorts of toxic materials being hawked to the unsuspecting craftsperson.
But this is the 21st Century, and we who are involved with bamboocrafts must demand not only the best, but the safest ingredients to work with.

This is why we MUST let each other know if we find better/safer ingredients to work with.

There are already enough things in life that we might enjoy, that can be hazourdous to our health.
The last thing we need to know is that making our bamboo products - for fun or for a living - makes us sick!
So if you think you might know of a safer ingredient that works well for you ...LET US KNOW!!!
We'll be happier, and healthier!

Mark

Dear Mark:
I just want to say that I like your attitude about safety.
At our house we are organic in as many ways as possible.
As I have mentioned, we have exotic birds so use NO pesticides or herbicides in the yard.
In the house we have separate rooms for the birds and are VERY careful about cleaning products, using only the bare minimum to get the job done.

I think that generally, (grassroots) people who love and/or work with plants and animals seem to be more attuned to safety issues regarding these products. It still drives me NUTS though, when advertisers and commercial (plant) growers want to KILL everything in sight just to have a "prettier" lawn (of that lousy St. Augustine grass which looks like the Northern CRAB grass to me!).

Just my 2 cents worth.

Pat

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Pat,
Your mention of the need to be careful of what ingredients are used around birds, reminds me of the use of canaries in coal mines to detect dangerous gasses.
I think that if we had birds dropping dead on us in our workspace, the result of vapors arising from the ingredients we apply to bamboo, we might have greater concern about the long-term affect of these ingredients to our health.

But the problem that many of us have with some ingredients, is that we CAN NOT find a safer ingredient that works as well as the vaporous ingredients we are using(eg Wax Polishes).
The bamboo craft industry is just beginning to get off the ground in this part of the world (USA). Good thing for us, it's also been a time in history in which there has been a conscious concern for the development of ingredients that are environmentally compatible and safe to use.

We need to make sure that the manufacturers of the
ingredients we need to use for our craft, are on the right track!

The modern history of the development of ingredients for use in the woodwork industries is mired in the development of the chemical bi-products industry.
Basically if a chemical bi-product was toxic to micro-organisms and insects, it was used as an additive to paints, finishes, and called a preservative.
If we saw the list of ingredients that were experimented with, on bamboo in the early 1900's, we'd be glad that the
bamboo craft industry didn't take off way back then, or we'd have a lot of toxic brittle heaps of bamboo laying around backyards and places.
The chemically pressure treated (Wolmanized) lumber that is currently produced in this country for outdoor use does NOT prevent the wood from going brittle, and there's a lot of it finding it's way into the fireplace stoves now, because, as it weathers it's impossible to tell the difference from not-treated wood.

The main reason for my concern about workplace ingredients is -`toxic build-up'.
I have a small acreage in a rural area . My drinking water comes from the land, and everything I do here goes back into the land. My bamboo workplace is surrounded by my gardens ... thus the concern.

Another basic ingredient that we all need to use, and can
accumulate in the soil, are the soaps that are used to clean ourselves, our clothes, and our bamboo

Now that I'm moving from my country garden, I'm glad
that I can say I didn't leave a chemical mess behind, just a biodegradable one!
Now that I'm moving to a big city, I hear that they have big pipes underground, that you can get rid of anything liquid or semisolid that you don't want in your back yard, and it goes to faraway places. >- outof sight >-out of mind. hmmm... don't think I'll get used to that.
Life is a circle

Mark
For many bamboo products and uses, the fact that bamboo IS biodegradeable, makes it an asset.

Dear Mark:
Just last Friday I went to a customer's home to estimate a landscaping job.
The man is also redoing the inside of his house, and there were several new walls in different states of paint and plaster, etc. I heard a bird in another room and when he showed me the bird, I reminded him that if we can smell the paint then it is BAD for the bird. He moved the bird cage to the kitchen, then I reminded him of the canaries in the coal mines and told him that Teflon and other nonstick pans, when burnt, put off DEADLY fumes for birds! He promised to move the bird to yet a different spot.

I read with interest in the ABS magazine about curing the Bamboo by smoking it using Bamboo for the fire! What a wonderful idea! Then one could use the ashes for the garden or compost pile, etc! Now THAT'S using a resource to it's fullest.
As to using wax polishes on Bamboo, I am unfamiliar with this process, so you might want to inform me about it.
Can you use bee's wax? I am only surmising that bee's wax would be totally biodegradable and environmentally safe, but I would think that's a good guess.
I'm sure many of you have heard the recent news about the problems with pressure treated wood being used in children's play gyms, etc. I haven't used pressure treated wood in YEARS not wanting to contaminate my grounds or
ground water. (Actually a water-based sealant for decks is marginally safe for our birds, at least it's the lesser of all evil sealants, lol.) We've built both front and back decks at our house using (free!) wood which has no treatment on it whatsoever. Even though we live in muggy Florida we are
trying to get away with only using the water-based sealant. We understand that we may have to completely replace all our hard work in many less years then most other people would, but that's our trade off for safety. (Gee whiz, maybe by then we'll have enough Bamboo to go totally Bamboo for our next deck, lol.)
Well, these are some of my thoughts.

Sincerely, Pat

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Pat,
Bees wax is great to use on bamboo!
But heat is required so that the wax will melt, absorb and thin out.
All excess wax needs to wiped off (for special projects), or the surface may feel a slight tackiness.
Polish/Lustre - Low to High, depending.

The other way to use waxes is without heat, by adding
solvents (thinners) to the wax.
The wax becomes a `paste' ( like shoe polish)which is easily applied with a cloth.
The solvent/wax easily melts into the waxy surface of the bamboo. The thinners evaporates and leaves a clear high gloss waxed polish.
The bad part about this is the vapours in the air around you and getting into your skin.
( It's no fun shivering in the workshop in freezing weather because the fan is sucking all the vapours AND heat out the window).
Products on the market clearly warn of the risk to health - cancer/ fetal abnormalities in pregnancies etc. with prolonged use of these (solvent/thinners) products.

The good news is that water based emulsion type waxes are coming out on the market... they're not safe enough to eat, but they're safer. Let's find out more!