Food safe adhesive for teak?

[WizardOfBoz]

After 40 years of marriage, the spoon part of our teak salad tongs has broken. The wife and I have a fondness for these tongs. Is there a good food safe adhesive that will work with teak?

Also I have to clean out some of the crude that was in the crack that has been there for a while. Dawn dishwashing soap and a toothbrush have had some results. But there's still some black staining. Bleach?

Thanks.

 

[richard newman]

Teak requires an oil tolerant adhesive, two I've used are Titebond and epoxy. I don't know that I'd eat either one, but there will be hardly any of it in there, and it will be cured. There are epoxies made specifically for oily woods Epoxy is waterproof and gap filling, but should not go in the dishwasher.

Not sure about the black stain you mention, but cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, acetone, and/or lacquer thinner is a good idea.

 

[dgfoster]

Epoxy is for all practical purposes inert and is considered food safe. See West System’s web site for direction for teak.

Denis

 

[stephen thomas]

agree with above and (ahem) put my mouth where my money is in this case.
Some of you will nod and mutter "well that explains things".

Nonetheless;
For half a century, I've typically repaired kitchen bowls, platters, wooden serving ware, etc, with WEST or other epoxy, though sometimes try a first pass on ceramic with cyanoacrylic & see if it holds (don't bother with that on wood) & don't think it has hurt me yet.

smt

edited: BTW, I've never owned a dishwasher, and don't leave repaired items in the superhot rinse water sink overly long. Not claiming either of above is significantly heat resistant.

 

[mike44]

Chlorine bleach will remove the dark spots. I glued a cutting board that developed a crack, used hot hide glue. First I sawed the board in half at the crack. Then reglued the two halves.
If you place the spoons in a dishwasher then hot hide glue is not the answer. Epoxy ? Titebond, maybe.

 

[garyhlucas]

Resorcinol glue is likely a good candidate. I laminated curved teak parts for my sailboat that have continous weather exposure.

 

[dcsipo]

After 40 years of marriage, the spoon part of our teak salad tongs has broken. The wife and I have a fondness for these tongs. Is there a good food safe adhesive that will work with teak?

Also I have to clean out some of the crude that was in the crack that has been there for a while. Dawn dishwashing soap and a toothbrush have had some results. But there's still some black staining. Bleach?

Thanks.

Food Safe Epoxy Guide 101 [All You Need To Know]

Looking for the best food safe epoxy resin? We've got you covered with our comprehensive guide on Food Safe Epoxy.

homesthetics.net

 

[wood2steel]

As mentioned; an oil tolerant Epoxy is the best route! Installed a Teak stair casing and Handrail system 40 yrs ago and we used Acetone to clean all mating surfaces of oil residue before applying adhesives. All seems to be still holding well !!

 

[Limy Sami]

+ another for Epoxy, ............ oh and if you have to bind the joint while it sets, use copper wire.

 

[thunderskunk]

After 40 years of marriage, the spoon part of our teak salad tongs has broken.

Saw this and thought it was some seriously deep innuendo.

 

[WizardOfBoz]

Saw this and thought it was some seriously deep innuendo.

Not the teak salad spoon, but ... Actually, we have a special tray for cooking and serving food. It's Swedish stoneware, and it's called a spodju. We got it from a friend of my Mom and Dad's at our wedding shower. The running joke is that when the spodju breaks, the marriage is over. Like the stone table breaking in Narnia.

A spodju (on the left - it's about 13 inches long)

 

[Drew224]

After 40 years of marriage, the spoon part of our teak salad tongs has broken. The wife and I have a fondness for these tongs. Is there a good food safe adhesive that will work with teak?

Also I have to clean out some of the crude that was in the crack that has been there for a while. Dawn dish washing soap and a toothbrush have had some results. But there's still some black staining. Bleach?

Thanks.

According to the FDA, there isn't any glue/adhesive that is "Food Safe" until cured. However your best and safest bet will be epoxy. Your Wife will just have to deal without for a minimum of 30 days with epoxy. What really has me worried... is "I have to clean out some of the crude that was in the crack that has been there for a while." That might be mold which really ain't all that good regardless. you may get some doable results with a toothbrush and baking soda. Honestly may just want to make her a new set of tongs and mount the old on a board and use as a wall hanger after you glue them up.

 

[WizardOfBoz]

Thanks to all.. I used a toothbrush and bleach to get rid of the black col…. Didn’t work, but I figure it was sterile. West Systems G Flex 650 epoxy has the tong repaired. It’s been 30 days…. Perfectly functional.

 

[WizardOfBoz]

Here it is. The black stripes have been there for years, so it doesn't bug us but it's probably doesn't look as good was one would hope. Works though.