I was looking at the makergeeks page for LayWoo-D3 and I noticed they have a disclaimer saying it is unsafe to eat the filament. While that is obvious, I was wondering if it is safe to eat WITH items printed on this filament?
My fiance eats with chopsticks incredibly often, and I would love to make a pair of custom wooden chopsticks with ornate grip ends.
While I could make each one in two pieces, plastic tip with wooden grips, I would very much prefer to make them a solid piece.
If the filament isn’t food safe, is there is a type of sealant I could apply that would MAKE them safe?
Any advice would be great.
According to this it’s wood and “harmless” polymers http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130204-wood-filament-laywoo-d3-suppliers-and-price-compare.html
So I should imagine that as long is it doesn’t come apart in use or when wet it should be fine. My general test for finding out whether something is dangerous is “try it - did it kill me? No - it’s probably fine / yes - probably shouldn’t have done that”
It won’t kill 'em anyway so I’d try it!
Although this source : http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/safety-first-choose-the-right-filament-for-your-3d-printer/
says “As previously mentioned, PLA is biocompatibible. Wood also is biocompatible, however, it is a porous material, and this can soak up more water and bacteria than Billy Mays in a Zorbeez informercial. As a result, I would recommend that you exercise a huge amount of caution (if not restraint) when using it as a material for making cutlery or children’s toys.”
So it won’t hurt but at the same time it’ll probably be closer to untreated wood, cheap chopsticks.
Definitely want to use a sealant then…
There are a lot of things that won’t kill you immediately but will kill you over time, often in unpleasant ways. Asbestos. Tobacco. Heavy metals. Radiation.