Is there a non toxic alternative to polyurethane?

I'm building a food/water bowl stand for my dog. I would like to coat it with something to protect from water. Is there something I can use that is non toxic that would be safe? Thanks

I would recommend Rustins Plastic Coating but I believe it is very hard to come by in your part of the world.

Otherwise maybe something like Fibreglass resin??

Epoxy or polyurethane - both are safe once cured, and nothing 'natural' is going to come close to them in terms of durability.

u beaut hard shealc... several coats and cured 10 days... will be pretty hard to beat on balance.... they used to coat some tablets and sweets with shelac

Marine epoxy is completly innert once cured.

The only way the dog is going to injest any finish is if it chews it.........our golden retreevers chewed lots of worse things than poly with no ill effects.

cheers

Greetings and G'day Mate; from a Canuk. You can use Tongue Oil (for salad bowls).There are a number of products available, as well as some natural clear food use oils as well
Check it out on other forums to be sure. or do a www.google.com search.
It can be used on cutting boards and salad bowls. It hardens up and a little goes a long way. DO NOT USE MINERAL OIL THOUGH as it has some harmful properties. And be sure to check the "MSDS" data first.
Have a good one and Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

To my memory... tung oil even in its "pure" state isn't a food grade finish, and contains a variety of plant toxins... most definitely in the most commonly found form contains metalic driers and possibly other chemicals and resins depending on the supplier.

White mineral oil, otherwise known as parafin oil, particularly if baught as a food grade product is entirely suitable for all sorts of wooden food utensils.

In fact it is one of the very few finishes that is available to us that is truly a food grade product and has no hygeen or toxisity issues.
Parrafin oil has been used for a very long time as a mild laxative.

I was down at Ikea the other day.... and there it was specificaly branded as "cutting board oil"

If you want to get into all this do a forum search on cutting board finish or something and you will gett burried in information.

Basicaly if you are looking for a truly food grade finish that does not have "problems", you are left with....shelac, parafin oil, parafin wax... and possibly citrus oils.
Just about every thing else, has some sort of toxisity, hygeen, or taint issue..

cheers

Pretty well nailed it there Soundman.

To my knowledge only 100% PURE tung oil is a food-grade finish. There isn't too much genuine 100% pure Tung Oil around though. Much of what is called tung oil is concocted from a variety of resins including polyurethane, much of it contains NO tung oil what so ever. So unless it says 100% Pure Tung Oil it most likely isn't food safe or tung oil at all.

We are working on a a couple of non-toxic food-grade finish for salad bowls and chopping boards etc and should have a couple of new products on the market some time in the next few months. In the mean time all our shellac products are 100% food safe including our Shellawax range.

Cheers - Neil.

PS Wouldn't be using Shellawax for the purpose above. Most surface coatings including Polyurethane are safe when they are completely cured.