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At last fall’s Segmented Woodturning Symposium, I had a discussion with Joe Schlawin. He suggested that acrylic plastic could be used to waterproof certain woodturnings. I needed to know how a solid sheet of acrylic plastic could waterproof the inside of a vase.

It turns out that acetone can dissolve acrylic. It takes some time but acetone can dissolve the plastic.

For this project, I broke up some acrylic into small pieces with pliers. I had to wear my full face shield. The pieces tended to shatter a fly away including at my face. I put about 3/4 inch of small pieces in a pint glass jar with a metal lid. Over the next two weeks, I stirred the mixture and added more acetone. I was amazed when the acrylic changed to a thick syrup. I added more acetone to thin it down.

For the test, I hollowed four cups from cedar. Two of them, I painted the inside only with the syrupy acrylic. It dried hard within a couple of hours – I did not constantly watch them. After drying, I did not detect an unusual odor other than the cedar scent.

Each cup was filled with water and a few drops of red food color. Within minutes, the uncoated cups leaked. One coated cup showed no color on the outside. One coated cup showed color but I think that come over the lip when I moved it.

I have yet to test this process on the outside of a project. But I like what it did so far to the inside.

Is this mix “Food Safe”?

In our current legal environment, it will be difficult to get anyone to say “Food Safe”. You will have to make up your own mind.

However,

1. Please google acrylic and food safe. if you follow the same threads that I did, you’ll see that acrylic is okay.
2. Acetone is very flammable therefore very volatile and evaporates quickly. It is a common solvent. If you google it, you may find that certain levels are common in the body and higher if someone is on a Keto diet. Acetone is a common ingredient in paint.
3. Very little acetone will remain in the finish when dry. The key will be letting it dry enough for you to be comfortable.

So. that is a very long winded way to say that you have to make up you own mind after your own research.

Enjoy!