Making cups from coconut & bamboo?

I've been wanting to make some cups for my bar out of bamboo and coconut shells. I've seen this type of stuff in older tiki restaurant menues, etc. But what type of sealer is used to allow them to hold beverages? Is there a "food-grade" water sealer; will any Home Depot water sealer work; or is sealer not even required? I don't want my drinks to taste like bamboo, so I assume you do need some type of "treatment".

For the coconut cups I made, I just sealed them with canning parafin. You can get that stuff at most grocery stores. AND it's sure to be food-safe. Then buffed the hell out of them to remove the excess wax.

I don't know how such items would be professionally finished.

(Of course, I epoxied the cup to the base, so what do I know. Looks like something the Professor made.)

Philot,
sounds good. Does it hold up to washing? I would assume that you can't put them in the hot dishwasher.

I would think any waterproofing sealer would have to be safe, or it wouldn't be a sealer. It can't disolve or it wouldn't work.

Swanky,
Your right. THat's what I thought too, but I wanted to be sure that it wouldn't leach any chemicals out or anything like that. But, your point certainly makes sense.

As far as washing, I would never stick something like that in a dishwasher. They're fine for handwashing. Some really piping hot water might either soften the wax, clouding it, or maybe cause it to flow, and get smoother. I'll have to experiment.

The epoxy should be tougher than the wax.

Oh, I epoxied the bases BEFORE I wax-coated the cups. If you do it in the reverse order, you probably won't get a strong joint.

Trader Joe's market here in SoCal used to sell coconut ice cream in cups made from coconut shells (and my roommate used to eat lots of it!) They are simply coconut shells cut in half with out any apparent sealer on them. I use them as punch cups and they work fine-no cracking to date. Coconut shell is pretty close grained-it is used to make buttons so it has to be tough. I hand wash them and dry them with a towel.

I also have a cup made from bamboo. The trick here is to cut while the bamboo is green. A friend of mine tried to make Japanese water bottle from the dried Chinese bamboo you can buy in the hardware store. Several problems: 1. The inside was covered in black (mold?) 2. They split when water was put inside.

I have used my bamboo mug without sealer and have had no problems yet. I would suggest though, you don't leave liquids in it for a long time.

Yes I have some of those. They still sell them at the Trader Joe's by me. They are on the small size but they have the bottoms sanded down so they usually sit up nice. Actually they make great snack holders (nuts etc). But I can't see why you couldn't use them for a drink as-is. The coconut ice cream that comes in it aint bad either! :) I have about 20 of them saved up, I was going to drill a hole through them and make some party lights to string up.

Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks - Lin Yutang

[ Edited by: Dimethios on 2004-05-12 13:50 ]

don't just seal it with any old epoxy, use something that is safe, like "salad bowl finish" found here:
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?&offerings_id=5344
if you have a wood working shop or good hardware store near you, they probably carry this. I haven't seen it at my local HOme DEPOT, but I hate that place anyway.
Coconuts - clean, seal and use.
Bamboo - first make sure there are no splinters. Using green (freshly cut) bamboo sounds like a good idea too. I would imagine that if you put a couple coats of salad bowl finish (or something similiar) it won't crack. I have not had any problems with cracking on my bamboo lamps I make if I put several coats of sealer on it. I can't say for certain how liquid would effect the bamboo after being sealed (as I've never tried it), but try it out and see how it goes!
good luck!

BTW, don't put any tiki mugs in the dishwasher. That is too harsh and enviroment. It will cause crazing (lots of fine cracks).

Polynesiac,
Thanks so much for the link. That sounds like the trick! My biggest fear is that if I were to use some "industrual" water sealer, that it would leach harmful chemicals into the drink. I want a buzz, not stomach cancer. I've seen cups made from bamboo before, so its not impossible. My only thing now is to try to find green bamboo. I've been to Oceanic Arts many times and they have tons of the dried stuff, but I've yet to see geen. I guess experimentation is in order. Thanks guys.

Swanky,
Yes, the dishwasher is the big NO NO! I have learned the hard way. Fortuantely, it wasn't with my special tiki mugs...wheww!

here's a link to a previous thread about buying bamboo poles on-line. There are a few good links here - maybe they have green bamboo too. Or, better yet, maybe one of these places is close to where you live.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic-new.php?topic=7717&forum=7

Gang-don't mess with this kind of thing-buy ceramic,plastic,or the trader joe's ice cream-it's NEVER worth getting sick over some dubious method.

By "green" bamboo I mean bamboo growing out o' the ground. It's green, raw, undried, alive. Cut it and kill it folks!

When it dries naturally it still has a greenish cast to it.

docwoods,
I agree that would be much safer, but who wants to be safe..ha ha ha. Actually, it shouldn't be that hard. I mean we've all seen coconut cups and bamboo cups in stores. So its not impossible. My whole reasoning, is that I want to create some bamboo and coconut cups in very cools shapes that I've seen in some vintage tiki menues....stuff you can't buy. I have reasonably good woodworking skills, so for me, the only drawback is just what we've been talking about...the sealer. I don't know a thing about that particular aspect of creating wood-based drinking vessels