Is it a good idea to use these as drinking vessels after repair? I always assumed the risk was too great. Even if you use some sort of epoxy over it, I would be concerned with contamination from the cracks not being fully sealed.
Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
51–60 of 86 posts
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#52> These days, some hobbyists opt for modern epoxy instead of the traditional and expensive Urushi lacquer. Epoxy probably yields a more robust bond and certainly allows for quicker repairs, but I question its safety for food-related use, especially at the temperatures found in a steaming cup of coffee. People opt for epoxy because Urushi lacquer is traditionally made from poison oak sap and is a potent skin irritant…
Weirdly enough, the food safety of urushiol was the topic of this recent and heavily discussed HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40399224 I can't say I have any desire to try it myself.
I'm not a doctor/chemist, but as far as I understand, the polymerization of urushiol renders it hard and inert. Your thread discusses contact with raw urushiol as found in poison ivy, cashew sap (and apparently mangos) which is indeed known to cause allergic rashes in most humans. I'm not saying that kintsugi is definitely food-safe, but it's an important distinction.
Side-note: I did get some raw urushi on my fingers while working on this project, but nothing happened. Perhaps I'm immune.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#53This is really great results for an early project, none of my first few came out anywhere near so good. I've been doing traditional kintsugi for about twelve years, a couple hundred successful repairs. Though when I started there was very little instruction or english-language resources available. It's become pretty popular for obvious reasons which is great for people getting into it now. It remains probably the mos…
I’m working on a shattered teapot and am finding the scaffolding part very difficult. Any tips on holding pieces in place that you’d be willing to share?
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#54When I was a kid I had a mug with my name on it that was gifted to me. My mother broke the ear off at some point and decided to glue it back on. A week later she handed me a steaming hot cup of tea and the ear tore off and I got severe burns on my leg as a result. Not great. As a result I am a bit wary fixing stuff meant to contain hot liquids
I think anyone would after that experience! Yikes!
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#55Danger!!! Urushi is basically poison oak/poison ivy sap. Not quite the same, but in that family and with the same effects. Not to scare you off, but if you are interested in this, imagine all the things that can go wrong from if you were to get a tube of poison ivy sap and then do things with it. That said, Urushi is great and the number of things you can do with it is truly amazing. Just don't do it rashly.
Most other adhesives and epoxies are also quite toxic when not cured.
Even if you're not allergic the first time you use them, you can become allergic.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#56This is awesome! The handle on my favorite mug broke off recently. I tried super gluing it back on, but it broke off after a few trips through the dishwasher (hand washing got old). I was gonna try epoxy next, but I try to avoid that stank whenever I can. Maybe I'll give this a shot.
Repairing the handle can be dangerous. It means that your repair is going to support the entire weight of your mug + the (hot) liquid.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#57> These days, some hobbyists opt for modern epoxy instead of the traditional and expensive Urushi lacquer. Epoxy probably yields a more robust bond and certainly allows for quicker repairs, but I question its safety for food-related use, especially at the temperatures found in a steaming cup of coffee. People opt for epoxy because Urushi lacquer is traditionally made from poison oak sap and is a potent skin irritant…
You can even get (tobacco) smoking pipes decorated using urushi. It's made me wonder about the temperature stability, as a pipe can (but ideally shouldn't) get fairly hot.
Tsuge is a good brand to search for if you want to see exanples. Cost-wise such pipes start around the two hundred US mark.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#58This is once again a perfect use case for cyanoacrylate. There's FDA approved, food-safe brands that will simply allow you to rebuild every fragment into the cup. It will also cure into ceramic in under a minute. I say this because I've done it. You're wasting time and energy using any other method.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weirdly enough, the food safety of urushiol was the topic of this recent and heavily discussed HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40399224 I can't say I have any desire to try it myself.
I'm not a doctor/chemist, but as far as I understand, the polymerization of urushiol renders it hard and inert. Your thread discusses contact with raw urushiol as found in poison ivy, cashew sap (and apparently mangos) which is indeed known to cause allergic rashes in most humans. I'm not saying that kintsugi is definitely food-safe, but it's an important distinction. Side-note: I did get some raw urushi on my finger…
> Side-note: I did get some raw urushi on my fingers while working on this project, but nothing happened. Perhaps I'm immune.
Might also be enough mechanical rubbing on fingertips during normal use that it mostly scrubs off. Whenever I feel it coming on from Urushi or accidentally touching poison ivy in nature, I rub it with water and course sand/dirt which seems to get rid of the urushiol.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#60I think i'll try do this next time I smash a mug (maybe avoiding the Urushi lacquer as others have mentioned in this thread).
It gives the mug so much character, looks better than before, and for sure it will be a conversation starter!