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Comment by washadjeffmad | Hacker News Reader

We've got sets of Indian brass, Korean steel, and Japanese lacquered wood food containers that we use in addition to ceramics and glass. The glass chips, and once it does we tend to avoid using it for food.

Because all of these things last or compound over a lifetime, it's only expensive to be healthful if you wait.

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Isn't lacquer technically a sort of plastic?

I could find images for Indian Brass Container to learn what it is. But I didn't find anything conclusive for Korean steel.

Lacquer is resin from trees, not plastic.

I don't know if it's better for you than plastic or really anything about its chemical composition, but it's not plastic.

Edit: After reading more, there is an acrylic lacquer that was developed in the 1950s that contains plastics, but outside of that, normal or traditional lacquers are typically biological in origin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacquer

What percentage of lacquers these days do you think is the old natural type? I’d wager it’s very low.

For mass produced items, I would agree.

For stuff made by lone craftsmen & small boutique shops, maybe 50/50? Maybe less?

When you say "normal", does that mean "common"? As in, if I buy lacquered wood, can I expect it to be synthetic or biological? Is there a way to tell, or do you just have to trust the source?

By Normal, I mean "Non-Synthetic" as it regards to lacquers.

For the lacquer you buy in the stores, you will have to examine the contents to see if you have actual lacquer or synthetic petroleum lacquers.

As far as wood products, if it was made after the early-mid 80's, assume that if it was lacquered it was done so with a synthetic, or if it is some form of manufactured wood.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-11-09-860324...

My impression is that finishes free of petroleum products have become somewhat of a niche cottage industry these days.

So I wouldn't assume anything acquired finished by someone else is free of such things, regardless of whatever once-precise names they used to describe the finish.

Even when you try DIY-finish something with an eye towards food-safety it's rather challenging. E.g. the "Boiled Linseed Oil" you find on store shelves isn't actually boiled linseed oil, it's usually been adulterated with petroleum distillates and sometimes toxic "dryers" (cobalt comes to mind) to achieve the results boiling used to serve.

Here in CA the once common Turpentine which is literally distilled pine trees can't even be sold to the public due to VOCs. The stocked replacements are mostly petroleum distillates, labeled as known to cause cancer in the state.

The oil industry has infected everything

Why would oil companies dispose of their toxic byproducts when they can sell them to companies who will poison the public with them? Since it makes them money and there's zero risk of legal repercussions for it, the only thing that would stop them is having morals and the oil industry certainly isn't burdened with those.

This transitive logic applies to chemical companies and pharmaceuticals, more than anyone realizes.

That resin comes from a tree that is the source of the name for urishiol - the chemical that makes poison ivy such a nasty experience.

It's probably better than plastic, but remember that coral snake venom and puffer fish toxin are 'all natural' and so the concept of all natural is utter and complete bullshit.

What is with putting superfluous place names in front of things? Are you trying to sound fancy? You have steel and wood food containers.

Those containers have a shape and style and the place names allow me to visualise what they look like.

Nobody else knows what your country of origin status symbol words are supposed to mean, so using them to communicate has one clear motive and it isn't clarity

nah, you're just being overly reactive about things. You're not contributing to the main topic

Perhaps no one knows but once it is specified they can at least look them up if they feel inclined.

I didn't know what a Korean steel container looked like, but Google gave me clarity and now I want some.

American cheese is different from other kinds of cheese. Canadian bacon is different from other types of bacon. English muffins are different from other types of muffins.

OP isn't trying to be "fancy", they're trying to communicate. This is a weird thing to get agitated about.

What we have here ... is a failure to communicate.

(I'll see myself out)

Why even be that specific? My matter holders are made of matter.

This reminds me of a scene from the Simpsons [1]:

Homer: Hmm. I wonder why he's so eager to go to the garage?

Moe: The "garage"? Hey fellas, the "garage"! Well, ooh la di da, Mr. French Man.

Homer: Well what do you call it?

Moe: A car hole!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5t9w98afJo

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