Finishing Concerns & Children

[Rosanne]

Hi - I'm new to scrolling and a friend asked me to scroll an animal puzzle for a young child. I want to try but I don't know what is safe finishing for children. I've read through these posts and have not seen any mention that something is not safe to use. Are there paints, stains, finishes to avoid when making puzzles, toys for children? Thanks.

[Magpie]

If you search for "safe" and "children" you will find some useful posts, and here are a few links I thought you might like:

Finish for toys

Child's Train

Puzzle Finishing

Finishing techniques

[GrayBeard Phil]

Rosanne:

Food safe wood finish is a very long and hotly debated subject. There is no clear guidelines. Only lots of opinion. Example of some of the problems are: How young the child, wood splinters (ouch!), the type of wood itself, and so on.

Also, there was a thread on another forum where the question was asked about the toxic level of the cleaner some Moms would use to clean the toy with.

Anyway I am getting off the topic of your question:

Here is my opinion, and it is only my opinion:
in the Laxative section of your local drug store is pharmacy grade mineral oil.
This thick liquid is wiped on, and wiped off a few minutes later. You can dip it and wipe it off also to get all the scroll saw nooks and corners. Let dry for a day hanging from a pipe on a bent wire. Repeat for a second coat. Takes several coats.

Mineral oil drys to touch in about a day, but takes a long, long time to cure. Some even claim it will never cure completely. but rule of thumb, give it 90 days after last coat to cure. Then it is one light rub with more mineral oil every month for a year, and then one light rub every year.

This finish will not stand up to automatic dishwasher.

Others will have their own opinions on this subject. Please read all of them.

I no longer will do any puzzles for children aged "puts-in-mouth." Young children are attracted to bright painted objects. My solution is only wood. Children are not attracted to the ones I made.

Aside: The other debated subject is the size of the blade. Young children have not developed the motor skills for a tight fitting puzzle, but too loose a fit and the puzzle won't stay together for them.

Phil

[workin for wood]

This is the most debated and argued about topic there ever was. In my opinion, any finish is good as long as it doesn't have lead in it. Darn near every finish you will find is a plastic of one sort or another. Once the finish is dry and cured it is safe. I'm saying that, but not as a scientist and why the need to be so critical is beyond me. I bet you have or at least have used plastic dishes, and your kids have plastic toys. That plastic is pretty darn toxic when it's liquid and poured into the molds, but once dry and cured, it's fine. How many adults died from a plastic cup? How many kids chewed the head off Barbie or GI Joe and lived to tell about it. I think all of them did but the ones that choked on the heads of course , but that's natural selection for you. So I surmise that Lead is the product you don't want to use, and it is not too common these days in the USA anyhow, but still out there! You concerns are not the finish, it's splinters and choking that you need to worry about. Sand all edges slightly and the splinters are unlikely to happen. Make the pieces big enough the kid can't eat them, and of course even then, some parental supervision and education to the kid as to what you don't do is most important.

I would not bother putting a finish on the puzzle at all. Why? I have lots of kids...they smash them, break them, lose them, eat them, and whatever else you can't even imagine, so why bother with that effort in the first place. Be happy the kid is happy and entertained for the puzzles short life! If it's older kids or something you are selling, i'd spray paint the parts with water base paints and that's it.

[Marsha]

Jeff,
I love your answer, until you get to the part where you say don't finish at all. I don't think kids would be attracted to a toy that's not colorful.

Roseanne,
I've cut and finished many Alphabet Snake puzzles and I've never heard of any ill effects. I use Plaid Folk Art paint and a couple coatings of water based varathane. Allow to cure about 2 weeks before allowing the kid to play with it and you should be good to go.
Marsha

[workin for wood]

yes, I suppose if it is just pine it would not be too colorful. Personally, I am used to using different woods for the colors. I do have to wonder though, how many thousands, surely hundreds of thousands of toys that just pine or just oak built by menonites, no finish, no paint and the kids play with them forever. The kids have great imagination and not having color might inspire more imagination and also the kids can just color the toys with crayons, which they might do anyhow. I saw on the news recently that Amish toy sales are up several hundred percent this year because of all the china toy recalls. They don't paint them, so maybe they are on to something? All I know is that kids are way smarter than us adults usually give them credit for. And I do like colorful painted wood toys, but I'm still a kid, just bigger and older.

[Gill]

You might find the latest Woodworking Online podcast (#28) here enlightening. In it, the presenter discusses safety aspects of different finishes.

Some of the other podcasts are very interesting too.

Gill

[sawdustus]

As a chemistry teacher in a former life, I know that all chemicals are toxic to some degree. That said, The following information is from Bob Flexner's book Understanding Wood Finishing. When fully cured, all finishes are non-toxic. If you can no longer smell the solvent ( the chemical that does the desolving) the finish is fully cured. Even shellac is toxic when it first comes from can. Mineral oil is non-toxic but never fully dries and needs to be put on again after a few weeks...forever.

I use acrylic paints from a craft store to make my puzzles colorful. I first coat all the surfaces with a thinned seal coat of dewaxed shellac and let it dry for a few days. A quick sanding and then I paint. After the paint dries I either recoat with shellac or with polyurethane. When fully cured the finish is non-toxic. My granddaughter and her friends play with them all the time and I would never give her anything that would hurt her.