Toy Safe Finish - and other finishes - Community Project?

[nicguthrie]

Hey Guys, I've seen the same question come up many times in the past here and elsewhere, asking what finishes are the best toy-safe ones.

I was perusing a catalogue just now and saw that the rather phenomenal Black Bison Wax is toy safe according to British standards (EN71 part 3). So not only very hard wearing, easy to apply, and silicone free - it's also safe for the little 'uns. (Smells lovely too!) I'd simply never noticed the toy safe standards mark before.

Just thought I'd record this so that there was an easy post for future question askers to find. I've not had the health to do much with woodworking for a few months, so I thought I'd contribute this little tidbit for posterity.

Any other good toy safe finishes that you have experience of, feel free to add below - maybe we can make a reference post for the future?

Nic.

 

[gregmcateer]

Handy to know, Nic.
Thanks for posting.
Hope you feel well enough to work soon
Greg

 

[nicguthrie]

Thanks Greg, Unless there's some miracle cure comes up, my health is always going to be ups and downs, but still kicking about 21 years after cancer, so I can't complain!

I was thinking about my first post here, and I was wondering, what would the mods think of us working together as a forum, or whatever, and collating a list of "known to be great" finishes for particular jobs? We could have our own community driven database of great finishes for particular purposes, for personal and site visitor reference. If someone was to even simply collate the already posted recommended finishes for particular jobs to a list, we'd have more pure information and personal experiences than the best textbooks on the subject. Many single-post visitors would have an easy reference to look up for advice on what to use or buy.

Just a thought. I'd be glad to lend a hand in collecting and sorting the data, but I'm not sure if it'd take admin access (or at least more reliable health than mine) to do a sterling job.

Nic.

 

[Soylent1]

A possible coup? This could be done comrade....but be careful, the walls have ears! lol!

 

[Dino]

Might I suggest expanding that to include wood densities and porosity?

 

[nicguthrie]

Not sure how we'd get hold of data for wood porosities and density figures, it's not really the sort of "Community wisdom" I was hoping to enable with the idea.

If you are looking for stats on many woods, I have a book that is widely considered the "Wood Bible" for that sort of thing, called WOOD Identification and Use, by Terry Porter. I'd heartily recommend it as it's full of all sorts of interesting information on all the different woods. The most disconcerting info it gives is on the toxicity of the different woods and just how nasty the dust of each is known to be. Half an hour's perusal is enough to make most folks decide to go out and buy a powered respirator!

I was hoping, simply to collate the community's knowledge of known finishes and their suitability for particular purposes, as a resource both for newcomers and for those of us that have been around a while, when we decide to try something new.

 

[MIGNAL]

Surely Shellac is a Toy safe finish? I think it was once used to coat antibiotic type pills and it's food additive number is E904.
Not a lot of people know that.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

E903 is carnauba - not a lot people know that, either.

 

[CHJ]

Look a little deeper into the suppliers data sheets for most wood finishes regularly used in the home workshop and I think you will find at least 80% of them have been submitted for classification to meet the EN71 standard, and I doubt those that have not are any real danger.
Lets face it rarely does a Baby check whether whatever it picks up around the average home to have a chew at is going to be a problem.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The baby knows not the infernal e.u. though, otherwise it would probably put nothing at all in it's mouth.