Thread: finishing question

Shellac - it's foodsafe and child-safe.
My second choice would be mineral oil for example, see the pictures.

If you're using nice hard wood I would sand, sand and sand again.... then leave it natural.
Oil is also a good choice. I haven't used shellac myself but did read several times now that it's ideal for toys.
Do stay away from food dyes... at first thought they seem the thing to use as they'd be safe to chew on, but they will dye little hands!

I have used thinned down acrylics, thinned so you can still see the grain, but they do raise the grain and you'll have to sand a bit again.

little hint: if you do colour the puzzle pieces... do them the same way back and front... that adds a challenge, bigger play value.... making them interesting for longer.

Juvy

if it were me... I would sand... and shellac... lots of layers of very thin shellac...

If anyone has used shellac...... I was wondering if it flakes off later?
I seem to recall old toys that had like a layer of almost platic looking finish that tended to flake off...
Could it have been layers of shellac?

Juvy

Originally Posted by keju

If anyone has used shellac...... I was wondering if it flakes off later?
I seem to recall old toys that had like a layer of almost platic looking finish that tended to flake off...
Could it have been layers of shellac?

I was thinking this myself

Maybe we should start a new thread so more people could see it and maybe give us an answer?

Juvy

For kiddies stuff a shellac finish, ie, 2 coats, one as a sanding sealer, then another very lightly sanded, then wax to finish.

The shellac is not thick enough to peel but helps seal the timber enough to keep the colours and hold the wax that gives it both a good look and nice feel that is non-toxic .
The base of shellac stops the timber from sucking up all the wax.

shellac's starting to sound better and better.
At the moment I do use regular sanding sealer, which isn't cheap....
Should take the time and try both methods side by side to see the difference....

Juvy

This is another very informative thread. Many thanks to everybody.

I am just getting into using Shellac mostly as a sanding sealer for my turnings.

With 3 grand children and Pop wanting to make toys etc this is well worth a read.

How ever I do recall like Juvy Shellac problems from the 60's with flaking and it being banned for use on kids toys and many other situations also.

Thanks everyone. I have decided to use the shellac very thinly.