babeak

Hello,

My husband and I just made a large 120 block laser engraved set of maple blocks for our DD who will be 2. We would like to finish them naturally and non-toxic finish that is not glossy.

I have tried a salad bowl finish oil and Clapham's beeswax salad bowl finish and both have darkened the wood reducing the contrast btwn the laser engraving and the background...highly undesirable.

So I have been reading about shellac. I don't know if that would really work. I was wondering if the ultrablonde would be blonde enough or would it darken it like these others. I also read that steel wool and a paste wax over the shellac would give it a more satin finish.

Since there are 120 blocks, I really need something easy to do and not a lot of sanding as there are 6 sides x 120=720 and did I say that I have a 2 yro? So, despite how labor intensive they have been to this point, I am kind of on my own on finishing them from here out as DH is not able to help with childcare or do any finish work due to deployment.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

vantagesc

How about a water based poly? Shouldn't darken the wood much if anything, and you can even wipe it on with a cloth. They are usually available in a satin finish. I don't know if you would consider this finish safe enough for a child (if the child licks the blocks by accident or what have you)...

Gene Howe

Poly is not toxic after it dries. Most (all?) finishes that do not contain lead are not toxic when dry.
Please post some pics. They sure sound neat.
Tell your DH thanks for his service, too.
Gene

Daren

I may get booed out of the park here, but...why not leave them unfinished ? I assume you are talking hard maple here, it can be sanded VERY smooth almost to a gloss. Most baby toys for example (teethers, rattles etc.) made form hard maple are either unfinished or finished with beeswax, which you said you tried and did not like because of the color change. Any finish I know of is going to darken the endgrain of maple some, that's just life.

No toxicity worries unfinished and to be honest again I am unaware of a finish harder that the maple. So it's not doing much other than keeping dirty hands from staining the wood (which is a possibility I guess, but they would wash too) I made a couple sets of oversized hard maple dice not long ago. I did not and will not finish them and expect them to hold up just fine.

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babeak

Thanks for responses and I am keen to hear any other ideas/ experiences.

Daren, believe me, I have contemplated and even told DH that maybe we ought to leave them unfinished and sand them if we need to later to "clean" off oils/ dirt. However, since this was our first project and was nowhere near as easy as we thought it would be some of the images are not burned as deep as we would like and/or detail is not perfect. This has definitely been a labor of love. We initially thought that we would make several sets, but I guess since these are not manufactured blocks the slight variations add up and made it such that each image had to be burned by itself.

Anyway, while I am a germ freak and keep DD hands clean most of the time, there are some rare moments where something happens. However, I am probably more concerned about playmates who might not have as clean of hands coming over and I don't want to appear to be a freaky mother and make everyone wear white gloves to play with the blocks LOL!!!

The other reason why I am more inclined to get a finish on it is because I picked up a puzzle someone made (granted its pine) and I have seen how dirty that has gotten by seeing the flip side of it which is not nearly as dirty/worn looking.

So, I did see a product called http://www.canningsupply.com/product...ainers_juicers

I don't know if there really is a difference between polys in terms of toxicity. However, I thought food safe might be the way to go. I was just hoping for something more natural.

I will try to post pics soon. I know that DH had a pic of them somewhere. Right now my camera is defunct....something else I need to do.

Thanks for suggestions/advice

Ancientwood

Hello babeak,

In our shop, when customers are looking for a non-toxic, organic option we use an organic boiled linseed oil. It is a rubbed finish, so you will need to do some sanding, but 220 grit should be enough - you would probably want it that smooth for your 2 yo anyways. It doesn't darken the wood a great amount, but it may be too much color change for the laser engraving, Im not sure. Here is a picture of a 20 ft long table made from Ancient Kauri that we finished with the organic linseed oil, a project a little bigger than your blocks




Hope that info helps!

Cedric
Ancientwood Ltd.
160 Madeline Island
La Pointe wi 54850
www.ancientwood.com

Wood4Fun

Once fully cured, all finishes readily available in the U.S. (i.e. off the shelf products) will be non toxic.
The difference really comes down to a penetrating Vs film type of finish. In most cases, objects that will be used for food, or by children, people tend to use the penetrating finishes so there is nothing that will flake/chip off... it isn't that the flakes are dangerous, its just that you may not want a chunk of dried poly end up as a texture adding element in that salad you are making.

As Daren said already, pretty much anything you put on the object is going to darken. That said, I think (like also mentioned) that a water based varnish of some sort might be best suited.

Have you done a test piece with shellec yet? just buy a can of Zinnsers top coat from your local HD or Lowes and give it a shot, see what you think.