mountainbreeze wrote:Nice work Chuck. What finish did you apply?
NONE! With the cautions re- toxic lead finishes and perhaps others, I think it best to not use any finish on toys that will leave the immediate family.
If a finish is applied, it becomes necessary to include a note explaining what finish was used and the chemicals (ingredients) in it. If charities are alert they will demand such a note (disclaimer).
I have no idea how charities deal with these notes. How are they filed? Where are they if a suit comes up? Did the manufacturer have the note notarized? All of this and more can be avoided by having no finish what-so ever.
Oh, by the way. The Feds have determined that wood is not toxic.
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
charlese wrote:NONE! With the cautions re- toxic lead finishes and perhaps others, I think it best to not use any finish on toys that will leave the immediate family.
If a finish is applied, it becomes necessary to include a note explaining what finish was used and the chemicals (ingredients) in it. If charities are alert they will demand such a note (disclaimer).
I have no idea how charities deal with these notes. How are they filed? Where are they if a suit comes up? Did the manufacturer have the note notarized? All of this and more can be avoided by having no finish what-so ever.
Oh, by the way. The Feds have determined that wood is not toxic.
Shellac is edible, and I believe FDA approved.
Gale's Law: The bigger the woodworking project, the less the mistakes show in any photo taken far enough away to show the entire project!
The use of various woods provides a "color" for the truck. Better/safer these days then attempting to apply a color.
The times they are a changing, my brother who sells hundreds of birdhouses every year decided to branch out and make some wooden vehicles to sell. He went with plane old wood look and no finish. How many did he sell? ZERO. Tried at $3 then $2 then $1 then gave some away and gave up.
This winter he is going back to just birdhouses. Makes about 10 a day so by spring he will have somewhere near 1000 ready to sell.
reible wrote:The use of various woods provides a "color" for the truck. Better/safer these days then attempting to apply a color.
The times they are a changing, my brother who sells hundreds of birdhouses every year decided to branch out and make some wooden vehicles to sell. He went with plane old wood look and no finish. How many did he sell? ZERO. Tried at $3 then $2 then $1 then gave some away and gave up.
This winter he is going back to just birdhouses. Makes about 10 a day so by spring he will have somewhere near 1000 ready to sell.
Charlese as always, great job.
Ed
Thought this would be a good time to re-post an old posting (re: finishes on toys) from 2010:
It is surprising to me that Ed's brother's toy cars didn't sell. I don't sell my small wood cars, but kids ages 3 to 8 really like them. If I can find a photo of some of them, I'll put it here.-- the title of this pic is "30 small cars"--
