Is Ronseal floor varnish on a child toy?

daymobrew · 26-11-2020 8:20pm #1

I made two wooden dice for my sister-in-law to use in school. I used 75mm cube cut from a pressure treated fence post. I then varnished it with some Ronseal floor varnish.

Is it safe for use with school children? (My sister-in-law hasn't said what ages the kids are).
Or should I dump them?
Or can I sand off the varnish and treat with something safer?

the_pen_turner · 26-11-2020 9:12pm

i would be more worried about all the dangerous crap in the pressure treated wood. the varnish is just adding crap on top.

no its not safe

daymobrew · 26-11-2020 9:54pm

Would the varnish seal in any crap that is in the wood?
I read that when the varnish has cured (after 30 days) that is should be okay.
https://woodworking.stackexchange.com/questions/6054/what-finish-is-suitable-for-a-childrens-toy

If neither is safe, what would you recommend - easy to purchase 75x75 wood and then varnish/oil/whatever?

the_pen_turner · 26-11-2020 10:11pm

food safe oil for cutting boards

Lumen · 27-11-2020 9:03am

daymobrew wrote: »

Would the varnish seal in any crap that is in the wood?]

That'll make it lick-proof and probably suck-proof but not chew-proof.

CJhaughey · 27-11-2020 2:07pm

For kids toys just use plain white pine or any similar untreated wood. Do not use pressure treated as it contains toxins designed to prevent wood rotting, these are usually copper salts.
Leave the wood bare, don't use anything on it as it will be prone to being ingested by kids.

Rolllo · 28-11-2020 4:10am

I was making some kids ornaments a while back, I did a bit of research and Liberon natural finish interior varnish is EN71 EU-certified toy safe, some of the other liberon finishes are too I think.

Saralace · 28-11-2020 4:49am

Look for one that's food safe surfaces

daymobrew · 28-11-2020 11:06am

CJhaughey wrote: »

For kids toys just use plain white pine or any similar untreated wood.

Is white pine easy to get?

Lumen · 28-11-2020 12:41pm

daymobrew wrote: »

Is white pine easy to get?

In Ireland, AFAIK, "white deal" is spruce and "red deal" is pine. "red deal" is generally considered stronger, which is why it's used for things like bannisters and hand rails.

That said, white deal can come out quite nicely if you can cut it down to avoid the knots.

daymobrew · 29-11-2020 10:05am

Lumen wrote: »

That'll make it lick-proof and probably suck-proof but not chew-proof.

CJhaughey wrote: »

Leave the wood bare, don't use anything on it as it will be prone to being ingested by kids.

The dice has numbers from 6 to 11 and 3 to 8. They'll be for multiplication games so the sums will be 3x6 to 11x8. I would hope that the children learning multiplication would not be chewing on them. My concern about leaving them bare is damage - they need a firm throw to make them roll.

I might ask my son to ask his woodwork teacher for 2 cubes of the light coloured wood that he used.

The dots were coloured using whiteboard markers.

the_pen_turner · 29-11-2020 1:34pm

its not about who is going to use them its about who could down the line. i wouldnt risk it.

daymobrew · 29-11-2020 6:19pm

I got some fresh birch this afternoon. I was cycling by a house where a guy was trimming his trees. I asked for some of the cuttings and he gave me to pieces.
I'll cut them to size and dry them and start from there. I'll plan to use child friendly paint for the numbers (instead of the Sharpie permanent marker - not whiteboard as I mistakenly said earlier).

Is Ronseal floor varnish on a child toy?

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