Finish on Pine bed [Archive]

Andreas87

17th October 2011, 05:19 AM

Hi all!

I'm making a bed for my 11 months old daughter, and I was wondering how i should finish it.

I really like the look of pine so I want to keep the natural look of the wood, but it needs to be durable and able to resist abuse.

I'm totally new to finishing processes so I would really appreciate some advice!!!

Thanks in advance! :2tsup:

NZStu

17th October 2011, 08:30 AM

I would use Danish oil myself. It should be plenty durable enough for a bed, and has the advantage of being easy to touch up if it gets damaged.

Andreas87

18th October 2011, 07:57 AM

Hi NZStu thank you for the reply!

I browsed the web looking for reviews of Danish oil; the reviews all agreed on that it was a nice, durable and good finish. The only problem i found was that it contained a lot of nasty chems witch according to some took a lot of time to evaporate. So I went to a paint store and they recommended a thing called Bloom bench top oil from liberon. It weren’t that expensive and the stuff is acryl based so I thought I’d give it a shot. I made a test piece witch I oiled(the stuff smells like chewing gum) my instincts tell me that it won’t give me a nice finish like Danish oil but i hope it will be acceptable. Do you have any experience with it?

NZStu

19th October 2011, 01:06 PM

I think toxicity depends on the individual oils. I'm planning on using this stuff on a dining table: Haarlem Danish Oil (http://www.supremeoils.co.nz/component/content/article/1-products/1-haarlem-oil.html) (sorry, not much help for you).

It contains Tung oil, vege turpentine and driers, and the makers claim that it is non-toxic once dry. I don't know about 100% non toxic, but I can't imagine it being too bad!

If you can get Liberon stuff, their "Finishing Oil" is apparantly EN71 approved as being safe for toys, so would be perfect for a child's bed.

soundman

20th October 2011, 11:02 AM

if ya want somthing that is completely non toxic, ya realy do not have much choice...its either chemicaly unalterted oil or shelac.

but neither of those are particularly durable, and in truth the kid would have to chew quite a lot of the finish to have any ill effects with most commercial finishes.

All the metalic driers that are used in finishes are to some extent toxic.

I'd go plain old poly u varnish.

cheers