Finish for Kids Bed

[commonman00]

Hi,
I'm looking for some advise for kids safe finish for a bed. I am making a bed for my 5 year old daughter. Nothing fancy. Made of hoop pine.
What would you recommend for the finish? I have used Floorseal for past projects and I like it a lot. The only thing stopping me from using it on the bed is because the smell takes months to disappear. I know Tung Oil is safe, but I can never find any Tung Oil product that does not contain any nasty chemical. I prefer oil based finishes, so if anyone can recommend one (and where to get it in Melbourne) that will really help. At the moment, I'm tossing between a water based poly u (eg. Integrain) and ubeaut hard shellac. I'm not a fan of the water based poly, but it is almost odorless. I'm not sure how safe it is for kids though. Hard shellac sounds good, but has anyone had any experience applying in on beds and how durable it is? The bed does not require something tough, unlike a table top, but will shellac 'fade' over time? How often does it need to be re applied?

[LGS]

Hi,
You can get Liberon Pure Tung Oil (http://liberon.com.au/?act=products) from Carbatec. They also sell a product called Organoil Citrus Terpene (http://www.organoil.com.au/terpene/index.html), which is a natural oil that you can use to dilute the Tung Oil 1:1 before use. You can also use Organoil Pure Tung Oil, but I've had no experience with it.

Regards,

Rob

[AngelaPetruzzi]

If your daughter is not sensitive to anything, pure tung oil is OK, but it is a sensitizer to many. Whilst some products do not smell, does not necessarily mean there are no nasties in them. It just means there ae more auxilary chemicals to mask the smell.
You something natural and something you know what it contains.