• July 2025 Turning Challenge: Turn a Multi-axis Weed Pot! (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Kent Reisdorph for "Sugarberry Bowl" being selected as Turning of the Week for July 14, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Baby Rattle Finish

W

Wally Crawford

Joined
Apr 15, 2023
Messages
117
Likes
67
Location
Stanfeld, NC
I just completed a baby rattle of Northern Catalpa with a Maple handle and am not sure what finish to put on it. I was going to use Walnut Oil (Mahoney's) but am second guessing myself. I do not want to start yet another "food safe" discussion, but this will probably be mouthed and chewed on by a little one. Any thoughts?
 
Look up "wood and bacteria relative to cutting boards" and you will find that wood does not support bacteria, which is a good feature considering where a baby will likely throw the rattle.
Bottom line maple (no spalting) is best without any finish.
 
I'm with maple only, no finish. But I'd go one step further- I'd use only sugar (aka rock) maple, which is the traditional wood for actual butcher blocks. Covered in blood and whatever other tissue juices daily, coated nightly with salt, chop the meat for a hundred years.

If a finish is really desired, I would not use any film finish that little sharp teeth will destroy (poly, shellac, etc.). I'd use Tried and True Danish Oil, which is nothing more than the pure, food safe, heat (not chemical) polymerized linseed oil, just one, maybe two, penetrating coats to the mfr. instructions. Give it a full 30 days to cure, then hand it over to the little recipient.
 
Thank you for all your thoughts and input. I chose Catalpa, knowing is was soft, for it's light weight, and hard Maple for its strength. These are really good parents of a newborn and I will advise them that, once the baby starts teething, to get him a different toy. I intentionally made the head or rattle part a little more bulbous so that little mouths will not be able to get a purchase. Thanks again to everybody.

Wally
 
Steve Tiedman said:
I'm with maple only, no finish. But I'd go one step further- I'd use only sugar (aka rock) maple, which is the traditional wood for actual butcher blocks. Covered in blood and whatever other tissue juices daily, coated nightly with salt, chop the meat for a hundred years.

If a finish is really desired, I would not use any film finish that little sharp teeth will destroy (poly, shellac, etc.). I'd use Tried and True Danish Oil, which is nothing more than the pure, food safe, heat (not chemical) polymerized linseed oil, just one, maybe two, penetrating coats to the mfr. instructions. Give it a full 30 days to cure, then hand it over to the little recipient.
Click to expand...


I thought the term “danish oil” referred to an oil with some sort of varnish/ film added. Am I mistaken? I agree with others that you don’t want a film finish.

Furniture Clinic boiled linseed oil is marketed as 100% linseed. Food safe with no additives. They boil it instead of using metallic dryers.
 
Michael Anderson said:
You can also go the grocery store and buy flaxseed oil. Food grade and pure, and the alternative name to linseed oil.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking that the raw, food-grade flaxseed oil, since it has neither been heat nor chemically treated, will take even longer to cure than most versions of linseed oil.

Mike- I don't put much stock in any company's use of the term "Danish", it seems to mean something else to each of them. But your Furniture Clinic seems about the same as Tried and True Danish.
 
I've tried the raw flax oil but followed a video where they minimally processed it first. Mixed 50/50 with water in a glass jar, shaken vigorously, then left for the oil and water to separate in the sun. Some of the solids in the oil precipitated out. When I used it, it took weeks or even months to cure.
 
Yep, what Steve and Rick said - Like pure linseed oil, flaxseed oil can take several months to cure - Used to use it quite a bit on farm tools & implements, an oily rag laid out to dry took just over 4 months to cure completely to where the rag was hard as a rock.
 
Last edited:
Mike Novak said:
I thought the term “danish oil” referred to an oil with some sort of varnish/ film added. Am I mistaken? I agree with others that you don’t want a film finish.

Furniture Clinic boiled linseed oil is marketed as 100% linseed. Food safe with no additives. They boil it instead of using metallic dryers.
Click to expand...

I think Danish oil most often has varnish or other additives. Watco Danish oil certainly does. Tried and True Danish Oil is pure linseed oil with no additives. You have to read the label on pretty much any Danish oil to understand what else is in it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top