BLO on a crib- problems?

[Craig Hemsath]

Talking with our shop teacher and one of our students this morning. Student is making a crib in woods class for his older sister who's having a kid. He's got a pile of some nice looking cherry in there and was going to use BLO on it to start. Then finish it with some type of varnish.

We got to talking about the metal driers, etc. they use in BLO. Could those cause problems on something like a crib that is likely to be chewed on, etc? Even with a varnish (what if the wee one really gnawed on it). Or were we just being extra paranoid? Hate to have my students future niece/nephew have allergy/health problems from a very cool gift idea.

[Steve Schoene]

As long as he's got a month for it to fully cure before the baby uses it, blo and varnish shouldn't be a problem. After curing, even ingestion won't leach out enough of the metallic driers to be a health hazard.

[Craig Hemsath]

Thanks Steve. A follow up question. Would this be the same with dyes that contain metal compounds as well?

[Steve Schoene]

Here is what Jeff Jewitt says about that issue concerning the dyes he formulates.

http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/faqs.htm