Q: I recently acquired an antique mahogany crib which I want to refinish for my one year old granddaughter. After some sniffing around on the web, no one seems to have a confident definitive answer on what finish would be safe. Can you help?
A: Virtually all film forming finishes, that is, those that harden to a solid film, are child safe once they are cured. That includes shellac, lacquer, varnish and both waterbased and oil based polyurethane. Incidentally, shellac is not only child safe, it is actually edible, and the bulk of the shellac used in the US goes to the food and drug industries to coat candy, vitamins and pharmaceuticals.
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