Child Safe paints and how they spray

I dislike working in wood and I hate painting. So of course with my new Grandchild the toys mum and dad want are........wood and painted!

The first toy I made was a puzzle and the only enjoyment was making the aluminium knobs, but Freya loves playing with it so that makes it all worth while.

However, the wooden box I am making at the moment with animals and shapes to push through corresponding holes, is not going well. The main problem has been painting. I decided to paint the inside of the box by painting the panels before assembly. Freya, like all infants likes to put parts into her mouth so all have to be a certain size and the finish must be safe! After searching the internet and eBay I found a supplier and bought pots of 6 acrylic child safe colours.

I decided that I would first sand, then paint with an undercoat, sand again then spray paint the acrylic. However the finish I was getting was poor in coverage, so I decided to dispense with the spray gun and use a brush instead. That's when I discovered that the problem did not lay with my many different mixtures of paint when spraying, but the paint itself is poor in covering even when using a brush.

Now the paragraph above is a shirt one but covered many hours of work! I decided to see if my local hardware store had any other types of paint that was child safe and surprisingly they did. It is called Plasti-kote fast dry enamel paint. I decided to also purchase a soft saple brush to apply it.

On return, after sanding back the previous work with the new Black and Decker Mouse sander I decided to apply a coat with a brush first since it takes a while to clean up the spray gun (and I didn't know how it would spray) and whilst it was in direct sunlight, was disappointed with the finish achieved. So it was sanded flat yet again and the spray gun got ready.

Earlier in the morning I decided to make up a 'lazy susan' (revolving table) using a bearing I had for some time. A couple of pieces of mdf were marked out using my chain method. Simple put I use a chain secured at the center with a screw and then one link is chosen and a pencil is placed in the link and the circle drawn. Good enough for a non critical dimension and it works. Once the pieces were marked it was over to the fretsaw and the circles cut out.

With the first attempt at a thinned mix, I was pleased at last to see good coverage! So at last I could move on and complete the inside part of the box. Additionally, the 'lazy susan' worked tremendously well and I only wish I had made one years ago! It is so flexible and helps spraying a part no end and it only cost a few pounds.

Hopefully now progress can be made and the box finished. With a set of blocks completed earlier in the morning, this is the last wooden toy to be made for a while. I am designing a motorised vehicle but I suspect I have 12 months to make that before Freya can use it. I intend to have it electric powered and flexible enough to allow the chassis to mount different bodies. That will be a project I will have no problem in enjoying though!