Baby Rattle Safety

[KEW]

I am making a baby rattle comprised of a hollow orb (with Garbanzo Beans) and a handle.
I used Mylands High Build Friction Polish on it and wanted to be sure I hadn't overlooked a safety issue.
Are there any other safety concerns to be wary of?
I did make sure the orb and the end of the handle are too big to be a choking hazard.

I was worried the beans could pose a choking hazard if the rattle broke, but then reasoned there are a lot of toys which would break into jagged plastic fragments if subjected to the type of forces that would break open the rattle.
All the same, for those of you who sell rattles, how do you handle these types of concerns?

 

[waltben]

I've avoided making rattles as I couldn't find a waterproof finish that would also be safe for ingestion (babies do put everything into their mouths and eventually also get teeth). The Mylands website (http://www.mylands.co.uk/turning.html#1) recommends that anything finished with this product that will be handled frequently also have some carnuba wax added. I know carnuba is not safe for ingestion, so I wonder about the friction polish. There's nothing on their website about the safety of that product, but then the UK has different laws than us. I'd read the label carefully first.

 

[laymarcrafts]

Just to pick up on one myth about Carnuba Wax, it is Safe to ingest and is used in many every day products including Dental Floss, Lipstick and Chewing Gum look at Wikpedia to find out just how much of this you Digest, Not Sure if Sucking a Bar of the Stuff has any benefits?

Richard
http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk

 

[Claude]

Carnauba wax is absolutely safe for ingestion.
The largest consumption of carnauba wax is from pharmaceutical companies. They do use this products on most ingestible pills..

 

[Max Taylor]

baby rattles

Simply put, I dont do baby rattles. Could not live with myself if something happened.I leave that to the big toymakers. Plenty of other 'stuff' to make. You asked, I gave you my thoughts. Max

 

[DougBrown]

I tend to treat rattles as I do utility pieces like salad bowls, an oil finish. Just give the parents care instructions, I've seen wood split under the harsh treatment of a babies mouth. Your choice of filler (the part that makes the rattle sound) is close, in that beans are edible but too big, I usually use lentils. They're small enough for babies to swallow and digest if released from the rattle. If you're marketing these for sale I would strongly recommend liability insurance and check all local, state, and federal laws regulating the sale of infant toys. Good luck.

 

[Owen Lowe]

I did make sure the orb and the end of the handle are too big to be a choking hazard.

I was worried the beans could pose a choking hazard if the rattle broke, but then reasoned there are a lot of toys which would break into jagged plastic fragments if subjected to the type of forces that would break open the rattle.

Just to make sure... in the US the Consumer Product Safety Commission has downloadable files on rattle sizing - as I recall, the large diameter for the ball should be at least 1.375" for a double ended rattle - you also need to make sure that on a one-ended rattle, the handle can't go down the throat and block the airway from the large end getting stuck at the mouth.

I finished my rattles with shellac. It's absolutely non-toxic once cured. Sure, it'll get worn and teeth-marked, but that's some of the keepsake-ness parents treasure later on.

Out of curiosity, I took one of my rejects (on one of the ends, I turned through to the corn kernels inside) I subjected it to a hammering with a wood mallet while it lay on my lathe bed. It surprised me how much force and how many repeated blows it took to break the ball and even then, it didn't shatter, but merely cracked and got semi-crushed. None of the corn came out. I reasoned that if a baby has that amount of strength, the parents have more to worry about than my rattle.

You may want to subject one of your rattles to similar treatment to satisfy your own mind.

 

[Richard Jones]

Owen,

Those really look great. Would you mind sharing your technique?

Thanks.

Rich

 

[KEW]

Thanks all!

I'm not selling these, I am just making one for one of my employees who just had a grandchild. I started wondering if there were any hazards I was missing and realized how many concerns there must be for people who market them.

I started out with lentils, but like the way 3-4 garbanzos will roll around inside the rattle. I'll go back to lentils (haven't closed it up yet).

Nice rattles, Owen and thanks for the comments. I believe the article Nick Cook wrote had the choke-safe dimension as 1-11/16" minimum.

Cheers,
Kurt

 

[Frank Kobilsek]

Kurt

The Nick Cook story you refer to is on his website. I did not look this morning but I think you are right about the 1 11/16" diameter on BOTH ends.

I have made several in the style of Nick's article. I'm an uncle to 38 so I have alot of family baby gifts. One of my nieces will get 5 or 6 at a time and she gives them to freinds and co-workers when they bring new potential wood turners into the world.

Frank

 

[Owen Lowe]

Nice rattles, Owen and thanks for the comments. I believe the article Nick Cook wrote had the choke-safe dimension as 1-11/16" minimum.

thank you for the compliments. I learned the style from another turner, but I believe it may have originated from an AAW article quite a while ago.

The CPSC has the following to say about sizing (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5070.html):

The CPSC warns consumers to check all rattles carefully before giving them to a child. An infant's mouth is extremely pliable and can stretch to hold larger shapes than one might expect. To test rattles for minimum permissible size, CPSC uses a device which has an oval opening that measures approximately 1-3/8 inches (35mm) by 2 inches (50mm), and is 1-3/16 inches (30mm) deep. Any portion of a rattle, such as its handle, which passes through this opening is small enough to enter an infant's mouth and become lodged in the back of the throat. To reduce the chance of a choking accident, parents should choose rattles which are at least as large, and preferably larger, than these dimensions.

You may also reference their PDF file, Regulations 16 C.F.R. Part 1510:

 

[twoodsmith]

baby rattle using captive rings

I chose a different approach: captive rings. I used only Mahoney's walnut oil. 4 soaking coats over seven days. Two pics included. It looks better if enlarged. I could not get second pic to upload. I will have to crop it and resave it

 

[waltben]

Well, I'm finally recovered from eating some carnuba wax ;-) In spite of those claiming it's edible, I'm a bit skeptical, especially for babies. I'm also still not going to turn rattles, since I'm also not interested in being the one out of a thousand who causes a choking death.