Where can i find safe wood?

[Emx93]

I'm thinking about trying to make some hides etc with the kiddies over half term and I'm just wondering what wood is safe to use and where I can find it?
Thankyou in advance

 

[Maz]

Elusive or Daisy are pretty good on safe woods Do you mean gathering branches and twigs etc? Or just buying plain wood from a diy store? Pine is fine to use as it's all kiln dried and solid pine doesn't have the same issue as shavings. If you use plywood it needs to be formaldehyde free.

 

[Emx93]

Elusive is pretty good on safe woods Do you mean gathering branches and twigs etc? Or just buying plain wood from a diy store? Pine is fine to use as it's all kiln dried and solid pine doesn't have the same issue as shavings. If you use plywood it needs to be formaldehyde free.

Plain wood thankyou how do I know if plywood is formaldehyde free? I tried looking on both wickes and b and q and neither say
Though gathering twigs and branches might be fun too! Could definitely do that on a dog walk!

 

[Maz]

Pine is easiest. It's not that easy to find plywood that says it's formaldehyde free. Some people use lollysticks as well but if making things with those you need to be careful they are stable as some things can collapse.

 

[elusive]

I would stick to pine, finding safe plywood is almost impossible, there is some out there but generally on sale anywhere you’re likely to find it.

I’ve made a few things with lolly sticks & I’m sure that could be fun with the kids.

If you gather wood from outside you would need to at least freeze it or bake it so maybe a better idea for a longer term thing as it takes a while to get ready for use.

 

[RainbowBrite]

I have seen lots of cute hides made out of cardboard. The hamsters seem to love them too.

 

[Emx93]

Would this be suitable?

 

[Emx93]

I would stick to pine, finding safe plywood is almost impossible, there is some out there but generally on sale anywhere you’re likely to find it.

I’ve made a few things with lolly sticks & I’m sure that could be fun with the kids.

If you gather wood from outside you would need to at least freeze it or bake it so maybe a better idea for a longer term thing as it takes a while to get ready for use.

Out of curiosity is there any natural branches that aren't safe after freezing/baking?

 

[elusive]

It should be, it looks like just plain pine as far as I can see.

Not sure if we have a list of safe woods off hand, but avoid soft woods, evergreens like pine & other simialr, most fruit wood like apple is good, bramble if you fancy removing the thorns! Birch or beech are safe.

 

[Maz]

Daisy is in the process of creating a list . Any plain untreated pine is fine . If you go to somewhere like B&Q they will usually cut it any size you want. Some places online will do that as well.

 

[elusive]

Other branches to avoid are stone fruit like peach or plum (I would guess sloe too) oak may be best avoided although not totally sure on that one, willow has a high medicinal content so probably best not to use too.
Chestnuts aren’t good but I’m not sure about the wood.

 

[Maz]

I find it difficult with gathering wood as sometimes you don’t know which tree it came from with branches and twigs lying around.

 

[Maz]

There are a lot of mountain ash (rowan) trees in berry this time of year so they are easy to recognise and ash wood is safe if you see twigs and branches fallen from them and it’s clear they are from that tree.

I’m not quite sure what you coukd make with twigs though, that wouldn’t be spiky! Also any wood from outside woukd need oven baking to kill any invisible critters.