Cheap wooden beads???

I have seen some posts on here regarding cheap beads. Is it possible that these beads have been treated with chemicals, who knows what? That could leach out on to the skin, especially when wet. I think that is the point,who knows what they have been treated with, unless it is raw wood, I couldn't recommend it.

This was posted as a question, more or less. Does anyone actually know what these type of beads might be treated with?

peace

updated by @tim5: 01/13/15 09:54:44PM

Never thought of that Tim. What about if they get soaked over night first to leach out, would that help?

I don't know what the treatment might be. I'll see if I can find some common treatments. I just don't know, its only just occurred to me.

Peace

the Barrellady said:

Never thought of that Tim. What about if they get soaked over night first to leach out, would that help?

I would think because they are cheap....they are coated in a cheap lacquer..probably acrylic because of the fast dry time. I seriously doubt that arsenic or anything like that is used....it would add to the cost for one thing.

the cheapest beads are a stick you found and whittled into a bead

so they maybe treated with dirt

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_preservation#Hazards

This is Wiki's article on wood treatments. But it's all about lumber. I don't think any of it actually applies to art grade beads. Like Taye said, if they actually treated art beads with the chemicals used in the lumber industry, those beads would be much more expensive.

Hey Tim, did you ever do the sandalwood beads? I still want one! Shoot me an email if you can: keswagner@gmail.com

Probably cheap lacquer. Although untreated wood also has the potential of molding and rotting. Natural sealed wood is usually sealed with beeswax... So it's hard to say what's the best choice really. I'd look for wood beads and just look closely on the package to see if they say non-toxic. Wood beads made for children's toys would be the best choice though.