How to make mold metal safe to play with without painting

[matt]

Hello. I have a large supply of mold metal being sent to me and plan to make chess boards for sale at our local trade fair. I think chess is coming back for the younger generation.

I was describing a process to a friend and finally looked at what mold metal is made up of and was surprised to see the site recommends not playing with them if they are not painted because of the lead I assume.

Is there a way to make them safe to play with without painting them. My thought was to spray them with clear polyurethane. Would that work?

[allan]

Hi again Matt, in reply to your question about coating your chess pieces, I paint most of my sets then I lacquer them with auto rattle cans lacquer Matt or gloss whatever suits you best , of course if you cast using pewter you won't have to lacquer them at all, Allan

[matt]

Thank you for the response. I am buying everything I use from Prince August so I will check into options.

I am going to make it very clear to people that the boards I am making are not for children.