Comment by dyauspitr

Kids toys, wooden kitchen utensils etc. are to be sanded and used coating free. If you really need to close off the pores, burnish the surface.

Burnishing for spatulas for example can be done on a drill press. Just use a smooth rounded end steel bar and a low speed on the drill. You’ll have the concave part done in minutes. For the handle and convex part it’s usually easiest to burnish with a smooth steel rod and move the piece along the side. I can get my hard maple spatula burnished in under 15 minutes.

If you really want to keep the fibers from rising a lot post burnishing- water pop the wood, sand with 220, slightly dampen the wood again and then burnish.

I haven’t tried this but apparently you can automate the burnishing by using antlers/smooth stones in a rock tumbler.