Will formaldehyde from a drum seat hurt Kirby?

happycat

New member
Mar 9, 2012
488
1
Virginia, U.S.
Parrots
Kakariki (Kirby) Cockatiel (Shiro) Jenday Conure (Jojo)
I just got a drum set for my birthday, and got a drum throne/seat with it. I found something on the internet that says drum seats have formaldehyde in them, which is something in teflon that kills birds. I opened it up for a while and when I read that I closed it up and put it outside.

Will the formaldehyde in it hurt Kirby, or is it just something that kills them when heated? The bottom says it is "compliant" which means it meets California regulations but still has it. Should I be worried?
 

weco

New member
Nov 24, 2010
3,342
12
USA
Parrots
Nanday, suns, parrotlet, Patagonian
Look under the bottom of the stool & see if there is OSB on the bottom of the seat...OSB is a kind of particle board that may have been used as the base under the stool padding.....if you have a garage, you might leave the stool in there for a week or so, but I would think that the size of the piece of OSB used would not be very dangerous.....the problem is with the formaldehyde offgassing, but the amount that might be found in your stool base will probably be almost unnoticeable, plus you have a whole house full of air to neutralize the little bit of formaldehyde might offgass.....
 

weco

New member
Nov 24, 2010
3,342
12
USA
Parrots
Nanday, suns, parrotlet, Patagonian
After thinking more about your seat, I was trying to think what I could compare the amount of C, that might be in the piece of OSB in your seat, to & the only thing I could think of was the worst smelling hair spray you've ever used.....think about taking that can of hairspray and figure you have a curl end that needs just a touch of spray...you're in the school gymnasium, you spray a little bit on the curl end, walk to the other end of the gym, then walk back to where you sprayed the curl.....the smell would be gone or almost gone because of the transference/exchange of air in the gym.....OK, let's consider your stool seat...it's what, maybe 10" in diameter, figuring the padding & cover, that would make the piece of OSB in it about 8-9 inches in diameter and maybe 3/4" thick.....figuring all of this together, a best guess estimate would put the danger from the formaldehyde at about a 1 in a 1-100 equation, or not very dangerous at all.....is your bedroom big enough for all your stuff, bed, furniture, Kirby's cage...and...a drum set ? ? ?

Something else I just thought of, while writing this post, is if you have any furniture in the house that was put together with twist-lock screws, desk, bookcases or similar, they are probably made of OSB or pressed-wood & was made with an amount of formaldehyde also.....I guess what I'm trying to say is that while the formaldehyde might be detectable in a laboratory, I really don't think what was used to make part of your stool could easily be detected in your room or wherever your drum set is set up.....
 

weco

New member
Nov 24, 2010
3,342
12
USA
Parrots
Nanday, suns, parrotlet, Patagonian
Happycat, what did you end up doing about your drum stool?

Just wondering, in case you figured something out that might be advice for someone else.....
 

Most Reactions

Top