I was having my doubts about it. Pine would be best, so long as its plasticoted then its safe.
You should use dowel as the legs, just drill it in into the pine and plasticote it. That what I'm think of doing. The fiddlestic is a good idea, saves the job of making a ladder
And I'm not the one for creating ingenious ideas, or even practical ideas
Dunno what plastikote to use, are they all safe?