Hey woodies,
I’m not a woodworker by any means, but figured it could be here to ask about my question. I love and own some wooden kitchen utensils and cutlery, but want to it to last as long as possible. I never put it in the dishwasher, always wash by hand. However I have heard its possible to oil wooden utensils and such to make it last longer, I assume it prevents the water from deteriorating the wood(?)
So my questions are:
- What oil should I use?
- Do I use cheap oil?
- How do I oil them? Apply with paper, or let them sit in oil over time?
Appreciate any tips or tricks to this!
Have a wonderful day 🌻
Edit, thanks for all the answers and advice, I’ll research properly before buying either type of oil.
I’d suggest cutting the tung oil with orange oil. It helps penetrate the wood better.
I would recommend tung oil only for utensils. I don’t recommend tung oil for cutting boards because the additional wear of the surface goes through the coating too easily and after that its a lot of time to restore the finish (tung oil requires a full month to cure after the last coat). Mineral oil and beeswax doesn’t need to cure and can be refinished in about 10 minutes.
From my personal experience on adding pure tung oil to cutting boards after about 15+ coats over a few years(I know that’s a lot of coats over a long period of time) there is now a thin solid surface on the wood. It honestly looks like a thin film finish but it’s all natural.
It is also water repellent to an extent. I think of it as a natural wood stabilizer. The oil penetrates and fills the wood pores then hardens. This prevents moisture from penetrating easily. Now I only apply tung oil once a year to my cutting boards and twice to my spatulas and wood handle knives.
The mineral oil beeswax method is the convenient way of doing it, if anyone wants to use this method I don’t blame them, but it’s my opinion that adding layers of a tung oil over a longer period of time is the proper way of doing it.
When you use mineral oil and beeswax you will remove the top layer after a few washes. Some of the mineral oil will seep further into the wood but will not protect the exterior(the cutting surface). When I used only mineral oil and beeswax I would have to reapply that finish monthly as the wood would visibly dry out.
I’ll leave it to OP which method they choose to use. One is more convenient in the beginning and one is more durable over time.