Wooden spoon oil is typically a blend of mineral oil and natural waxes, and is easy to purchase online or at local stores that sell wooden kitchen items or counter tops. Until now, I had never treated any of our wooden utensils, boards or bowls, because I don’t feel comfortable using mineral oil, particularly on surfaces I will eat off of, and I know that a lot of vegetable oils, such as olive oil, can go rancid.
Mineral oil is a petroleum by-product, and even though they tell you it is “safe,” and sell it over the counter in various forms, I disagree. Just read up on the symptoms associated with petrol in the materia medica. There are a lot of things regarded as safe, which are simply not.
I did a little research, and found that heat treated walnut oil is a suitable natural alternative. It does not go rancid like other vegetable oils and it is truly food-based / food safe.
This recent post at 3191, is what inspired me to make my own, and I followed the amounts Stephanie used. She has so many wonderful ideas for the home. I purchased a 16 ounce bottle of walnut oil and a one pound brick of beeswax from fairyfolk on etsy. With a hatchet I knocked about 1/4 of my brick off and then chopped it into chunks.
Put your beeswax chunks into a quart mason jar, bring a pot of water to boil, carefully immerse your jar into the water and the wax will slowly melt. Once it’s a liquid, remove it from the water.
Now pour your full 16oz bottle of walnut into another mason jar, and immerse the jar into the water to heat the oil (if it is cooler than the wax, it will cause the wax to coagulate unevenly when you blend the 2). Finally, pour your heated oil into the jar of wax, stir and let cool. I stirred it every so often as it cooled, to keep it well blended. It is amazing stuff! Smells delicately sweet, makes a wonderful hand and foot salve, and lip ointment too.
Rub the oil into the clean dry wood, let it set for a while (I left it for a day or so) and then rub off any excess with a cotton cloth. If things feel too oily before you are ready to use them, you can wash them with warm soapy water and then dry with a cloth.
This process of renewing my kitchen wood was very satisfying. I sanded quite a few items before oiling to remove inconsistencies, stains and rough spots, and the finished result is perhaps even better than I had expected.
If you decide to try this, have fun with it!
Valerie
what a wonderful interesting post Abby !
I have quite a few wooden kitchen tools and was wondering how to keep them clean/good-looking… I’m not into mineral oil either (except for my car !) or anything that contains petroleum — this including the silicon molds used to bake and that are so popular nowadays (we don’t use any)
Are you saying we can use any regular good walnut oil ? i may have troube finding beewax… in this case I’ll check online because I really want to try this after our vacations…
thank you !
steph
thanks for sharing this recipe for a safe alternative. It really makes your wooden ware shine! I’m going to pass along your post to my friends who make their own wooden utensils.
Julie Alvarez
I’d love to do this. As soon as I can find the ingredients.
Lovely tools you got there!
Valerie
thank you & for the link, too 🙂
Taryn Kae Wilson
Thanks for this tip! I told Jeff about it and he said that our friend (who is a woodworker) also told him about using Walnut Oil. I want to do this!
Julie Alvarez
I am happy to report that I found, five blocks away from my own house, a beekeeper who sells not only honey and polen and royal jelly, but who will sell beeswax to me after I requested him to do so!
I will make this.
The thing is, do you think that flax oil (aceite de lino) would be good instead of walnut oil? I was wondering what do you think…
Amy
May I ask if during your research you found any other suitable oils for those who might suffer with a nut allergy? 🙂
I must say that the wooden items aisle is always my favorite at the thrift shop.
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