DIY Food Safe Wood Finish and Conditioner for Your Cutting Boards

You need this DIY food safe wood finish and wood conditioner for your wooden kitchen tools to keep them smooth, supple, and long lasting.

Dry indoor air can create problems with wooden kitchen tools like kraut pounders, wooden spoons, cutting boards, spurtles, and other wooden tools.  Those that get heavy use go from the sink to the cupboard several times in a month.  The rapid change in humidity can dry out wood, weakening wood tissues and causing cracking and checking.  This wood conditioner, made with ingredients you can find at the grocery store, is an easy to apply remedy that will clean your tools, while it preserves them and helps them stay beautiful and strong.

Food safe wood finish

This food safe wood finish will keep your wooden tools and cutting boards in top condition to help them last many years.

In less than 20 minutes it will be ready to use. I use this food safe wood finish to condition wooden spoons, wooden cutting boards, kraut pounders, spurtles, and even my granddaughters’ captive ring baby rattles. It’s nontoxic and real-food based rather than petroleum based like mineral oil.

Apply the finish to your kraut pounder each time you wash it in soapy water, at first. After a few applications the wood won’t require it as often. It will reach saturation. You’ll notice when you reach this point because the wooden tool feels smooth rather than dry and coarse grained. It darkens the wood, bringing out the wood grain pattern, too. With its refreshing orange fragrance, it cleans as well as conditions.

This food safe wood finish makes a nice gift for the woodturner in your life, too. A little dab goes a long way. So follow this recipe and make three 2 oz. jars – one for you and two for gifts.

Note: If you or your friend are allergic to nuts –sesame oil can be substituted in equal portions for the walnut oil. Sesame oil doesn’t go rancid at room temperature. Get the untoasted kind. The toasted sesame oil has a strong characteristic scent. The untoasted has little scent.

DIY food safe wood finish and conditioner

Yield: 3 x 2 ounce jars

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons beeswax melted
• 2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
• 6 tablespoons walnut oil
• 3 capsules of vitamin E, natural source, contents only
• ½ teaspoon orange essential oil

Directions:

• Make a double boiler using a glass measuring cup and a sauce pan.
• Add the beeswax, coconut oil, and walnut oil to the glass measuring cup.  Simmer the water in the saucepan over medium heat until the beeswax melts completely.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and glass measuring cup from the saucepan.
• Add the contents of the vitamin E capsules to the mixture in the measuring cup.  Stir to combine.
• Add the orange essential oil. And stir well to combine.
• Orange essential oil is antibacterial and very good for wood finishes. You can substitute lemon or grapefruit essential oil, if you like. Citrus oils go well with wood and deeply cleanse the wood, removing surface stains, and grime.
• Pour the contents into 3 2oz. glass jars. Cap tightly and label.

Makes 3 — 2 oz. jars – one to keep and two to give as gifts.

How to use it:

To use this food safe wood finish, apply it with a cotton rag. I used a piece of cloth from a thread bare flannel night gown.  The rag will become saturated with the polish, but that’s ok. Save it with the furniture polish to reuse again and again.  (As a bonus, a rag saturated in this polish has no petroleum distillates and is NOT a hazard for spontaneous combustion!)

Dip the rag in the jar of polish and wipe the polish on the surface of the wooden tool or cutting board. Completely cover all surfaces, even the underside. Allow it to sit on the wooden surface for at least 15 minutes. Get a fresh cloth and wipe off any excess paste. Buff until it glows.

The orange oil in this wood finish cleans as well as conditions. It is antibacterial. The walnut oil penetrates deeply into the wood grain, preventing the wood from drying out and warping or cracking. The coconut oil and the wax make the finish harder and protect the wood from damage.

Use this food safe wood polish at least twice a year in spring and fall cleaning or once a month on brand new tools that are becoming acclimatized to your local environment.

Gift it:

Consider including a jar of this food safe wood finish in a gift of wooden spoons or other wooden kitchen tools, wrap it all up in a kitchen towel Furoshiki style.  Consider this for a bridal shower, a hostess gift, or a gift for your MIL. With its fresh orange scent, it’s sure to be appreciated.

Get the Beeswax Workshop

For more DIY recipes like this one check out my book, The Beeswax Workshop.  The Beeswax Workshop contains over 100 easy to follow recipe for DIY products, household cleaners, garden, and personal care products that will help you get the toxins out of your home, save money, and enjoy the experience of DIY self sufficiency and simplicity.

Grab your copy here.

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