Cutlery lust

[nikki]

When I was in Japan in the Autumn I bought a wooden spoon (shown below, telescoping camping chopsticks for scale).



After a few washes whatever surface treatment was on it before has come off and it's done that thing that pebbles do when you get them home and they dry out and don't look half as good as when you picked them up off the beach.

I'd like to be able to use this to eat with and assume it needs sealing of some sort.

1) what would be the proper way of going about this?
2) what would be an acceptable alternative given I only need to to a teaspoon's worth^[1]?

I'm guessing linseed oil or something?



Also, the surface of the wood is now quite rough, do you think it would be worth having at it with some sandpaper, or is that going to just make it fuzzy and what I really want to do is find some sharps instead?


[1] Although I'm half anticipating the wooden parts of the chopsticks will need doing at some point too.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I reckon ordinary vegetable oil would be a good place to start. I also reckon you shouldn't do anything till you've got some answers from people who really know!

But... telescoping camping chopsticks! 

[rafletcher]

Hmm, to be honest I would say that the wood used for the spoon is not suitable for repeated use.  Any decent wooden spoon is made from a wood where the grain doesn’t lift like that. If however you want to carry on using it I’d sand it down smooth and use a food safe lacquer to seal it. Wash only in warm water.

[Goldcrank]

I would say that vegetable oil would be the way to go. And not to use soap when washing it but then I have knives with various wooden handles that get washed in the sink with a liberal squirt of Fairy and a bit of olive oil and they are as good as new. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=635bXVTVMKo

[nikki]

I'm a bit wary of vegetable oils as internet searches are coming up with warnings that they have a tendency to go rancid.

[Goldcrank]

As I say, I use olive oil but it regularly gets scrubbed (and dishwashered on occasion) off. 

[Efrogwr]

Linseed oil will oxidise and polymerise to form an impervious film. It is imperative to use only cold-pressed food grade oil, "extracted solely by mechanical means". Anything else is likely to have been heated, therefore setting off down the slippery slope to rancidity. Oils for wood treatment often contain heavy metal dryers which are very bad news.

Other "drying" oils include walnut oil and poppy oil.

[nikki]

It's been making me wonder what on earth it was sealed with before that it came off so easily.

Walnut oil currently looking like it might be the most readily available and rest-of-bottle-used-for-other-purposes-able.
Thanks all.

[Efrogwr]

It's been making me wonder what on earth it was sealed with before that it came off so easily.

Walnut oil currently looking like it might be the most readily available and rest-of-bottle-used-for-other-purposes-able.
Thanks all.

You won't go wrong with that. A lot of treen makers use it for finishing.

[Jakob W]

IKEA sell a food-safe mineral oil for the treatment of their chopping boards, countertops, etc.; at a couple of quid for half a litre it may be worth a punt?

[woollypigs]

Danish Oil is food safe

[Tim Hall]

There's a thread on Cyclechat at the moment where a spoon carving bod was giving away one of the many spoons he'd made. It was treated with flax oil, but where you get that I've no idea.

[fuaran]

Flaxseed / linseed oil is usually available at health food shops. Probably not cheap, but you shouldn't need much for a spoon, a small bottle would last a while.

[Aunt Maud]

Tim has it, flax seed oil is used to seal carved bowls and spoons.

David Fisher has a nice blog on bowl carving for those of that particular persuasion.

https://davidffisherblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/11/barns-spon/

Robin Wood and Peter Follansbee have some decent information too.

[nikki]

IKEA sell a food-safe mineral oil for the treatment of their chopping boards, countertops, etc.; at a couple of quid for half a litre it may be worth a punt?

Oh! I do need to go at some point to pick up a picture frame...

In the meantime, collating this information so you don't need to:

ليس هناك خطراً من الاشتعال الذاتي .يجب
Kendiliğinden yanma riski bulunmamaktadır
Ni nevarnosti samovžiga
Nema rizika od samopaljenja
Нет опасности самовозгорания материала
Δεν υπάρχει κίνδυνος αυτοανάφλεξης
Nema rizika od samozapaljenja
Няма риск от самозапалване
Nehrozí nebezpečenstvo samovznietenia
Nu există riscul de combustie
Não há risco de autocombustão
Nėra savaiminio užsidegimo pavojaus
Nepastāv pašaizdegšanās risks
Süttimisohtu pole
Nie ma ryzyka samozapłonu
Az öngyulladás kockázata kizárt
Non c’è rischio di autocombustione
No existe riesgo de autocombustión
Nehrozí riziko samovznícení
Det finns ingen risk för självantändning
Itsestään syttymisen vaaraa ei ole
Det er ikke fare for selvantenning
Ekki er hætta á sjálfíkveikju
Der er ingen risiko for selvantændelse
Er is geen risico voor zelfontbranding
Il n’y a pas de risque d’auto-combustion
Es besteht keine Gefahr der Selbstentzündung

Danish Oil is food safe

ooh! I think I might have some Danish oil - will have to dig it out and read the label!


Will have a mooch around those other things/links people have suggested too.

[fruitcake]

Nikki,

I  did some research into this before Christmas when I had a couple of hardwood cutting boaards to seal. I chose coconut oil after reading it doesn't moulder. I kind of like the idea that it's solid at room temperature, so behaves more like wax than liquid oil. Anyway, used it and am pleased with the results. I chop veg and bread on these boards every day and they are so easy to clean - stuff that would have stained a naked board just wipes off. Even better, it's inexpensive. 200g costs about a quid. I've used 50g.

[nikki]

I ended up buying some cold pressed flax seed oil from the local deli, learning it's the same stuff as linseed oil in the process.

Cost a bit more than the coconut oil, haven't got around to trying it yet...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Danish Oil is food safe

Do you get that by squeezing Danes?

[loadsabikes]

Have you not contacted the Queen of spoons of this parish?

[Aunt Maud]

I ended up buying some cold pressed flax seed oil from the local deli, learning it's the same stuff as linseed oil in the process.

Cost a bit more than the coconut oil, haven't got around to trying it yet...

Well there you go, I didn't know they were the same.

As an aside, I might get my spoon carving tools out as I cut a few tonnes of lime yesterday.

[fruitcake]

I have no idea what the Japanese carved spoon connoisseurs think of sanded spoons, but I think sanding would be a good way to smooth the surface. I'd start off gently with 250 grit wet and dry paper, then oil it. If it's still rough after that, you could try a finer sandpaper, maybe 320 grit.

The slight risk with linseed oil is it may go mouldy over time (e.g. if the spoon is left in a kitchen drawer). Not a problem if you'll use it every day though.

[Aunt Maud]

I'm wondering if the surface of the spoon has been harmed by an application of too much elbow grease whilst being washed up ?

[nikki]

Have you not contacted the Queen of spoons of this parish?

Heh! No - she doesn't seem to frequent this parish much any more. Figured everyone else could handle a questions about oil. Of course, if it turns out I need Specialist Sharps...

I have no idea what the Japanese carved spoon connoisseurs think of sanded spoons, but I think sanding would be a good way to smooth the surface. I'd start off gently with 250 grit wet and dry paper, then oil it. If it's still rough after that, you could try a finer sandpaper, maybe 320 grit.

I did a City & Guilds wood carving class once with a chap who often heads up cathedral restoration projects and the like. He always cautioned us against using sandpaper for reasons I can't quite remember the details of, encouraging us to get the final finish with the chisels instead. Thus I'm a bit reluctant to use sandpaper, but equally don't have a handy set of chisels to use instead! I'll have another critical look at it at some point. I do have some lino cutting tools, maybe a quick shave with one of those would work. It doesn't need to be perfect - it's just a teaspoon.

The slight risk with linseed oil is it may go mouldy over time (e.g. if the spoon is left in a kitchen drawer). Not a problem if you'll use it every day though.

Or if I don't have any kitchen drawers!

I'm wondering if the surface of the spoon has been harmed by an application of too much elbow grease whilst being washed up ?

Hah! No: would only have been used for yoghurt or hot chocolate a few times and wouldn't have required much in the way of scrubbing. (I also bought back some ceramics from my last couple of Japan trips and the wooden spoons get used with these in situations kept as non abrasive as possible. Naturally the two spoons I bought for about 35 pee each are going great guns!)

[mrcharly-YHT]

The guru for this is Robin Wood

He uses flax oil (aka linseed oil).

Sandpaper is frowned on because it raises grain - you would normally use a scraper to finish fine wood. Sandpaper can be used to smooth the surface but then you normally would use a scraper to get a truly smooth surface (or just leave it with the tooled surface).

Your spoon looks like water/detergent has removed the oils and raised the grain. I suggest using fine wet and dry paper, maybe 400grit to smooth it, then applying linseed oil. An alternative, if you aren't allergic, is walnut oil (Robin Wood used to use this). Both oils have a curing time of over a week, don't get water on the spoon before this. Apply the oil until the surface is oily damp but not wet (a wipe off with lint-free cloth to ensure no 'wet' spots can be a good idea). Leave to cure, then apply another coat.

[Aunt Maud]

Why don't you make one yourself, it's very easy, all you need is a yurt, a beard, a knife, a crook knife and some sandals.

Then you'll never have to worry about a bit of raised grain ever again.