# Oil on wa handle?



## jbou2 (Aug 30, 2016)

Hello guys,
I just received my 240 Ashi ginga stainless. I wonder if I should oil the handle to prevent dirt or mark which could be caused by any food. 
Are wa handles inclined to mark or color?


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## Matus (Aug 30, 2016)

You can use either mineral oil, or mix of mineral oil and bee's wax (known as board butter). Keeping the handle oiled will indeed help to keep it clean - in particular if it is a Ho (magnolia) light-color wood. It will darken a little over time, but if regularly oiled, you should be able to avoid stains.


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## jbou2 (Aug 30, 2016)

Can I use tung oil solved in terebenthin. I used this mix my board.


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## Matus (Aug 30, 2016)

Tung oil is a 'hardening' polymerising oil that will give the handle a more protective coat, but will slightly alter the color tone. I have used it on the handles I have made and like the resutl. I am not sure how it will react with oils that are probably already inside the handle (if it was oiled with other oils before).

I would not use Tung oil (or Tru oil or similar) on a cutting board though. I think cutting board needs to 'breath' and this kind of finish could prevent that. On top of that I am not sure whether it is food safe.


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## zetieum (Aug 30, 2016)

Matus said:


> I would not use Tung oil (or Tru oil or similar) on a cutting board though. I think cutting board needs to 'breath' and this kind of finish could prevent that. On top of that I am not sure whether it is food safe.



I do not know for this oil, but terebenthin is definitively not food safe. Even worst, it is *toxic* . Still, there should be only trace of it, since it is very volatile. Anyway, I usually use it when I oil chairs and table, but not in the kitchen. for more information: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcsneng/neng1063.html


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## NO ChoP! (Aug 30, 2016)

I usually sand ho handles smooth. Treat with several coats of danish oil, and several coats of renaissance wax. It's a pretty resistant treatment and feels good in hand, too.


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## Marek07 (Aug 30, 2016)

Matus said:


> Tung oil is a 'hardening' polymerising oil that will give the handle a more protective coat, but will slightly alter the color tone. I have used it on the handles I have made and like the resutl. I am not sure how it will react with oils that are probably already inside the handle (if it was oiled with other oils before).
> 
> I would not use Tung oil (or Tru oil or similar) on a cutting board though. I think cutting board needs to 'breath' and this kind of finish could prevent that. On top of that I am not sure whether it is food safe.



Now I'm worried... Two years back I broke a large end grain chopping board - part of a butcher's block - when it fell to the floor. I researched how to fix it and once it was in one piece again, I went about "restoring" the board and the whole trolley as well. It had been with me for over 30 years so I sanded it down and sought out advice on how to finish it. My local hardware shop assured me that a commercial preparation containing tung oil was the go. The label said it was food safe after it's dry and they also recommended waxing after 7 days. I've since made some board butter and the board takes it very well. But as I said, I'm a little worried about food safety - apart from causing issues for those with bee or nut allergies.

BTW, I've used the board butter on two Ho handles and the results are pretty good - both visually and practically by resisting staining. 

@jbou2 - terebenthin translates as turpentine. I recall using it with waxes on wooden furniture when I was at school. Don't know about its food safety but the smell would keep it out of my kitchen.


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## zetieum (Aug 30, 2016)

Tung oil is a drying oil. It means that when left expose to air it polymerises into a a hard substance that is harder than wood. Thus it protects it. There are several drying oil, linseed is also widely used for wood work. That property comes from the high content in polyunsaturated fatty acids. These molecules are eatable, and are even needed, but they are very reactive and can thus become easily toxic when transformed. Usually these oils are stored under neutral gaz (pure nitrogen or argon) in order to keep them away from polymerising and changing. Once open, the bottle should be stored refrigerated and used quickly if it is to be eaten.

When used for wood working, it is used mixed to turpentine in order to speed up the process of polymerisation. If not the complete polymerisation takes weeks or it requires the oil to be heated to high temperatures (like when seasoning a carbon steel/cast iron pan). 

Now concerning board/knife: I would not use these oisl on a cutting board because it is makes a hard polymer that would be hard on the edges. It could be used on handles. However, I would never ever used it mixed with turpentine because turpentine is toxic (as I wrote above). It means that one would have to wait *a lot*.


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## jbou2 (Aug 30, 2016)

Tung oil is part of Danish oil, which appears to be used on many boars or in commercial mixes. Is there any feedback for edge retention issue due to polymer hardness?


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## bkdc (Aug 30, 2016)

I've tried mineral oil before, and I hated the sticky feel on magnolia/howood. I never oil magnolia wood handles. I think it's okay for hardwoods. The only substances I use on cutting boards are mineral oil and beeswax.


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## KeithA (Aug 30, 2016)

Coincidental thing is that I opened this thread just after using the mineral oil and beeswax on the handle of my new knife and its accompanying saya. Haven't tried any other applications and probably won't try. I enjoy working with the oil/wax mixture and like the results it yields.


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## Marek07 (Aug 30, 2016)

zetieum said:


> Tung oil is a drying oil. It means that when left expose to air it polymerises into a a hard substance that is harder than wood. Thus it protects it. There are several drying oil, linseed is also widely used for wood work. That property comes from the high content in polyunsaturated fatty acids. These molecules are eatable, and are even needed, but they are very reactive and can thus become easily toxic when transformed. Usually these oils are stored under neutral gaz (pure nitrogen or argon) in order to keep them away from polymerising and changing. Once open, the bottle should be stored refrigerated and used quickly if it is to be eaten.
> 
> When used for wood working, it is used mixed to turpentine in order to speed up the process of polymerisation. If not the complete polymerisation takes weeks or it requires the oil to be heated to high temperatures (like when seasoning a carbon steel/cast iron pan).
> 
> Now concerning board/knife: I would not use these oisl on a cutting board because it is makes a hard polymer that would be hard on the edges. It could be used on handles. However, I would never ever used it mixed with turpentine because turpentine is toxic (as I wrote above). It means that one would have to wait *a lot*.



Thanks for the inorganic chemistry lesson - seriously. Tung oil polymerising into something harder than wood is a bit of a worry. Hopefully, an end grain board will still allow a certain amount of give for knife edges. I haven't noticed the board being less forgiving since restoring with tung oil but would be interested to hear from others.

I'm very new to board butter having previously used plain vegetable oils, usually olive. I love how board butter works with all my boards, indeed all unvarnished wood in the kitchen. While I was looking at recipes for it, I saw some recommended vegetable oils in place of mineral oil - seen as a petrochemical invader. Other recipes warned that vegetable oils were a bad idea because they went rancid. Opinion was divided on flaxseed oil. Some said it went rancid other claimed it never did. I keep raw linseed oil in a dark bottle in the fridge as a supplement on my brekkie so it won't oxidise. Don't know if the board butter recipe uses raw or boiled flaxseed (aka linseed) but the one I consume is ~US$30/litre. Anyone tried making board butter with linseed? Results?


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## jbou2 (Aug 31, 2016)

I understand that tung oil polymerize, but what about polymer hardness ? I have not found yet in scientific bibliography hardness for the corrponding polymer, so it is hard to compare with wood. Does it really bring edge retention issues on a end grain board? I would be glad to have feedback or any scientific reference. Thanks!


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## zetieum (Aug 31, 2016)

Marek07 said:


> Thanks for the inorganic chemistry lesson - seriously. Tung oil polymerising into something harder than wood is a bit of a worry. Hopefully, an end grain board will still allow a certain amount of give for knife edges. I haven't noticed the board being less forgiving since restoring with tung oil but would be interested to hear from others.
> 
> I'm very new to board butter having previously used plain vegetable oils, usually olive. I love how board butter works with all my boards, indeed all unvarnished wood in the kitchen. While I was looking at recipes for it, I saw some recommended vegetable oils in place of mineral oil - seen as a petrochemical invader. Other recipes warned that vegetable oils were a bad idea because they went rancid. Opinion was divided on flaxseed oil. Some said it went rancid other claimed it never did. I keep raw linseed oil in a dark bottle in the fridge as a supplement on my brekkie so it won't oxidise. Don't know if the board butter recipe uses raw or boiled flaxseed (aka linseed) but the one I consume is ~US$30/litre. Anyone tried making board butter with linseed? Results?



few things here:
- I use a lot linseed oil at home for wood (desk, tables...). It is the most drying oil because of the linolenic acid, so it gets hard. very very hard. It really make a hard coating. Definitively a no go for a board.
- Vegetable gets rancid, indeed. Just try to leave a bit of olive oil on a plate for a couple of week and taste it afterwards... 
- my 0.02$: sand your board on 0.5 - 1 mm. once done, sand it again with salt. Since it shortly and dry it well. coat it with pure food grade mineral oil 2 times and then with a mix of mineral oil and bee wax. I use 95/5 or 90/10 as proportion: I like when it is still liquid.


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## Ydj32 (Aug 31, 2016)

Make sure the Wa handle hasn't already been treated already. A lot of them are, so it's unnecessary to oil them. If you need to, try Tung oil


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## Marek07 (Aug 31, 2016)

zetieum said:


> few things here:
> <snip>
> - my 0.02$: sand your board on 0.5 - 1 mm. once done, sand it again with salt. Since it shortly and dry it well. coat it with pure food grade mineral oil 2 times and then with a mix of mineral oil and bee wax. I use 95/5 or 90/10 as proportion: I like when it is still liquid.



Thanks for your :2cents: - worth a lot more to me! I was going to post in a new thread by @jbou2 (http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/28504-Tung-oil-oil-on-board-too-hard-for-edge/) but your response detoured me - despite being somewhat off topic.

I was going to ask if I can restore my board a 2nd time but you obviously think I can. Two questions: 
Why the "sand it again with salt"? I've never heard of this but happy to try if it's going to help.
My board butter is 4:1 mineral oil to beeswax. It works for me but you go much higher with oil. Is it an inherently better ratio or do you just prefer a liquid rather than a soft butter?

Thanks


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## zetieum (Sep 1, 2016)

Marek07 said:


> Why the "sand it again with salt"? I've never heard of this but happy to try if it's going to help.



Well, it is just to remove stains, it works well also scraping the salt with acid (like a lemon). If you see no stain once you sanded, you can ignore this step. I do that also on a yearly basis for maintenance (the salt plus lemon). 



Marek07 said:


> My board butter is 4:1 mineral oil to beeswax. It works for me but you go much higher with oil. Is it an inherently better ratio or do you just prefer a liquid rather than a soft butter?



I prefer when it penetrates a bit the board. so more liquid. Also, my board in oak which is quite dense, so it really helps penetration. I use it for regular maintenance. Once every month or so, I put a generous drop of it on the board and applying on the board and the side using a paper towel (when I am done with cooking on a evening -it takes 20s). The morning after, the board has drunk it all and I can use it immediately. I do also the backside every year with the spring cleanup. 

In your case for the first seasoning, it is very important is that you use a lot of pure mineral oil on it before applying the butter. I would go of a lot of rounds until the board is full of it. 
Another tip: since you are at it, I would recommend doing the sides and back side also. Altogether the process is very simple.

I have my board since 5 years, looks like new.


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## Marek07 (Sep 1, 2016)

@zetieum - thanks for all the info and tips. Will be putting it all into practice soon and I'll report back. In a wa handle forum?!?

BTW, my board is >35 years old and still going well (despite major surgery a coupe of years back) but it certainly doesn't look new any more. I also rotate the board regularly so there is no "backside".


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## jessf (Sep 1, 2016)

Pure tung oil is food safe. You need to read the packageing to be sure it's pure though. That having been said, I've used gallons of the stuff over the years, including refinishing a 100 year old pine floor and i can say that the palmerizing properties of the stuff is "meh" at best. It'll do fine on any handle that hasnt been sealed with wax. For best results you can cut the first coat with orange citrus to thin it out. This will help get the oil deep into the wood. Each coat after can have less citrus until you're applying 100% oil. After that, a quick rub down once a year is all you need.


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