oiling wood handles

Are your wooden handles Pale? Cracking? or just Dry? If so you need to oil your wood.  Wood normally has natural oils in it that fades with age and washing, replacing that oil helps keep the wood in good condition. This is a simple process that you can do at home with 4 easy steps.

1. Buy oil. This seems simple, but you have 3 basic options for oil.

I  like these oils for different uses. The mineral oil is food safe and easy to source. You can find it in the health department of the grocery store. Mineral oil doesn't last as long as the others, but you can use it on your cutting board and wood spoons. Mineral oil generally lasts around 6 months. Next is linseed oil. Linseed oil is not food safe, but dries nicely into wood with a small layer of shellac like coating. Once dry it is fine on your knife handle, but might not use on other wood kitchen items. The nice thing about linseed oil is that it can last for years on the wood. Tung oil is somewhere between the 2. You can get both linseed oil and tung oil at the hardware store, do take note that you want boiled linseed oil (the other dries sticky).  

2. Set your knives out on a rag. Squeeze a line onto the knife and rub the oil in. Make sure to cover the whole handle. If the oil soaks in right away....put more on.

3. Let it dry over night or until all the oil has soaked in to the wood. Generally this happens in 24 hours though I have seen it take a little longer.

4. Wash. The scrubby side of your sponge should take off any residue left on the wood and any that might have gotten onto the metal. Dry and your good.