How to make a wooden spoon, the viking way

Step 8 Oil and wax

I use linseed oil. Put on a thick layer, let it sit for a few hours then remove the remaining with towel paper. Let it dry to the next day, and then you can ad wax. I only use wax when I'm making spoons for sale on vikings markets. The wax protects the spoon from dirty fingers but will be washed of when you wash it the first time.

Comments

[macgyverfan]

Those axes are beautiful.

[eulaliaaaa!]

There is a bee in the oil!

[rudolph]

Do you think linseed oil be suitable for a wooden (hickory) beverage-holding mug? Specifically, a mug that holds a certain room-temperature stout.

[kadris3]

I'd be most cautious. alcohol will dissolve  about anything, including wax and oil. we used bees wax with turpentine for gun stocks. the wood was never bothered by water. I might consider olive or mineral oil as  these have few adverse effects.  these have long been used for chopping blocks where food is prepared.

good luck with your project. post the finished product as people like to see success stories.

also be very careful with linseed oil. if used with a cotton cloth and later confined   it will spontaneously combust.

[Goedjn]

Boiled linseed oil is toxic. Raw linseed oil is usually call flax oil, and doesn't keep worth a damn. In neither case is it particularly useful as a food-safe finish, although people do use flax oil. I'd use tung oil, walnut oil, or beeswax, if you're sticking to cold beverages. --Goedjn

[kadris3]

i thought tung oil was toxic as well. mineral oil works well and it won't kill you. olive oil is also a far better alternative. warm beeswax mixed with mineral or olive oil works for spoons, bowls, chopping blocks, and even gun stocks. this was used in the good old days when fancy sealants weren't available or too expensive for the common people. it's nice to see a few people still doing skilled craftsmanship.

[Goedjn]

YOu don't have to guess.   You're sitting at a computer
with access to the biggest research tool ever created by humankind.

This is the MSDS for Tung oil:
http://www.talasonline.com/photos/msds/liberon/tungoil.pdf

PURE tung oil is food-safe.  Some products with tung oil in them
and intended for other purposes are sold with drying agents and/or other adulterants mixed in that are less benign, so you do have to read the
label.

[rick.leasure]

HaHa, Goedjn, how true! I tell my wife this all the time. The internet is my encyclopaedia! I swear, I could enjoy being a hermit if all I had was a computer and internet access!

[Austringer]

The Fine Woodworking people, among others, seem to believe that virtually every finish available in you local hardware store is non-toxic IF you let it cure sufficiently. Letting any solvents fully evaporate and/or letting the oil fully polymerize is the key.

[CapnChkn]

I actually don't know what you're talking about, I have kept a jar of "Flax Oil" which I got from a Health Food store on the bench next to the flutes, spoons, spatulas, and cutting boards I made for 6 months, and the oil is still good. Boiled or not, it works the same, but the stuff you get in the can from the hardware store and reads "Boiled Linseed Oil," is for painting walls, contains additives for "drying.".

[red-king]

 I've got lots of bee's wax... so i guess that's what i'll be using.