Natural wood work surfaces protection

FrugalJo

We inherited a HM kitchen when we moved in to this house from the talented carpenter who previously lived here, distressed wooden cupboards and what not, all very nice but the work tops are plain wood and I have no idea which wood either
My concern is how to protect them, I read something about oiling them somewhere on the web, but can I find it now ? Also with the health issues re wooden chopping boards I'm quite religous about cleaning them because obviously wood is very porous.
Any hints or tips welcomed

beckyw_2

I used to buy special stuff to oil my worksurfaces but found that it smelt awful so I used to put off doing it.

I now use olive oil (from Lidl) and just rub it all over the work surface before I go to bed. By morning it has soaked in and there are no nasty chemicals to worry about!

becky

susank

Walnut oil is nice too and smells wonderful rubbed into wood.

mikeywills

You can buy a product called danish oil, which is specially manufactured to protect wooden tops, and wood in general. This is available from most hardwear stores. However it is not necessary as any vegetable oil is perfect for the job, the best being linseed.
This is a quote from Spekva(a high end manufacturer of wooden worktops of all genus) about hygiene. 'As opposed to artificial "dead" materials, where bacteria are free to reproduce, solid wood contains enzymes that decompose and fight the unwanted bacteria.'
How cool is that......its got its own microban agents built in.

It is recommended to oil wooden tops about once a quarter, to keep the woods natural lustre, and best to do it at the end of the day as beckyw says above, as the wood takes about 12 hours to thoroughly dry out from the oiling.
Try not too use much detergent as this dries out the wood and causes you to oil them more often. There is also no need to clean to vigourously just wipe away deposits as quickly as possible, and the tops will stay looking great for years.

Below is a Guide to woods most used for kitchens and their appearance.

Beech - mid to light brown with pinky undetone, that has a reasonably tight curvy grain but in general dents easily.
Maple - a blonde wood with rich yellow colouring as it ages, very hard wearing and tight grain, almost polished look about it.
Iroko - Dark brown with some yellow banding, has a mid grain similar to oak but used a lot for kitchen tops, as it is highly resistant to water. This is a protected species now though due to heavy farming, over the last 10 years in areas such as the amazon.
Cherry - Rich dark pink and red grain with a curvy pattern similar to beech, good wearing timber but the grain does not take dents well, tends to polish up a lot like maple.
Oak - light mid or dark brown with open grain texture not used much for wooden tops because of its open grain. There are three distinct types, UK - very knotty, European - quite yellow in colour, and American quite pink and very mono coloured with little or no knotting.
Walnut - Really dark wood looks a lot like iroko except for a greater percentage of ebony tones, excellent hard wearing properties, and a good tight grain, very expensive due to its slow growing tendancies.

Good luck identifying yours.

FrugalJo

Brilliant !
Thanks all of you ! So my inkling re oil was right
The natural microban thing is interesting.
I'm thinking it's beech, tiny grain though. I had noticed it's a little worse for wear in heavy usage areas and thinking the detergents are to blame.
*Struts off to find range of oils at the back of the cupboard*

gravitytolls

Dansih oil is recommended by carpenters. We have wooden floors throughout downstairs, and have stained and varnished. It simply doesn't last. Though we insist on shoe removal, our feet, toys, animals and general traffic wear it very quickle, and the beautiful shiny floor is gone.. I'm pretty sure even the mop affects it.

Anyhoo, we oiled, adn I can't tell you how pleased I am. It's super natural looking, really retains it's wood character, and it cleans nicely too. It soaks deep into the wood to protect it, and takes all our traffic.

dormy

I've just had a new solid wood worksurface. Does anyone know what I should treat it with before use - I don't like the idea of smelly teak oil that I use on the furniture outside!

Norma_Desmond

I'm just about to treat my new solid walnut tops too with Liberon Finishing Oil; I think there are a few brands available ie 'rustic' and 'Danish' oil - I don't imagine any of them smell too sweet tho'

dormy

Can you buy 'proper' wax for it I wonder?

Norma_Desmond

Don't know
Everything I've read just mentions the oil treatment.

Justie

there are numerous oils out there and some will smell worse than others, have a look in the local DIY shed - it's REALLY important though to oil regularly and to do it enough coats etc http://www.hardwoodfloorstore.co.uk/worktops/worktop_care.htm has good instructions (make sure you do the underside that sticks out over the units). http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/treatwtops.htm also has details of the different oils - Danish (a mix of oils) seems the easiest. You need to oil so that any water or liquid spilt to form a droplet on the top so you can just wipe it off if you let water sit on the surface and it soaks in you'll get horrid marks and can damage the worktop (especially if it's not solid wood but at least yours is) . It requires a bit of elbow grease but it should keep your lovely new worktop looking great! :cool: