Waterlox – a long lasting tung oil finish
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19 November 2014 at 5:59 pm #121191
Hello everyone! I found a finish I wanted to share. I have been making spoons for Christmas gifts this year, and I wanted a food safe finish I could apply that would be long lasting. After researching and trying different Olive Oils, Vegetable oils and traditional Tunge oils, I found that you really need to reapply them every month or so. I didn’t want to have my recipients do that and after a lot of digging around I found Waterlox. It is sold as a finish for floors, butcher blocks, boats, etc… but if you apply is as directed it is food safe.
I found a person saying they have used it on spoons and that it has lasted for a year without needed additional applications. It sounded to good to be true, but I ordered a $5 sample to try it out.
Applying it was easy – it just brushed on. It is quite slow to dry. Proper application requires you have a warm (60*F) room and wait 24 hours in between coats. I did 5 coats with 0000 steel wool before the last one. You then have to wait 30-90 days for it to “cure” to be considered safe for food. If you were using it on a boat or floor you could skip this step, but I didn’t want any risks on these. I waited 60 days and called it good.
Anyway, I did this at the beginning of the year and gave one to my mom for her birthday 6 months ago. She says she has been using it everyday and only washing it by hand. I asked how it was holding up and she said it still looks brand new.
I’m kind of just rambling now, so I will end it by saying that since this is tung oil based so it does bring out the richness of the wood, but I wouldn’t say it alters color much. The attached picture is what it does to Maple and Cherry.
If you are looking for a food safe finish that lasts longer than a month or two to give this a try. Just make sure you follow the instructions for letting it dry.
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