how to oil a spoon, yep the same spoon

[Tye Possum]

Ok I know I pretty much asked this before but there are a few things I just thought of that I'm a little concerned about.
I bought some walnut oil and I plan to do the soaking method but I'm a little worried about leaving a container of oil sitting around. I didn't think about that until I noticed that it says to refrigerate after opening, so is it going to go bad sitting out? Second question, if it doesn't go bad, should it be in a container like a glass jar or something with a lid or just open in a bowl or something. I also read something about soaking the spoon and then leaving it to dry before the final sanding in a thread I found when I was looking for the answers to my questions (see, I do look). So I take it that means to soak in water, so how long should I leave it to soak, like an hour or something? (that's soaking in water remember not oil)
I promise, this is the last time I ask about oiling a spoon, though I might have to ask again if I ever make a kuksa.

 

[brancho]

Oil it if are not going to use it
Do not oil it if you are going to use it.

 

[John Fenna]

Once the carving of a spoon is finished I sand it, then soak it in water until the surface has obviously absorbed a bit of water, dry it, sand it, soak it, dry it, sand it until after drying the surface stays smooth.
If it is for display (ie a decorative lLove Spoon) I oil it with a mix of Danish, Teak and Boiled Linsead oils, if I intend eating with it - ie the majority of my spoons - I soak it in Flax seed oil, but not by imersion.
I Soak a bit of kitchen towel in the oil and rub it in, then wrap the spoon in the oily towel overnight, repeating this until the spoon does not seem to take up any more oil.
Wahing the spoon after use only removes the surface oil and a quick wipe down with an oily paper towel replaces this.
I keep the bottle of Flax seed oil in the fridge.
Some spoons I do not bother re-oiling on a regular basis but those with nice grain look better for the oiling....

 

[Schwert]

I always oil mine by immersion for 3 days in flaxseed oil.

I have walnut oil but have not used it yet....but I would follow this same process.


I made a long narrow bag out of heat-sealable (Food Saver) plastic. Long and narrow to fit my spoons.

I do the wet-dry-sand trick down to 400grit. Then:

Stick the spoon in the bag, add a few rubberbands or tie with twine to reduce the volume of the bag around the spoon then fill to above the spoon. Let soak 3 full days.

Take it out, drain the oil back into its bottle and store that oil in the refer until next time.

Wipe off the spoon, soak any rags/paper towels used for wiping sopping wet with water and discard (this prevents spontaneous combusion).

Oil sand the spoon with 600grit.

Let spoon cure.

You can use the spoon right away, but letting the flaxseed (or walnut) oil cure for a few months will set the spoon up for just about forever.

Easy as pie.

 

[SOAR]

I do the same as schwert really soaking for three days really brings out the grain. Not too sure if you need to soak the oily rags though, I think you only need to do this with boiled linseed oil as its parafin based, flaxseed oil is food safe, still better safe than sorry.

 

[Tye Possum]

Well thanks folks, I guess I'll do the bag thing, one question though, what do you mean by "Oil sand the spoon with 600grit"?

 

[Schwert]

I mean take a small piece of 600 grit wet/dry paper, dip in flaxseed oil and resand the whole spoon with it. Keep dipping it in oil and wiping it off. This is essentially sanding off that little bit of grain raised by oiling the wood and takes the spoon to it final state.

I almost always stop sanding at 400grit, then oil soak which will very slightly raise the grain (like water would in your earlier sanding steps). The final oil sanding really smooths it out.

I also like to gently heat treat my spoons by laying them beside my laptop air vent. This very gently warms the wood and drive excess oil out of any areas of end grain. Move the spoon about all day long and wipe any excess oil off. This gentle heat treatment seems to cure the flaxseed oil a bit faster (but that is more a gut feeling than confirmed).

Here is a website from a fellow over here (Frank Foltz at Spoons of Wood) about spoon finishing and care.

http://www.spoonsofwood.com/info.html

I essentially follow his advice.