Beeswax Finish Recipes and Techniques

[Thomas McCurnin]

I have some cutting boards, a lot actually, that cover most of the tile. Sort of a wooden countertop, but removable for maintenance purposes, and I have in the past cooked up a mineral oil-beeswax finish. I forget the recipe I used, but I bet I used too much wax, because to reapply I really have to heat it up and it makes a complete mess. Time for Plan B

I was thinking a 4-1 by volume ratio of mineral oil to beeswax. Will that be diluted enough to make it easier to reapply?

Finally, I was thinking of taking a cue from candle makers and getting a dedicated wax melting pot which sits inside a stock pot filled with water, and the handle hooks nicely over the edge. No real need to clean it up super well, as it would be dedicated to making this brew, or perhaps I'll try a hand at candles. Also dedicated wooden spoons for stirring, and again, no need to clean them up.

Thoughts?

[Steve Eure]

As for the melting pot, I use a very small crock pot that came from Wallyworld. It cost a whole $10. Works very well and as you mentioned, doesn't have to be cleaned out afterwards. For the ratio, I've had to play with mine. I started with 4-1, but then had to reheat and add more mineral oil to soften it up a bit. Like you, I can't remember what I ended up with. Nice thing about the crock pot is you can reheat and keep playing with the ratio until you get what you want without any risk of burning it. Good luck.

[Phil Mueller]

I won’t get into the food safe debate, but if it were me, I’d use ArmRSeal wood bowl finish, or diluted ArmRSeal and be done with it. Still not permanent, but a good deal less maintenance than oil/wax. The down side, is you need about 4 weeks to full cure.

[David Bassett]

I bought some online made by a guy on KKF. He said he used a 1:7 ratio of beeswax to mineral oil because he liked it thinner and easier to spread. (Pretty sure he used weight to measure the ratio.) I really like it for maintenance. It goes on much easier than the Board Butter product I got from BoardSmith, maybe a decade ago, which I think is 1:4.

(If I were conditioning a newly made endgrain board, I'd probably follow the lead of MTM Wood (mtmwood.com) and soak the board in mineral oil, let it drain, and then friction polish it with a much harder beeswax mix for the initial conditioning.)

[Thomas McCurnin]

These boards get pretty beat up—severe cutting and chopping, grape juice and wine spills, coffee. You get the general idea. So the boards need to be sanded down every couple years, so a disposable finish to be applied frequently is necessary.

[Jim Becker]

Mineral oil or the mineral oil/bees' wax hot mixture is the only thing I'd use for this situation. Paraffin can be substituted for the bees' wax but the latter is "more workable". I use a cheap pan on a hot plate as a water bath to heat the mixture so it goes on hot and gets a little more into the wood surface than it would at colder temps. Scraping gets it smooth. Honestly, I just use mineral oil...the cheap stuff sold in the pharmacy.

[Ted Calver]

I use 5:1, but substitute Mahoney's Finishes Utility Finish (walnut oil) or Doctor's Woodshop Walnut Finishing Oil for the mineral oil. These two polymerized oils will eventually harden and won't leave the oil stain on surfaces that mineral oil sometimes does.