Beeswax Wood Conditioner

Description

All natural and completely food safe, Beeswax Wood Conditioner by Exploration Honey can be used on everything from wooden kitchen utensils to wood and leather furniture.

Here at Exploration Honey, we use a tremendous amount of our own beeswax wood conditioner for all the natural Australian timber kitchenware we produce.

Hint: you can scroll straight down to the instructions on how to apply the beeswax wood conditioner below.

Benefits of using wood cured in beeswax

Independent university studies have found that wood surfaces offer a safer food preparation surface than used and heavily scarred plastics. Wood has a natural anti-microbial active compound that helps the living tree fight off infection. This remains in the wood after harvest and milling.

Likewise, beeswax is an integral component of the immune system of a bee colony. Our beeswax wood conditioner is a mix of beeswax, natural plant-based oils, and a thinner made from gum trees that allows the beeswax to soak into the grains fo the wood. Once the thinner has evaporated, the beeswax deposits fill up all of the remaining space in the wood fibres. The surface of the wood becomes hydrophobic, meaning the water will bead up and roll off. A hydrophobic surface is an important part of ensuring that runoff from meats does not contaminate the material.

Applying Beeswax Wood Conditioner to a new wood surface.

1. Ensure the surface is flat and clean from any contamination such as food or wood dust.
2. Apply a small amount of beeswax wood conditioner to the surface and start massaging it in with your fingertips. Apply more as needed to complete the whole surface.
3. Once all the surface is covered in beeswax wood conditioner, leave to rest for about 10 minutes.
4. Take a dry cloth and start rubbing the surface to remove the excess beeswax wood conditioner.
5. Leave it to dry overnight.

Refreshing an old used wood surface.

When it comes time to refresh the surface of your wood kitchenware, you’ll first have to decide whether the surface needs to be sanded back first.

Deep cuts into the surface of a wood board do not represent significant safety concerns, however, it does make it more challenging to clean, and certainly, the beauty of the wood starts to be degraded.

Here you can see what our beeswax conditioner does to a heavily used, and heavily knife-scarred surface. This piece of wood is Western Australian Jarrah. Dark wood varieties always seem to show up the wear much earlier.

The deep knife-scaring is still visible in the reconditioned wood on the right. The wood is immediately darkened and the colours and texture jump right out of the wood.

Do note that unlike plastic cutting boards, it is perfectly safe to use this wooden cutting board in this condition. So if this look suits your style then, by all means, go ahead and continue enjoying it.

The good news is that sanding down the board is surprisingly easy. Head to your local hardware store and pick up a couple of sheets of sandpaper of varying degrees of grit intensity. Start with a low number, such as p80, which is very coarse and will quickly remove the top layer of wood. Then move onto a finer grit, something in the order of p120. By this point, the surface should look smooth. If you want to get a much nicer finish, continue up through grit p400 and p1200.