Amateur Woodchuckery...

Ferrous Wheel

Ferrous Wheel

Joined
May 16, 2002
Messages
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I recently tore all of the carpet up from my front room and fouund that the original wood floor was in wonderful shape! I set about waxing the floor with multiple bottles of Johnson's One Step floor wax. Well, it worked wonders on that floor, so I turned the wax on some of my khuk handles. Works like a charm, much warmer and natural tone than you get with tru-oil. Smells a bit, but dries fast.

Tried it on a blade, and it left streaks, so I removed it from the blade. Did good on the wood, tho.

Keith
 
I use Tree Wax


Seriously, Clear Trewax Professional quality paste wax with imported Carnauba

slip resistant
heat and traffic resistant
beautifies and protects
resists mild acids and food stains

For Hardwood, Vinyl, Cork and Linoleum floors

other uses: cork, parquet floors, terrazzo, finsihed furniture, leather goods, wood panels and appliances

Special Instructions for MARBLE & FROM EXPERIENCE Khuk blades. Apply a thin coat with a soft cloth and polish immediately with dry soft cloth.

Found an old can of it in my garage and thought I would try it out. Works pretty good. :)
 
If you have a piece of wood you're really fond of and want to treat well, may I suggest walnut oil? I bought a small bottle of Nickerson's walnut oil about twenty years ago; it ran out earlier this year (a very little goes a very long way...) and just when I was wondering what to use instead, I found a supplier who stocks it. Absolutely the best oil finish you can get, IMHO.
 
Walnut oil: How's the finishing oil different from the walnut oil employed to make fancy, expensive salad dressings? That should be easy to find. For culinary purposes it's recommended to keep it refrigerated, as it can get slightly rancid or lose flavor. (I have heard of rubbing dinged furniature with a piece of walnut meat to conceal the damage to the finish)

I have a tin of Howard Citrus Shield which is marketed as a fine furniature wax. Seems to contain carnuba, probably a little beeswax, and orange oil. Works very well on khuk handles and prevents blade rusting. I can't quite get it to buff out to invisible on the blades by hand though. Don't know how it would work on floors, and it's a little pricey.

I have seen references to "Bowling Alley Wax". Whatever that is, sounds intrigueing for the floor.
 
Walnut oil is like peanut oil then, in that it can be used for cooking? Orange oil has petroleum distilutes in it, I'm pretty sure.


I don't know what you mean by can't buff the orange oil out.

munk
 
I've never seen references to the use of walnut oil for cooking as in frying, only as an ingredient for salad dressings, where the flavor is prized. Why not for cooking-- don't know if that is due to expense or a low smoking temperature. There's lots of "gourmet" oils, another one is avocado oil, which can be used to cook in, and is also prized for dressing salads. Also very spendy. These are like the super-premium extra-virgin olive oils, employed for their flavor. Both are very tasty, I occasionally score a partial bottle when some friends decide their 'fridge is too cluttered.
I can't justify the cost of purchase though, unless for a very special occasion. Rather buy good beer.

The varieties of orange oil I've seen all have some petroleum distillates in them, as far as I can tell.

I guess I'm wondering if walnut wood-finishing oil can be easily concocted from the culinary product.

On the buffing, what I meant is if I use the Howard product (a paste wax) to protect the blade, I can't buff it up so I doesn't look a little cloudy or streaky. I think that pure carnuba wax resembles a lump of parafin, so unless you want to load up a buffer wheel from a wax block, some type of meduim is needed to get a paste. For the Howard product that medium is orange oil, which makes it great for the wooden handles. Brings out a lot of depth to the grain. I've gotten slightly better results and penetration by cutting the product with a little orange oil and using it hot (totally melted), but it's probably not really worth the trouble. It does buff out very well on the wood. I use it as a final coat on handles that have received the Walosi treatment as well.
 
A couple of months ago I bought a pound of pure Carnauba and it came in the form of flakes. Kind of cream to yellow color. The flakes are hard but brittle. When melted and mixed with a little bit of beeswax will work very well on wood and metal. I don't know about buffing it by hand. When it cools it still gets pretty stiff.
My source for carnauba is closer to you than it is to me. It is a bit pricey too but to make the resin that I have I needed it. If you want to try some I'll dig out the URL for you.:) :)
 
Thanks, for the offer, but don't bother now. I've got enough odds and ends that I've not finished--don't need to start another distraction up.:)

I'm sure I saw somewhere in a Nordic knife site mention of finishing a handle which included loading a buffer wheel with Carnuba. Maybe it comes in both forms, or somebody sell blocks formulated with a little beeswax. Anyway sure explains why the Howard product looks like it does--not creamy, sort of layered in parts,looks more like very fine-grained sherbet.

When I've time to try and reinvent the wheel, I'm wondering whether carnuba, walnut oil and a touch of petroleum distilate would cook up to something good....BTW, oily stuff like waxes heats up well in a microwave, of but I wouldn't try if there seems to be lots of volatile stuff like petroleum didtillates. But it works great for small amounts.
 
Dean can give yo some information on heating wax and pitch with alcohol. He warned me away from gas ovens and burners. Electric burners are the only way to go with things subject to flash fires. I don't think I'd work my micro-wave to death heating too much wax at a time and, certainly not pitch.
 
Originally posted by Pappy ......heating wax and pitch with alcohol.
Click to expand...
I let the alcohol evaporate first. A --Warm-- electric oven can facilitate this. 150 degrees F. Or a sunny window.

I do NOT guarantee that any of this is SAFE. Just that it's what I have done. No fire or explosion yet.

I found that 91% isopropyl alch seems to work faster than denat. ethyl alcohol. Spirits of Turp. works very slowly in comparison, but is the same stuff that was taken out to make the pitch/rosin in the first place.

(wax, pine tar, pitch, gum-turpentine:not spirits of turp) I usually heat lower temp 150-225 F degrees over long period in oven. Easier to control. I'm using a lot of fruit cans that I bend over one edge to get a grip with pliers.

I have read that boiling pitch will make it harder and tougher. Has to do with long-chain polymerization.
Haven't tried it yet.
Remember that boiling pitch is on the verge of burning.

I'd hate to have boiling pitch suddenly explode, pop and spray in my face. Bad Stuff. Good way to lose a couple of eyes.
 
I don't know whether it's possible to turn the walnut oil you use in cooking into the stuff I use for woodwork. Maybe by boiling, as with ordinary linseed oil. But the Nickerson's stuff has some kind of quick-drying additive in it, and probably other things, such as grain filler, as well. It was originally sold for refinishing best-grade English shotgun stocks. Back in the good old days, it made the stock of my cheap Spanish side-by-side look like the proverbial million dollars.

For the lignum vitae handle I made for Brendan, I used ordinary French polish and boiled linseed. Brendan's a good guy, but that bottle of Nickerson's has got to last me a while...
 
Thanks Tom.

I also suspect the boiling is needed, like linseed oil. The fact that it smells and tastes so good tells me that some volatile stuff needs to leave before you've got something that will dry to a hard finish within any reasonable length of time. The best suggestion I've seen, recommended for linseed oil, is to obtain a POS crockpot from a garage sale, fill 'er up, and let it cook for 24 hours outside with a LONG extension cord. Yet another thing to put on the list when I get 'round to scrounging at garage sales, I guess.

And thanks Cinq.
That was it! Bookmarked now.
 
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