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a restoration project
February 5, 2012
This little project has been on the “never gets started” list for a while, a bottle of mineral oil purchased for the purpose sitting on the kitchen chest of drawers for months, perhaps a year now. I finally got around to it today after attending a memorial service yesterday for an old SCA friend of ours (and one-time housemate of mine). Linda loved to collect and surround herself with natural materials like stone and wood, and she and I used to make garbage-picking rounds together (anyone else from London Ontario remember the glorious pickings of Spring and Fall Cleanup Week, back when there was still a designated time for throwing large items to the curb?) looking for old wooden boxes, bowls and crates. I came home thinking it was about time I cleaned up this bread tray she gave me 18 years or so ago, that we’ve all but destroyed by running it through the dishwasher. In summertime this tray sees a lot of use, as we tend to eat the lazy sorts of suppers that involve pita bread or a nice rye loaf and cold things (hummus platter, roasted red peppers, pickled eggplant) on the front porch.
The spoon butter recipe comes from the gorgeous Food In Jars weblog.
It’s super easy: just melt some beeswax in a jar, mix in the mineral oil, let it cool and rub it on your stuff. Then wait a bit and rub it off!
Linda’s tray and all of our wooden tools all oiled up. At least one of those spoons I’ve had for 20 years and never oiled, and after a sit overnight and a good buffing, it’s lovely and shiny again. The tray needed a bit more time to soak up the oil, but its glow is coming back as well. Don’t worry, we won’t put it in the dishwasher again.
Posted by jodi on February 5, 2012 at 8.08pm
Categories: mama's in the kitchen, the devil's playthings