We eat a lot of salads around here, like this delicious strawberry/almond/pea salad and this bean salad I have shared with you. Because of that, I like to buy salad utensils when we travel internationally. They are easily found in local markets, are useful, are lightweight for packing, and make thoughtful gifts.
They are often fairly rustic, but that adds to the beauty of them, I think. Unfortunately, some times they get tossed into the dishwasher by mistake, and this is a big faux pas for wood.
This is what one of our salad serving spoons looked like after just one trip through the dishwasher. Not good. However, I knew that it could be brought back to life with one simple and cheap product – mineral oil. Yes, it’s that simple, and it costs less than $2.00 for a bottle that will last a very looooong time.
First I hand-sanded away the old finish before applying the oil. This is what it looked like after just one coat of mineral oil rubbed on the right side. I let it settle in, rubbed it down, and applied two more thin coats. Then I let it just rest over night so the oil could do its job.
It looks a whole lot better, doesn’t it???
The next day, I was able to see how they would really look now. Granted, they aren’t the same shades of wood any more, but at least I know they don’t have any chemical finishes on them I don’t want near our food, and I know that they are as good as they are going to get. I used the same technique on my Ikea wooden cutting board, and it looks great, too.
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What a great idea! Last summer I put mine in the dishwasher too. I didn’t know I could fix them and threw them away. Next time I’ll know better!
Oh what a great post! This is so interesting and helpful. I have used wooden utensils for years and didn’t know how to bring them back to look like this.