Using Cooking oils on wood

[CraftyCarver]

Hiya,
First post so please be gentle Hopefully i have attached a photo of a carving i have just finished for my wifes christmas present. I was hoping for a little help and advice on the best way to finish it. i dont want it to have a glossy varnish and wanted to keep it natural looking.
i have heard you can use vegetable/sunflower oil to coat the wood in for a protective coating. is this true?
any help i can get will be gratefully recieved

Thanks
Paul

[riverwood-dan]

Crafty, I wouldn't advise any type of cooking oil to finish with, it will go rancid. If you want a satin finish maybe try pure tung oil. Easy to apply and it will give the desired outcome.

[Dicky]

Thats a nice piece. Mineral oil will also work and won't turn rancid.

[CraftyCarver]

Thanks for the advice. cooking oils DID sound a bit weird to me. i think someone was just winding up the newbie carver. Im still trying to find that left handed screwdriver they asked me for too

[Kadiddle]

How about boiled linseed oil. BLO has a soft look and feel when dry. Nice carving and welcome to the forum.
Carve On,
Kadiddle

[Claude]

BLO or Tung oil are often used for an oil finish to protect the wood, then followed up with some wax after the oils have "dried". BLO and Tung oil, also Danish Oil, contain chemicals to help the oils catalyze or dry quicker. Waxs can be as simple as using some floor wax you already own, to special purpose waxes. I've heard that a mix of beeswax and carnuba is good. You could even use some non-colored furniture polish such as the lemon oil one.

As to the food oils (vegetable, olive, walnut, safflower, etc.), I would not put these on a sculpture - as Dan says, they'll go rancid over time. Mineral oil won't go rancid, but it won't dry like BLO either. For cooking/eating spoons, food bowls, etc., that are used for food all the time, the food oils or mineral oil are fine. BTW, get the food-grade mineral oil from the pharmacy, not a DIY store. I use olive oil on my spoons and spatulas that I cook with because I use olive oil in my cooking.

Claude

[Robson Valley]

Crafty: First, that's a great carving with the sweeping curves. How tall is it?

May I put my biochemist's hat on for a moment? Follow Claude's advice and that of the other posters. Vegetable oils won't dry dry, they'll go dry-sticky and collect dust that you can't get off. Since your carving does not look to me like any kitchen appliance that I've ever seen, use some treatment really intended to seal and protect wood.

From time to time, I regret slopping olive oil all over several chopping boards that I use quite often. There's a grime that builds up, despite washing that I can only scrape off with a metal straight edge.

OK. Hat's off to you.

[chipmunk]

if i want to do a piece and dont want to change the color but want to add a finish or protection i use clear acrylic if u put 2-3 thin coats on it it will look like it has NO finish on it try it on scrap first of the same kind of wood to see if its the look u want its a lite finish so it can be dusted and help keep moisture out of it all other finish will change the color of the piece that i know of all the varnishs,oils even some waxs will

[Robson Valley]

Freshly split slabs of Western Red Cedar really are an amazing lipstick pink. Within 30 days, that changes to a drab yellow/brown which looks like Hello when finished with clear acrylic. Bug-wood pine has the characteristic blue-grey of the fungus that the beetles carry with them. Raw wood with bands of color look really attractive. I made a bunch of kitchen storage & shelving units with it. Finished with clear acrylic, the wood looks just plain finger-grime dirty.

Chipmunk's lesson = test a piece first.

[CraftyCarver]

Wow, i didnt realise i would get this many responses. Ive learnt so much with my first post already. Thanks so much for all your help.

For Robson Valley, thanks for the compliment, its around 7" or 8" high. It was a scrap of wood i found at work, no idea what sort it is.