Wooden furniture and tools are absolute treasures around the homestead. They’re often works of art in their own right, and with proper care, they can become heirlooms that last several lifetimes.
This includes conditioning it regularly so it doesn’t dry out and crack. In this article, we’ll teach you how to make wood butter and how to use it to keep your wooden items in top condition for generations to come.
What We’ll Go Over
What is Wood Butter?
Wood butter is to wooden furniture and tools what body butter is to our skin. It’s a nourishing, moisturizing conditioning treatment that keeps the wood in optimal condition.
When wood dries out, it can splinter, flake, or crack, which is less than ideal for everyday objects such as kitchen utensils and cutting boards or furniture like chairs and tables.
Think of wood butter as a step up from wood oil: although it does make your wooden items shine like they’re brand new, it nourishes them much more deeply than just surface level.
This moisturizing and replenishing treatment is wonderful for keeping your wooden items in excellent condition and can be used on any type of wood. I use it on my 400-year-old walnut side table to keep it from cracking, and it’s just as great on my vintage spinning wheel and teak salad and soup bowls.
What You’ll Need to Make Wood Butter
Wood butter is both cost-effective and incredibly easy to make. In fact, if you already make some of your own personal care products, such as hand cream or salve, then you may already have some of the ingredients at home.
You can whip up a batch of this in minutes using a few standard household tools.
Ingredients and tools:
- 4 oz beeswax pellets (you can also use carnauba wax if you prefer a vegan substitute)
- 16 oz food-grade mineral oil or olive oil: some people don’t like to use mineral oil because it’s a petroleum by-product, so oil is a great alternative
- Lemon essential oil (optional)
- Double-boiler (or one container set inside a pot of water to heat it)
- Whisk
- Clean, wide-mouth jars or containers
Instructions:
Heat the oil in your double boiler on medium-high heat, then add in the wax pellets. Using your whisk, stir gently and regularly until the pellets have dissolved completely.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. If you’d like your wood butter to smell lemony, add 30-40 drops of lemon essential oil and stir it in thoroughly.
Once this mixture cools enough to become cloudy, beat it with a whisk until it resembles whipped butter or cream cheese. You can also process this with a hand or stand blender.
Use a spatula to transfer this mixture into clean jars, and store at room temperature in a cupboard until you’re ready to use it.
How to Use Wood Butter
Prepare the wooden item you’ll be replenishing by wiping it thoroughly with a damp cloth. This will remove any dust or other detritus that’s clinging to its surface. Then let it dry for 15 to 20 minutes before applying the lovely conditioner you’ve made.
Use a spoon or spatula to apply a small amount of wood butter to a clean, dry cotton or linen cloth, and then spread this onto the wood surface. Work the butter into the wood in small, circular motions, massaging it both with the grain and against it.
Do this for several minutes, and then wipe away whatever hasn’t been absorbed with a cloth or paper towel.
You can use this excess to polish up other wooden items that may be around.
Repeat this process until the entire piece has been conditioned. You’ll undoubtedly notice that it has a glowing, lustrous surface afterward, and if you’ve used lemon essential oil in the wood butter, it’ll also smell divine.
How Often to Use Wood Butters
The frequency with which you should condition your wooden items with wood butter will depend both on your indoor home environment, and how often this item is used.
For example, cutting boards should be conditioned every month, whereas wooden tables, spinning wheels, looms, and chairs should be conditioned every six months or so. Hutches and other large wooden items can be replenished annually.
Mineral oil has a longer shelf life than olive oil, so be sure to check the butter regularly to ensure that it hasn’t gone rancid. It doesn’t take much time or effort to make a batch of this stuff, so it’s better to make smaller batches that you know you’ll use quickly rather than making a huge batch and losing half of it.
If you find that you’ve made too much wood butter to use effectively in your own home, feel free to share it with others! Tie a ribbon around the container and offer it as a housewarming or holiday gift, or trade it for some garden seeds, a jar of jam, etc.
Anyone who loves and cares for their wooden items will deeply appreciate the opportunity to keep their treasures in top condition.
