Rust, Patina & Knife Care

0:00What actually makes board wax pasty?

The short answer is beeswax, a lump of solid wax that needs oil to loosen it into a paste. The mineral (paraffin) oil is the liquid part, it soaks right down into the timber, and the beeswax is what stays on the surface to protect it from daily use and give it that shine. I add a bit of coconut oil to the mix as well, for the warmth and the creamy feel — the classic combination the French polishing guys use. Stick with 100% natural beeswax though, because as far as I know the cheap candle wax is good for burning, yes, but we don't know what's actually in it.

4:21Melting it on the cooktop

Equal thirds — one part mineral oil, one part beeswax, one part coconut oil — melted together in an old pan on a portable induction cooktop. Don't put it on full power, that's how the whole thing boils away before you know it; and cut the beeswax into smaller pieces first, which I forgot to do, so I ended up stirring around one stubborn chunk while everything else melted. If you don't want the stovetop setup at all, I reckon you can just throw everything in the oven.

6:04The secret ingredient

Once the mix is off the heat and has settled, a few drops of vitamin E oil goes in and it all gets stirred through. I call it basically a cosmetic cream, and sure enough the instructions that follow are: do not give it to your wife. Give it to your mother-in-law, tell her it's some fancy organic thing from a trusty source, and she will love you. Don't ask how I know that. I've done it.

essentially all we need to do is put a bit more. A few drops of this vitamin E oil, and that is basically a cosmetic cream

7:58Does the DIY version actually work?

Give it a couple of hours and the oily mix sets into a solid, buttery paste. I wipe a thin layer onto an untreated saya and hold it next to a plain one, and the difference is plain to see, or more honestly, to feel — more figure, more colour, more warmth, which is very hard to show on camera. A single batch works out to about one and a half litres of this board butter. That's saya and cutting boards covered for a long while, and because you made it yourself you know it's the top ingredients going into it.

you can see it has a lot more visible figure now