I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 16:20:36 -0400, "ddinc" wrote:

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Probably nothing.

But fuller's earth can help absorb some (some cat litters - the grey
ones, and you need to powder it up yourself)

Some washing up detergents are helpful too. I use Ecover, which is
based on coconut oil.

--
Smert' spamionam

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 16:20:36 -0400, "ddinc" wrote:

I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?



Dunno 'bout salad bowls, but getting oil out of model airplane
structures is an ongoing chore for modelers who need to re-cover their
models. The oil comes from engine exhaust, and new covering will
_not_ bond unless the wood structure is oil free.

One solution is "K2R" spot-lifter, made by Spontex. I get it in the
household section at Kroger.

Spray the K2R on to get an even coating.

Let dry. And I mean _dry_. The coating will turn bone white when
dry. Brush the dried powder off.

Repeat until the oil is gone.

Works great on balsa, bass, and birch plywoods. Might be slower on
hard woods, though.

Note that K2R is not a food product, so you will definitely need to
clean all the powder off the salad bowl, preferably with denatured
alcohol, before refinishing.
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com

"ddinc" wrote in message
...
I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep
out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Burn it. The oil will come right out.

-Jack

This would be my suggestion also - using a propane torch and rag. The flame
will make the oil bubble up - then swipe with rag. Timing is everything so
be careful not to overdo the heat and damage the wood.


"JackD" wrote in message ...

"ddinc" wrote in message
...
I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled
with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep
out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Burn it. The oil will come right out.

-Jack

ddinc wrote:

I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Do what people who refinish old oily military rifles stock
do. Spray it with oven cleaner, let set for 10 minutes,
wash with hot water, and dry. You may need to repeat three
times. I've got old stocks don't show any oil surfacing
after several years that were once as oil soaked and dirt
filled as you could imagine.

In my experience, washing with soapy water, heating and
wiping, and covering in fullers earth or other oil absorbent
are either a pain in the butt or just don't work well. Good
luck.

Generally heat will help oil to leach out. I have used acetone and
just kept appl;ying it. Also soak it in Acetone and quickly put oil
dry on it to soak up oil.

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:14:04 GMT, "George E. Cawthon"
wrote:



ddinc wrote:

I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Do what people who refinish old oily military rifles stock
do. Spray it with oven cleaner, let set for 10 minutes,
wash with hot water, and dry. You may need to repeat three
times. I've got old stocks don't show any oil surfacing
after several years that were once as oil soaked and dirt
filled as you could imagine.

In my experience, washing with soapy water, heating and
wiping, and covering in fullers earth or other oil absorbent
are either a pain in the butt or just don't work well. Good
luck.

"George E. Cawthon" wrote:

ddinc wrote:

I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Do what people who refinish old oily military rifles stock
do. Spray it with oven cleaner, let set for 10 minutes,
wash with hot water, and dry. You may need to repeat three
times. I've got old stocks don't show any oil surfacing
after several years that were once as oil soaked and dirt
filled as you could imagine.

In my experience, washing with soapy water, heating and
wiping, and covering in fullers earth or other oil absorbent
are either a pain in the butt or just don't work well. Good
luck.

I can certainly see why that would work. The extremely caustic (basic/high pH)
chemicals in the oven cleaner will will turn any fat or oil into soap
thus making easy to remove.
ARM

Do what people who refinish old oily military rifles stock
do. Spray it with oven cleaner, let set for 10 minutes,
wash with hot water, and dry. You may need to repeat three
times. I've got old stocks don't show any oil surfacing
after several years that were once as oil soaked and dirt
filled as you could imagine.


Yep, I'm a big fan of the oven cleaner approach since it is fairly
fast and only takes two or three applications to work on an oil soaked
stock.

If you want to be a little less aggressive, for "finer" stocks I find
that
I can place the wood in a garbage bag full of dusted kitty litter and
then
place the whole thing on my dashboard for the summer. The heat forces
out the
oil and the litter soaks it up. Takes time but wont bleach out the wood
like
the easy off...

-Bruce


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Neither acetone nor denatured alcohol worked for me when
cleaning old stock that had been oil soaked for 20-80
years. But oven cleaner does!

"Lawrence A. Ramsey" wrote:

Generally heat will help oil to leach out. I have used acetone and
just kept appl;ying it. Also soak it in Acetone and quickly put oil
dry on it to soak up oil.

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:14:04 GMT, "George E. Cawthon"
wrote:



ddinc wrote:

I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Do what people who refinish old oily military rifles stock
do. Spray it with oven cleaner, let set for 10 minutes,
wash with hot water, and dry. You may need to repeat three
times. I've got old stocks don't show any oil surfacing
after several years that were once as oil soaked and dirt
filled as you could imagine.

In my experience, washing with soapy water, heating and
wiping, and covering in fullers earth or other oil absorbent
are either a pain in the butt or just don't work well. Good
luck.

I will try the oven cleaner. Thanks.

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...


ddinc wrote:

I am refinishing a 50 year old salad bowl. It is carved out of
a solid piece of wood. The end grain runs along the length of it.

Where the finish wore off in the end grain area, the grain is filled
with
olive oil. The salad bowl finish looks great, but will not dry over the
contaminated end grains.

I have soaked it in soapy water, and the oil comes off. I wait till it
drys(the water)
and it seems like it is ready to apply the finish, but the old oils seep
out
again.

What can I use to clean this well enough to allow the finish to dry?

Do what people who refinish old oily military rifles stock
do. Spray it with oven cleaner, let set for 10 minutes,
wash with hot water, and dry. You may need to repeat three
times. I've got old stocks don't show any oil surfacing
after several years that were once as oil soaked and dirt
filled as you could imagine.

In my experience, washing with soapy water, heating and
wiping, and covering in fullers earth or other oil absorbent
are either a pain in the butt or just don't work well. Good
luck.