All Natural Wood Polish
I was reading about “ugly grandpa furniture” over at Domestic Bliss Squared and how she fixed the scratches on her furniture with 2 things from her kitchen. Sweet, I like simple fixes. This all natural wood polish is made from vinegar and olive oil. Since I have both and a poor little wood cutting board that is neglected, I though I’d give this wood polish a try.
Step One: In a small bowl or cup pour equal parts olive oil and vinegar.
I used extra virgin olive oil; that’s what I had on hand because of my addiction to dipping bread in oil and balsamic vinegar. No shame.
Step Two: Swirl, mix, splash together the oil and vinegar so the cleaning cloth can try and pick up equal parts.
Or if you’re like me, do all three, realize they don’t want to mix together without a whisk and call it good.
Step Three: With a cloth, rub the mixture onto the wood following the grain. Allow the oil to soak into the wood then, if desired, use a different cloth to remove any excess oil.
I think that the wood cutting board looks better than when we first bought it. I’m amazed at how well the oil improves the richness of the wood. Now if you’re planning to use this polish on finished wood, I would be careful with using vinegar as it can strip some finishes off. Next concern, will the oil go rancid? Since I used this on a cutting board, I’m not worried about the oil going rancid because it’ll be washed periodically. For furniture, the vinegar has antibacterial properties and will help prevent the oil from going rancid. If you’re super concerned, you can buy mineral oil and use that for polishing wood as it does not go bad.
One more thing. When mixing up this natural wood polish only mix up as much as you are going to use. I mixed up a tablespoon of each because my cutting board is so small. I loved this simple solution to make my cutting board look new again.
Happy Cleaning!
Angela
What are some of your favorite simple solutions?
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Great idea I have a lot of dry wood around my house! Thanks! Bookmark!
Thanks! Let me know how it works for you.
Great tip! P.S. I love Kiwi Carpet Cleaners. I used you all the time when we lived in Atlanta! With 4 kids and a dog, I loved the insurance of coming back for touch ups!
Thank you! You are so sweet Rachel. I’m so glad you loved our company; that’s exactly why we created the warranty. I so appreciate you stopping by.
I have a cutting board that needs some love too! Thanks for sharing. I’m after you at the mad skills link party. Love for you to hop on over to visit me!
Gina
Wow! That looks amazing, what a great tip!
Thanks!
I read the post you’re talking about last week – and then I saw this one and had to read it too. 🙂 I can’t wait to try this the next time my husband makes something!
Visiting from The Winthrop Chronicles.
I’m glad you stopped by! Ps. Your homemade strawberry jam looks super delicious.
Thanks for the invite! I just linked up.
i have several pieces of cherry wood and mahogany furniture that got all dinged and scratched when i moved 3 yrs ago…nothing i tried helped….so, i read the article about using oil and white vinegar to cover scratches on lighter wood, but all i had was olive oil and balsamic vinegar…i couldn’t wait to go to the store, so i mixed some up and tried it…omg…my dark furniture looks brand new again!!!!!! i just love this site…..i am really addicted to it…i tried my first batch of home made laundry soap today and gave everything else to my neighbor…used white vinegar for softener…i will never go back to all those name brands again!
Thanks so much Penny, you’re so sweet! I bet that the darkness of the vinegar helped to get your furniture back to it’s original coloring; I’m so glad it worked out well for you.