Thread: Oil ur wood scales?

So I feel like I've heard some different things and want to get some feed back. When u have wood scales should you put oil on them. I have wood cutting boards and you have to oil them. I use the straight razor oil from SRD and not sure exactly sure what that is. But on his site he mentions not getting on the scales.

Should I get pu some regular mineral oil on them, leave alone, ok to use SRD's?

I put a layer of renwax on my wood scales, it work well for me!

I guess it would also depend on the wood finish. If the wood has been sealed with something other than oil then there is little point to using the oil. If the wood was left unsealed then mineral oil is a good option for regular maintenance. If you want to provide an additional layer of protection you can mix the oil with a little bit of beeswax to give a longer lasting protective finish. The oils from your hand will also go a long ways in protecting your wooden scales if the razor gets regular use.

I've done quite a few wood scales, if I'm not using a sealer, I use teak oil or Bee's wax and orange oil made by Howards

Most conditioners designed for wood should work. Mineral oil should work.

What you do not not want to use are unsaturated oils that can turn rancid. While the unsaturated oils are great for your diet, they are not great for your razors.

So true, nothing worse than a gummy, sticky, set of scales sucking up dust and other things. For porous woods I prefer the teak oil, its the WD-40 of penetrating oils for wood.
The last pic is of teak, preserved in teak oil. Very strong for its thickness, though it shows off its grain (very open )

Two of mine are ralf aust that are new, snakewood and olivewood, bought from srd not sure how to tell if they sealed. My esbjerg koraat says he uses carnauba wax.

The snake wood looks like it has a little gloss, not the olivewood though. I guess since the koraat uses caranauba wax maybe I should get that and apply to all?

How often do you all do it, once every 6 months?

Howards and Renwax are great! I've also been using Danish Oil lately, with a coat of Minwax over it.

I coat mine once a year if needed. My rotation if somewhat large, so they don't see a lot of use throughout the year.
The carnuba should be fine.
Some woods are dense enough to polish to a shine with a touch of wax.

A couple coats of "Danish Oil" did a lot to bring out the grain on these Hart maple scales.
Also gave them a nice, subtle semi-gloss finish