Does anyone have any suggestions for getting one of these ready to use
in the kitchen? Sterilizing jars is one thing, but cleaning a 50 year
old wooden engineering mallet heavily varnished with some kind of
industrial linseed oil is another. Its a good big heavy one, if I can
tidy it up and make it safe for food uses.
I may have to wash out all the old oils from the wood, or even
perhaps sand it down, and recoat it with a food-safe oil or liquid, not
sure at all about this....

Rhys O'Brien

wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anyone have any suggestions for getting one of these ready to use
in the kitchen? Sterilizing jars is one thing, but cleaning a 50 year
old wooden engineering mallet heavily varnished with some kind of
industrial linseed oil is another. Its a good big heavy one, if I can
tidy it up and make it safe for food uses.
I may have to wash out all the old oils from the wood, or even
perhaps sand it down, and recoat it with a food-safe oil or liquid, not
sure at all about this....

Rhys O'Brien

Myself, I would leave it in the shop and find a reasonably priced new one,
that one sounds like it has a different job.

wrote:
Does anyone have any suggestions for getting one of these ready to use
in the kitchen? Sterilizing jars is one thing, but cleaning a 50 year
old wooden engineering mallet heavily varnished with some kind of
industrial linseed oil is another. Its a good big heavy one, if I can
tidy it up and make it safe for food uses.
I may have to wash out all the old oils from the wood, or even
perhaps sand it down, and recoat it with a food-safe oil or liquid, not
sure at all about this....

Rhys O'Brien


Some people strip old military gun stocks in that same condition by
running them through the dishwasher, including (I think) the drying cycle.

Why not leave the old varnish in place and just wash it with some soap
and water?

Bob

thanks for this Bob, I'll give the dishwasher a try. Just worried about
the acids in the cabbage, and what impurities they will draw out of the
mallet & into the pickle-to-be as I pound it (possibly as retaliation
for what i'm doing to it!)


zxcvbob wrote:

wrote:
Does anyone have any suggestions for getting one of these ready to use
in the kitchen? Sterilizing jars is one thing, but cleaning a 50 year
old wooden engineering mallet heavily varnished with some kind of
industrial linseed oil is another. Its a good big heavy one, if I can
tidy it up and make it safe for food uses.
I may have to wash out all the old oils from the wood, or even
perhaps sand it down, and recoat it with a food-safe oil or liquid, not
sure at all about this....

Rhys O'Brien


Some people strip old military gun stocks in that same condition by
running them through the dishwasher, including (I think) the drying cycle.

Why not leave the old varnish in place and just wash it with some soap
and water?

Bob

wrote:
thanks for this Bob, I'll give the dishwasher a try. Just worried
about the acids in the cabbage, and what impurities they will draw
out of the mallet & into the pickle-to-be as I pound it (possibly as
retaliation for what i'm doing to it!)

You could pound the cabbage under polythene or something, you know, to put
a barrier between mallet and cabbage?

O