How to: Resurface a wooden kitchen worktop

...resurface a wooden kitchen worktop 

 

I love the wooden worktops in my kitchen....But after finishing the tiling, I realized that they were in dire need for some TLC!!

This is my own fault: When we bought our house 2 1/2 years ago: the wooden worktops in the kitchen was one of the features of this property we fell in love with. And we were told that they would need regular re-oiling to keep....however: I forgot...or rather, kept putting it off!!

Naughty me!!

And with so much stuff being made in the kitchen (Not just food, but a lot of my projects come to life here...) the worktops had suffered an unreasonable amount of abuse, and was seriously showing some wear and tear + they had started yellowing and did NOT look like the beautiful wooden worktops they once were....poor things!!

So operation: Resurface the worktops was set into action: 

I started by taking off the previous finish of the worktop.

I used :

Clean Spirit (a non-toxic version of white spirit)

Wire wool

A paint scraper

 Wearing rubber gloves I applied the Clean Spirit to the worktops and scrubbed with wire wool... left to soak for 10-20 minutes the clean spirit lifted the old oil finish from the wood!

 Then I used the paint scraper to scrape off the mucky mix of the old oil-finish and Clean spirit. Then I wiped the surface clean and left to dry.

I then dug out my palm sander and sanded back the surface...first with 40grit sandpaper, then with 100grit. Paying extra attention to where there was marks in the surface!!

I then brushed away the wood dust and wiped the surface clean with a damp (NOT WET) rag .

 I then applied a layer of bleach to the surface with a rag and left this to soak into the wood for 1/2 hour.

This will not only disinfect the wooden worktops, killing any bacteria in the wood, but also help lighten the wood and removing some of that yellowing!!

You can buy special wood bleach if your wooden worktops are very yellow, but I settled for normal household bleach!

 When the bleach had soaked in to the wood, I again wiped the surfaces down with a damp rag! It is important not to get too much moisture into the wood at this stage as the wood in unprotected!! I left the wooden worktop to completely dry out for a couple of hours... then I reapplied 3 coats of Danish oil (there are of course other oils, with different finishes, but I used what the previous owners left behind to save money!!)with an old dishcloth, leaving a couple of hours in-between coats.

(It does say on the tin to leave 5-6 hours in-between coats, but this was a particularly hot day....and I am so impatient!!! Anyway: 2 hours seemed to be just fine!!)

NB!! Make sure you soak the rag you used to apply the oil with before disposing, as the oil can make it self combust at any time!!

 Leave it at least 24 hours before you use the resurfaced and re-oiled wooden worktop for food preparation!

Not all of the marks came out , but I am pleased with the new finish of my wooden worktops...Nothing like a good "scrub-up" to make you feel as though you start afresh...

And I promise to treat my new-conditioned wooden worktop to a regular re-oiling from now on ( and to treat it with a bit more care!!)!!

My kitchen is almost ready for the reveal now, just have few more smaller projects (and one larger DIY) to finish off!!

I am learning a lot in this makeover, and will be sharing some more of my new found knowledge with you all next week....so far the biggest lesson learnt: I can do ANYTHING I put my mind to!!

....and so can you folks!!

xxx

June