How to make a food safe wood finish out of beeswax and mineral oil

I made this DIY wood finish out of natural wax and mineral oil. Those are both food safe materials. As a result you can use this finish on wooden bowls, spoons, cutting boards e.t.c.

I wanted my finish to be kind of liquid, so I used 1 part wax and 4 parts mineral oil. I also added three drops of lavender oil to make it smell nicer.

To melt the wax easier I used a cheese grinder to transform it in savings form.

The I placed a pan filled with water on my heat source. In the pan I added a coffee pot with the wax. This way the wax melts slowly without burning. I then mixed the wax with oil and heat them again to one mixture.

I steered the mix until it cooled down to create a uniform mixture.

At this point my finish was ready to test on some different spices of wood. It looks awesome on walnut, maple and especially olive wood.

Please note that in hot summer days the mixture will be more liquidy and in cold winter days more solid.

I hope you found this article useful! It is a pretty easy and natural finish to make!

How to make a natural wood finish using beeswax and olive oil

This is an eco friendly finish and it is really easy to make.

All you need is some beeswax and olive oil.

First of all I took a piece of wax and converted it into savings with a cheese scraper. This way the wax will melt faster.

I take a coffee pot and add the olive oil and the wax. I used 1 part wax and 3 parts oil. The mixture will be thicker if you add more wax and thinner if you add more oil.

The mixture should be melted slowly using bain marie. To do that I placed the coffee pot inside a container with hot water and medium heat.

After the mixture melted I added it to a container. I stirred it from time to time and when It cooled down it became creamy.

The finish is ready and can be applied on wood using a cloth.


I want to give my special thanks to my friend Costas Rellos. Costas is a Greek honey producer and provided me with the beeswax.