How to Care for Your Cottageware

Wood was once a living thing.  It's beauty lies in the warmth in your hand & the "peculiarities" of it's grain or color.  Slight "imperfections", like darker stripes of wood-grain or little tell-tale signs that wood also provides habitat for lots of God's creatures, we consider "beauty marks".  It's what makes each Fernwood Cottage item unique.  Occasionally as it dries, wood develops small "checks" (little cracks).  This is natural and won't impact the strength of the wood.  Wood will also "patina" as it ages (change color slightly - deepen & mellow).  This is also perfectly natural.  

What can you do to keep your Fernwood Cottagewares working strong, looking beautiful, smooth in your hand, & lasting for years to come?  NOURISH IT!

All of our items are finished with two coats of heated, boiled linseed oil & lots of hand rubbing! We feel linseed oil provides the best finish option for durability, while being food safe, & allowing a lovely natural aging of the wood to occur. Our kitchen tools & working boards are also given an additional finish coat of all natural, food-safe Tung Oil so food slides right off and cleaning is much easier (Tung Oil is derived from the nut of the tung tree, native to China and Southeast Asia).

To keep your garden trug, kitchen tool, or working board at its best & prolong its “working life”:

STEP 1 ~ Washing

Wood does NOT like to be submerged or soaked.  

Trugs & Garden Stools: After use, give it a quick rinse down. Run it under water or spray lightly with a hose.  A quick towel dry, then hang or set aside to finish air drying. Weathering will depend on how much direct sun it gets.

Kitchen Tools & Working Boards: Remember NO dishwashers.  After each use, hand wash in warm soapy water. Quick rinse in hot water. Let air-dry.

STEP 2 ~ Nourish, Preserve, & Protect

Once every year, for Trugs & Garden Stools, at least twice a year for working boards, & as often as you like for kitchen tools (we do ours monthly) wipe in a fresh layer of linseed oil or any other food-safe wood conditioner (follow all safe handling directions!). 

Let dry to the touch - overnight if you can (If you are using a "board butter" or something with a wax in it, like our Wood Nourisher, you will still feel a residual "sticky-ness" until you remove any wax that hasn't absorbed.  That's OK, it will work in during the final burnishing).  

Rub down (polish or "burnish") with a clean cloth. Ready for another round of beautiful hard work.