I made a tofu press and have some Howard butcher block conditioner on hand. Is that enough for a finish or do I need something more?
Yes it’ll work. The “conditioner” is just a mix of food-grade mineral oil and beeswax. You’ll probably want to apply several coats, per the instructions on the bottle. Just note, that stuff isn’t a permanent finish, so you’ll need to reapply it periodically. Washing with hot water will make you need to reapply it ore frequently, due to it taking the wax out of the finish. You may want to get just mineral oil and finish with that, first, as the wood you used is fairly porous, and you want to have the wood soak up as much of that oil as possible.
Source: I use that stuff on my own cutting boards.
If this press is for vegan consumers, make sure there’s nothing in that conditioner that conflicts with a vegan diet.
The press looks great, I recently stumbled on some YT videos that showed how to build wooden knobs; I think they’d look great on this press.
Ooh they sure would. It was a “proof of concept” like all my projects, but I rarely go back and improve them if they’re good enough. But wooden knobs would be a definite improvement
Nice Idea! In going to steal it and make one myself too!
Nice work. Unsure about the conditioner but if it’s good for a cutting board it should be ok.
I’ve been putting off making one of these because I want to come up with a single gear handle mechanism that drives the separate screws.
After using it once, I would also like a single knob. Every project I do is a “proof of concept” that I never go back and improve on. But I’m getting a 3d printer, maybe I’ll print some gears.
@greenhorn I would not put any finish on it. Just was it down when you are done and make sure the wood dries fully and the wood will soak up any bacteria and kill it. A finish will block that process and allow the bacteria to grow on the surface. This podacast has some good info on it https://www.finewoodworking.com/2024/10/04/stl325-no-finish-no-problem
Listening now. I ended up using conditioner I had, and I’ll continue to use it on the exterior for appearance, but I’ll leave the interior parts bare from here on out.
I would think butcher block oil (mineral oil) would do
Dont buy “butcher block oil”, though, because it’s weirdly upcharged for just plain mineral oil. The pharmacy sells food grade mineral oil for way cheaper as a laxative, but it’s literally the same.
That’s a pro tip I never expected. I’ll pick some up when I get toothpaste
