The Affordable Hack For Glazing Wood Furniture You Can Pick Up At The Grocery Store

As you would know if you've owned wood furniture for some time, it does tend to lose its luster gradually unless it's treated with some type of regular polish or glaze. While there are plenty of commercial products available that you can use to treat your treasured furniture pieces periodically, there's a really simple and affordable hack you may not have considered that uses a natural product you can easily pick up at the grocery store the next time you're doing your weekly shop: walnut oil.

That's right! The same product that you might use to create that delicious salad dressing that your friends and family rave about can also be used to condition your wood furniture and give it that lovely sheen or glaze. There are plenty of benefits to using walnut oil on your furniture. Primarily, it penetrates deeply into the grain, dries fast, leaves no sticky residue, is non-toxic, and will help to protect the wood from moisture. It also adds a lovely warm luster and is completely environmentally friendly. Unlike linseed oil, which takes around three to seven days to cure and can yellow over time, walnut oil will dry completely in around 24 hours, leaving a lovely smooth finish.

Using walnut oil instead of chemical-based varnishes or coatings also means that any scratches or other damage can be easily fixed without having to sand back the entire piece and reapply the coating. This is one of those hacks that allows you to follow the advice of "treating wood like skin" and help preserve its natural properties.

Whether you have a wood table that gets constant use in your kitchen or a wooden display cabinet in your living room, polishing your wood furniture may be doing more harm than good. That's why you want to restore that lovely sheen in a more natural way by using walnut oil. For regular pieces of furniture, all you need is a soft, lint-free cloth and a bottle of oil. After removing any dust from the surface of the furniture, just pour a small amount of the oil on the cloth and wipe it all over. You'll see the change immediately as the oil penetrates deep into the timber and adds that beautiful satiny gleam. 

Not only does this enhance the appearance of the wood, but it also helps to protect it by keeping it soft and malleable. Once you've applied the oil, take a dry section of the cloth and wipe all over again so that you don't have any standing oil left on the surface. This prevents any tackiness from remaining and ensures that the oil can penetrate deeply into the timber fibers and cure.

If you've just picked up a valuable wood furniture brand at your local thrift store, you can also use walnut oil as a final finish. After sanding back and removing any remaining dust, just pour a little of the walnut oil into a bowl and use a soft paintbrush to apply it all over the surface of the wood sparingly. Just make sure to let it dry before deciding whether you need a second coat. You also want to remember to work along the grain to really bring out the aesthetic beauty of the timber.