Did You Learn Anything Useful in School?
I’ve been out of school for many, many years. We had a home economics class in 7th grade, which I’m reasonably sure was a required course. We learned stuff like cooking, basic child care, etc. I’m not coming up with a good segue here, so I’m just going to jump to the next question… Do you have any wooden kitchen utensils? Knives and forks with wooden handles? Wooden bowls? Wooden spoons? Etc.
You know, the wood dries up and cracks over time, especially if you leave them soak in the water for too long or don’t dry them quickly enough after washing.
Did you know, though, that you can prevent that? Of course, the first step is to wash and dry them shortly after use, and don’t let them stand wet for an extended period of time. But, beyond that, you can also treat them occasionally by rubbing them down with mineral oil and letting it soak in. You can buy commercial preparations with mineral oils and waxes (approved for use on food service products) to keep your kitchen goods in good condition.
I just learned that a couple weeks ago. Didn’t learn that in school!
Also, you can help keep your knives sharper by washing and drying them immediately after use. If you let water set on them, it dulls the blades. Just learned that recently too.
You know, we’ve lived in a disposable-goods society for perhaps too long. Something wears out, you throw it away and buy new. Teaching people to take care of things was perhaps not a priority. Wooden handles dry out and crack? No worries. Just throw them away and buy new stuff. Who doesn’t like new stuff?
Well, I think we’ve learned the lesson of throwing things away and buying new stuff all the time. If you keep your things in good condition, you can use them longer. And that means you don’t have to throw them away and buy new ones. And that means you save money.
Even if you have to buy a commercial preparation of mineral oil and waxes and spend some time now and then applying it to your wooden goods, that’s still far less expensive then letting things go bad and buying new.
And, what of your tools? Sure, you probably learned how to use them in shop class, but what about how to maintain them? You probably know it’s not a good idea to leave them outside in the rain, but what about your everyday storage? Tools are most often kept in the garage or basement, which tend to have high humidity levels and are not the best place to store things that you don’t want to rust. After use, you should dry your tools (if they’ve gotten wet) and wipe them with a coat of oil to keep out rust. An oily rag will do the trick. You can also use commercial preparations for cleaning and rust-proofing your tools. For long-term storage, you should look at thicker coatings and dehumidifying agents.
The same goes for your gardening tools. Don’t leave caked-on mud and dirt on them. That only helps to seal in moisture and promote rust. Wash and dry them off. Maybe even rub a coat of oil on them to seal out moisture, as you do with your other tools.
You can’t afford to throw things away anymore. You shouldn’t have been doing it before, either. Spending money to replace things that could have been maintained or repaired doesn’t make sense.
I would caution against using mineral oils on wooden objects meant for use in food preparation. Make sure the oil’s food-safe (my dad always used oil of tung on the bowls etc. that he made).
Good point. That’s what my “(approved for use on food service products)” was meant to convey. Sorry if that was unclear!
I’ve been reworking one piece of equipment for about 10 yrs now. My PC. Upgraded all the way from 2008 and still in perfect working order. Maintenance is the key, I agree, but, how many people do you know have the same PC for ten years or more and can still do all the things that everyone is doing with all the Web 2.0 stuff going about? Not many I’ll bet.
I used the same computer for 12-13 years. Actually, I still use it, but it’s not my main computer anymore.
What??? …. hey DCR, I have had the same channel lock for 2 decades, and never oiled it once, but my spoons are in shambles. I have reverted to “hand” eating like my ancestors in Norway.