Life Saving Technique For Your Wooden Knife Handles

When I was growing up under my mother's roof (that included about fifty years of my life, lol) Mom was adamant about me not putting anything plastic or wooden into the dishwasher, that those items be washed by hand - which I hated.  The first time I moved out and into my very own home I happened to have a dishwasher and was determined to wash literally nothing by hand...  Everything went into the dishwasher in spite of my mother's voice in my head telling me not to put the Tupperware and wooden handled knives and utensils into the dishwasher...

It wasn't long before I regretted my rebellion, once again I discovered the inevitable.  Mom was right.  My Tupperware turned a weird yellow color and became brittle.  My knife handles dried out and some of them even cracked under the extreme heat that a dishwasher produces when washing and drying the dishes inside them.  Since I had a toddler my water heater was turned down to a temperature I thought the wood and plastic could handle in the dishwasher but later I found out that a dishwasher generates it's own heated water which is practically scalding.

So, never put wooden handled knives and utensils into a dishwasher and never let them sit in the soapy dishwater waiting for you to wash them.  When the original finish begins to wear off the handles, get some boiled linseed oil (available at The Home Depot, Lowe's, Art supply stores, etc) and a rag and wipe generous amounts of the oil on the wooden handles.  Rub in as much as the handle will absorb and then wipe off the excess oil.  This will keep the wood in as close to its original condition as possible if this process is done at least once a month.  Notice the difference of the handles in the photos  below...

Before using linseed oil - dry and "grey" looking

After using linseed oil - like new!

I sure am glad you thought of that Mom, and very glad you showed me how to rescue my handles from being ruined by my rebellion and ignorance.  As always, I wish I had listened to you in the first place!
Hope this helped someone's knives before they hit the trash can because the handles dried out and cracked!
Have a blessed day!