Frequently Asked Questions

We Wished This Product Existed. So We Made It.

When working with a very special dead tree that we recently milled, we were looking for the most natural way to finish it, something truly safe for the home, safe to eat off of, something that protected the wood, gave it a wonderful protection, and felt amazing to interact with. We scoured the market and found nothing up to our standards, so we decided to dedicate our lives to creating it ourselves.

Tell Me About Your Recipe

We are woodworkers and we have spent hundreds of hours developing a recipe that we believe to be the best natural and organic way to finish wood. Our recipe combines modern research, trial and error, and historical recipes dating all the way back to the days of Leonardo da Vinci, and combines the best of both worlds into a wood finish that is truly a delight to use. 

Seriously. We have tried every wood finish on the market, and this is still our first choice for many applications, primarily anything that comes into contact with food, or an interior woodworking project where you want the most natural feeling finish possible. 

Drying Oil?

When a "hard drying" oil like our organic walnut oil dries, it goes through a process called polymerization. It takes a few weeks, but this oil dries completely hard, and forms lovely protective barrier from the elements over the wood

Wikipedia says: "A drying oil is an oil that hardens to a tough, solid film after a period of exposure to air. The oil hardens through a chemical reaction in which the components crosslink (and hence, polymerize) by the action of oxygen (not through the evaporation of water or other solvents)."

If you choose to not use our product that's fine, however, we would like to strongly encourage you to not use oils on your wood that are not drying oils. Many amateur and "natural" recipes out there use olive oil, or even coconut oil as their primary oil. These oils will never polymerize, and while they will repel water and protect your wood, they will eventually go rancid, and your nice cutting board will smell quite nasty, because the rancid oil has penetrated into the pores of the wood, and is quite hard to get out. This is why we chose organic walnut oil for our product. 

Speaking Of Walnut Oil...

Some of our products contain organic walnut oil.

Before we went into business, we did extensive research into the allergenicity of our walnut oil. We realize that people with allergies to walnuts take this very seriously, and out of respect for those people, we postponed the launch of our business to make sure we were doing right by our customers, and protecting their best interest, while still creating the most superior product imaginable, all while staying true to our organic roots.

We choose to stick to using walnut oil because it is regarded by the masters (remember Leonardo da Vinci) as the best hard-drying oil there is. Da Vinci pressed his own walnuts to make all of his paints because of all the hard drying oils, walnut oil is THE most crystal clear of them all, never goes rancid, and resists yellowing, dries hard, and lasts a very long time, like mona lisa long.

We have done extensive research into the allergenicity of our oil, and have read through hundreds of scientific studies out there to find definitive proof that if processed correctly its 100% safe. But that study does not exist yet, so if you have a severe allergy to walnuts, be aware that our product has refined organic walnut oil in it, and make the necessary precautions for your safety.

In our research we did find that in general, when edible oils are refined properly, their allergenicity is virtually eliminated. 

The most relevant and modern scientific study "Allergenicity of Edible Oils" was done by Susan L. Hefle, Ph.D. Food Allergy Research and Resource Program University of Nebraska, states:

"In summary, the vast preponderance of edible oils consumed in the US are highly refined and processed to the extent that allergenic proteins are not present in detectable amounts. The majority of well-designed and performed scientific studies indicate that refined oils are safe for the food-allergic population to consume."

Roostmade Organic Wood finish is meant to be rubbed into wood, not consumed internally. (Technically it's all edible plant based products and all approved for food contact by the FDA, so you could eat it, but it doesn't have much taste, and its kind of an expensive snack, and is better served as a wood finish, in our opinion) But we see this study as a strong indicator of virtually no risk, and this is why we decided to move forward with our oil of choice, Organic Walnut Oil made here in the USA. 

To further divulge into this (because we know people with allergies love to ensure they are staying safe and we support that) we will add this note.

Of all the nut allergies, by far the most common and most deadly is the peanut. The fast food chain Chick-fil-A cooks their food in 100% refined peanut oil. They site the exact same study we referenced above as their conclusive proof of safety, and don't even list their peanut oil as a tree nut allergy warning because they are that confident, and considering that their customers are actually ingesting the oil, not just rubbing it on wood, we think you're pretty safe. But if you have a severe allergy, take the necessary precautions.

 

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