[occalmnab]

Is anyone is willing to share some bokuto maintenance tips?

I've just recently sanded mine down a bit as some of the grain was becoming uneven and a couple spots on the mune have started to splinter (very lightly), I then cleaned it with a damp cloth, let it dry and then hand rubbed a couple light coats of canola oil on it (that's what I use on shinai and that worked fine so far). I'm working on a couple assumptions here (please correct me if I'm way off base):

(A) That I should be sanding down the bokuto when needed.

(B) Some form of 'sealer' should be re-applied to it after sanding.

I've been referenced to using tung/linseed oil as a sealer/protectant for bokuto. But the only stuff I've seen is at the home improvement type store in the paint section and the only tung oil I've seen has that nice little danger/skull/poison sign on them which makes me weary of applying them to something I will have frequent contact with. Any suggestions on where to procure such oils that are safe for this use?

This bokuto I tried this on is of the el cheapo, mass produced variety (possibly cheap red oak, 40 inch long, and probably 4 or 5 years old by now) so I'm not worried if I've already ruined it. Although I doubt if vegetable oil would render it useless... It just has a distinct new aroma to it

I'm not even sure if all this work is necesssary, I'm probably overdoing it. So what are your bokuto care and maintenance habits?

Cheers,

Ian R.