Safe to Polish a Wooden Gongfu Table?

This ia a bit of a leap but when I got a couple sets of beautiful wooden chopsticks, I tried using beeswax on one of them to ‘seal’ it and found that pair is in worse shape over time than the others. I find that pair rougher and the beeswax didn’t rub in (or off with wear) evenly. Wood is pretty good at drying itself out with no lasting results as long as you don’t leave it soaking, most of the time. My wooden cutting boards for example are not sealed with anything because apparently there ar natural ‘oils’ in the wood that protect it. If I tried adding something else, I’ve been told that would screw up the balance and lead to more maintenance.

A gongfu table is a totally different realm though so I can’t say for sure with that. Do you have a small piece of similar wood you could test on first?

Thank you so much for the reply. In my pondering over this I kept thinking maybe something about waxing or oiling the wood could in fact make it higher maintenance in the long run, and since this is a table used for consumption of a beverage item, I can’t use typical polishes intended for most furniture items. I would need something unscented, non-toxic and preferably from all natural ingredients. That’s what makes it difficult to find any info about this via search engines. I don’t have any similar wood I could try it on. The table looks fine as it is, but I’m feeling like a nice polish would be the “icing on the cake” so to speak. Of course, my big concern is that hot water coming into contact with the table could create a bad reaction with whatever polish I use. Unless I hear a great suggestion that someone knows from a decent amount of experience, I will likely play it safe and not polish the wood.

A friend of mine who has a bamboo gongfu table told me that they need to be oiled to prevent cracking, though when I asked her what she used to oil hers she said she had a friend do it for her. Is this common practice? I’ve actually never heard of it before. I know this is kind of a tangent, but I have been able to find zero information on care for Gongfu tables so I have a few questions floating around in my head. And even so, I think oils used to treat bamboo would probably not be absorbed into a hard wood like wenge wood.

Hey Jace,

It’s a very relevant topic. First, your table is stunning and seems to be of very good and durable quality. Usually, they are treated in order to offer lots of resistance. I understand why you would want treasure it and make the grain stand out even more, but personally, I would leave it as is.

I would avoid using any wax base, as it builds up over time and might damage or create obstruction in the cracks. But that’s just my personal opinion :-) I own an inexpensive bamboo one, I’ve been using it many times a week for almost two years now, and it still looks like brand new. All I do is wipe it with a damp cloth after each use and let it dry.

Hope this helps you decide :-)

Thanks for the help. I decided not to use anything on it. I have noticed it is developing some scratching where my gaiwan usually sits, possibly the amount of heat present there with the gaiwan is enabling this? I don’t handle my gaiwan rough or anything, so I’m not sure. I’m also not sure if it looks like tasteful weathering or annoying damage. Haha. I’m still wondering if there’s a way to buff that out or get the rest of the wood looking really shiny and slick, but I definitely won’t use anything on it unless I hear of a really safe solution.