We've spent far more hours pondering and experimenting with various treatments than we would care to admit

We've tried products that have beeswax blended into them because we like the smell

We've tried traditional beeswax cream made with turpentine, but it takes a long time for the smell of turpentine to subside

Then we realised, we don't want any odour at all as it will interfere with how you perceive your espresso to taste

So in the end we have settled on plain old mineral oil that is labelled as food grade/suitable for applications such as wooden chopping boards in the kitchen and it is essentially odourless

Its inexpensive, readily available in most places, easy to apply (i.e. pour a little into the palm of your hand & off you go), easy to clean up (wash your hands with soap & water), and dries quickly (unlike linseed oil)

Its true that it needs to be applied relatively frequently to continue to offer protection to the wood, but to our mind the advantages listed above mean this is no great hardship

When you allow a drop of water to fall on your wooden handles an the water drop doesn't bead on the surface of the wood, but instead soaks into the surface of the handle, its time to wipe a little mineral oil on again