Countertops and Cricket Bats

This is clearly not to be used for cooking or as a salad dressing!

When I ordered the IKEA kitchen island, I didn't realize that the oak top would need to be oiled immediately, and re-treated several times in the first few weeks. After Googling wood treatment oil I re-discovered linseed oil.

Linseed oil, pressed from dried flax seeds, is great stuff according to Wiki?--"nature's own preserver" -- the finest known to mankind. Not only does Linseed Oil preserve, but it also waterproofs and helps corrosion and dry rot and, in addition to these qualities, Linseed Oil makes an attractive and decorative finish. This is followed by a couple of pages of examples of the wonderful things you can do with it.

I hadn't seen or used LO since I was a young boy in Wales. It was, and I believe still is, used to condition the wood face of cricket bats. I was the only kid in my group who owned a cricket bat. It was given to to me by an uncle, and even though it was too big for me, it endowed me with a status not justified by my lack of skill with it.

The smell of the oil keeps bringing back those memories. Perhaps I should buy another cricket bat.