Treating wood with soap

How to treat wood with soap – step by step

Treating wood with soap is both simple and effective. You clean and care for the wood surface at the same time, resulting in a naturally dirt-repellent, soft and smooth surface.

Here’s how to do it:

1. First, clean the wood thoroughly – use warm water and deck soap. If needed, stiff brushes can be used to remove algae, dirt or old coatings.

2. Once the surface is clean (it does not need to be dry), mix 1 litre of superfatted soap with 10 litres of cold water.

3. Apply the soap mixture with a soft brush, a scrubbing cloth or a scrubbing brush. Use plenty of soap, especially if the wood is old or dried out – it will absorb more.

4. Let it dry and repeat the treatment until the surface feels saturated and smooth. The more treatments, the softer and more durable the surface becomes.

5. Easy maintenance – a new soap scrub will make the surface like new again.

Soapa is a superfatted soap made from Swedish rapeseed oil, perfect for treating decking, patios and other outdoor wood surfaces. It is also a climate-smart choice and is manufactured in a circular system.

Here we show how an old wooden crate is cleaned with soap and given a “new lease on life.” Soap has many great benefits; among other things, it replenishes the wood’s oils instead of drying it out.

This is what the crate looked like when we found it in an old root cellar. It had stood in the cellar for many years, absorbed moisture and become discolored.

We scrubbed the crate with a soft brush, lukewarm water and a generous dollop of solid soap. As you can see in the final image (after drying), the crate is in completely different condition after being scrubbed with soap.

You will notice when scrubbing an older, dirty wooden object or floor with soap that dirt rises to the surface very quickly and in fairly large amounts. Once the wood has dried, you can feel with your hand that it is not dried out but has gained a pleasant, replenished surface that can now be wiped with a damp cloth during cleaning. Heavily soiled surfaces may need to be scrubbed more than once.

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Questions and Answers

- What are the benefits of using soap to clean wooden objects?
The soap moisturizes and replenishes the wood’s oils instead of drying it out, giving the object a “new lease on life” and a pleasant surface after cleaning.

- Why is it important to use a superfatted soap such as Soapa when cleaning wood?
A superfatted soap such as Soapa works well with wood and provides effective cleaning while preserving the wood’s natural moisture.

- What tool is used to scrub the wooden crate in this example?
A soft brush is used together with lukewarm water and soap to scrub the old wooden crate.

- Why might wood need to be scrubbed more than once on heavily soiled surfaces?
On heavily soiled surfaces, dirt can penetrate deep into the wood, which may require several rounds of scrubbing to achieve the desired cleaning result.

- What should you do after the wooden object has dried following soap scrubbing to maintain its moisturized surface?
After the wood has dried, it can be wiped with a damp cloth during cleaning to maintain its moisturized surface and fresh appearance.



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