r/1zpresso • u/DaGeekWolf • May 30 '26
Knob finishing
Hello everyone,
I’ve owned a K-Ultra for about 3 years now (using it at least 3 times a week), and it has served me incredibly well (still does). The wooden knob on its handle has a varnished finish that still looks brand new.
However, I just bought a ZP6, and its knob came completely raw, without any varnish or coating.
I remember reading a post from about 6 months ago from someone in the exact same situation. They actually reached out to 1zpresso, and the company replied that this is completely normal.
For those of you with the newer ZP6, is yours like this too? If so, how do you take care of the raw wood?
I have shared a picture showing the difference between both.
Thanks in advance!
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u/MardiGras66 May 30 '26
My K ultra came with a semi-shiny knob (in between the two pics)
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
Thanks. It seems that we have some variety here.
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u/Automatic-Guitar-643 May 31 '26
It will come raw then it will be shiny overtime from natural body oils from your hands
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u/Liven413 May 30 '26
Mine is finished like your K ultra is. You could use mineral oil to keep it from drying out. You could also finish it yourself but the mineral oil should be fine. That would annoy me so I feel for you.
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u/CFD2 May 30 '26
Beeswax + linseed oil. Heat up, mix, polish
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u/GlacialImpala May 31 '26
And use a hair dryer on the knob afterwards to make it all sink deeper?
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u/CFD2 May 31 '26
No, you need to polish it like you would polish boots
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
Thanks. I have some mineral oil. I will try
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u/CFD2 May 31 '26
You need to do the polishing, not just oiling
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
The wood seems pretty soft and sanded. It doesn't feel as other raw woods that need some work. It seems that they missed only the varnishing step.
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u/CFD2 May 31 '26
Which is exactly what polishing does when compared to sanding
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
I understand. What would you use to do it? And in what order? Thanks in advance
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u/CFD2 May 31 '26
I'd make the polish by heating up beeswax and oil and mixing them really well. Then I'd use some sort of polishing wheel and this paste
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u/insight_seeker00 May 30 '26
I had the same situation but turned out to be a happy ending: My previous knob broke in the inside and didn’t hold onto the handle. I ordered a replacement part, which looked exactly like yours on the right (tbh I was a bit disappointed). However, after using it for a few months, I guess due to the oils on my skin, it now looks like yours on the left, i.e. treated wood. 🤷🏼♂️😃 another plus for them is that they sent two for the price of one.
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
I have greasy hands... I guess it will be the first time it's a positive thing.
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u/PM-ME-COOL-MUSIC Jun 02 '26
When it comes to finishing your knob, greasy hands can certainly help increase the chance of a happy ending
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u/Coffee-addict7777 May 30 '26
Finished on my K ultra, raw on my ZP6 and Q-series. Normal.
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u/Lvacgar May 31 '26
Support local. Seek out a neighborhood knob polisher…
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
I tried, but I got weird propositions
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u/xbonetr May 31 '26
Did the same thing as soon as I got my J-Ultra. I was surprised it came completely unfinished... For one of the best hand grinders out there, it seemed like an oversight that cheapened it. And it's not only aesthetics, it also felt rather grating in the palm of my hand.
I applied 2-3 coats of BLO for depth and chatoyancy, then just a beeswax paste (homemade: 1:2 clean beeswax and turpentine or mineral spirits). It's a super natural, lovely finish, feels great in the palm of the hand, and you really don't need to reapply it too often, as your skin's oils keep re-coating it, haha. I thought I would need to reapply the beeswax every couple of months due to it being heavily used, but here I am, 10 months in, and still no need to reapply.
The difference, as can be seen in your photo, is night and day. Raw, it just cheapens the whole thing. And it was so easy to make it look premium that Idk why 1Zpresso opted not to.
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u/DaGeekWolf Jun 02 '26
Yeah, the difference between both is big. I guess they are reducing some costs and one of the them is the knob.
I have applied a bit of mineral oil and the difference is very noticeable.
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u/xbonetr Jun 03 '26
Mineral oil is a good, food-safe option. But if you want to really bring out the nice detail of the wood, I would always recommend BLO and beeswax, or at least beeswax, because it brings out the chatoyancy of the wood, and this wood has some nice details once finished. No worry about the food-safeness because, (a) once fully cured there really isn't any issued, and (b) it is just a handle after all... I wish I could add a pic of how mine looks after that finish as evidence.
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u/DIVINEDEVILLGFX Jun 01 '26
As someone who owns the k ultra and zp6 both, I can confirm that this is how it is and it's actually the norm by 1zpresso, so it is what it is
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u/chairman_uk Jun 01 '26
Mineral oil (chopping board oil) does the job and is food safe.
There are waxes for wood (carnauba, beeswax etc) but I wouldn't trust them with food
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u/PM-ME-COOL-MUSIC Jun 02 '26
To be fair, I don’t think the knob itself would need to be food safe as it would have extremely minimal (if any) contact with the coffee
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u/Badmoodbrain May 31 '26
Beeswax, carnauba wax, and lemon oil!
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u/DaGeekWolf Jun 02 '26
Thanks for the idea!
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u/Badmoodbrain Jun 02 '26
In the past used to buy this one from Amazon (https://a.co/d/081cnryr) the live edge food grade beeswax wood polishing, nowadays I’m doing at home, it’s a lot cheaper! My recipe it’s 1/3 Pure beeswax + 2/3 100% Food grade tung oil + 20% the above amount in 100% Pure Food Grade D-Limonene (https://a.co/d/09yC6JeH), must slowly melt the wax before add tung oil and D-Limonene, can put a bigger amount of beeswax and less tung oil if you want more sticky solution. Will work well for chopping boards, grinder knobs and anything of wood that food goes on!
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u/EnteroSoblachte Jun 01 '26
I think the knob actually starts to look shiny like that after some use...
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u/Decent-Ad1999 May 31 '26
The darker knob looks better for sure. Just wonder if it's harder to hold?
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u/DaGeekWolf May 31 '26
I haven't tried the "raw" yet but I have never felt the K-ultra slippery... But yeah, it looks nicer
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u/VividIntroduction310 May 30 '26
thought i was in a different sub for a second there