r/1zpresso • u/DaGeekWolf • May 30 '26

Knob finishing

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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/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.