Keeping wood in good condition

I'm writing a strange story. It has wooden dolls as main characters....at least, they have wooden skin.

I'm trying to work out how a person might live and age with wooden skin, I figure that if you keep the wood supple and in good shape then that's got to be a good thing, but it suits my purpose to have the dolls dependant on something their bodies can't make themselves.

I'm drawing a blank trying to research oils that keep wood supple. Google is heavily biased towards commercial products which keep their recipes to themselves. All I've come up with is linseed oil.

My ideal would be to identify a tree or plant that produces an oil that protects wood. It doesn't have to be perfect science, just passable enough to have a vague ring of truth to it. If it's a tree then I can even have the dolls made from the same wood.

The more exotic sounding, the better.

As a follow up question, knowing roughly how much oil the tree / plant can produce over a given time period without harming it would be useful. A ballpark would be enough, just knowing if it's drops or bucketfuls would be great.

Craig

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I was hoping to use something with one foot in reality (or at least a toe), but it looks like I'll end up with something totally fictional.

Craig

mtrenteseau said:

The theory of evolution is that any trait that limits a creature's ability to survive long enough to reproduce will eventually die out. So on one level, it's not an absolute necessity that your characters need something to function normally.

Real people use all sorts of things to keep their skin young and supple. You could add a dimension to your characters by choosing how they maintain themselves. Do they use expensive and rare products because they're wealthy, or vain, or in desperate need of maintaining a condition ravaged by a previous lifetime of poor choices? Do they put something particular on before going out in the sun, and something else if they'll be inside?

Teak oil is very useful for outdoor furniture and maintaining its condition in the elements. And lemon oil is a classic ingredient in indoor furniture polish.

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Thanks for the heads up on teak oil.

The evolution advantage / disadvantage bit I understand, but I want to give my characters a weakness. I like the idea of them being very long lived but very vulnerable to accidents, making caution or wealth advantages in the survival of the fittest. I'm hoping to create a dysfunctional, capitalist society where a bit of paranoia and jealousy can thrive.

Craig