Chopping block finish

[jordancoe]

Iv just made a nice big chopping board out of tassy oak and southern Myrtle and was wondering what I should use to finish it/seal it. Ino it's not the hardest of timbers to use but hey iv we have had a pine board that had lasted 18 yrs and is still going. Any advise would be great

[groeneaj]

I made 3 chopping boards a little while back. I used mineral oil (paraffin oil - same thing) that I bought from the supermarket.

I basically flooded the surface, waited 5 minutes then wiped off the excess. I did this about 5 times until hardly any oil absorbed into the timber. The beauty with this finish is that it has no odour.

I was going to use Organoils - hard burnishing oil, but you have to wait a little while for the odour to go down before you can use it.

U-Beaut (forum sponsor) have a finish also - http://www.ubeaut.com.au/FS+.htm

Good luck and make sure you post a pic of the board once finished


Andy

[jordancoe]

Ok awsome thanx how did the paraffin oil finish come up ?

[SilentDave]

While its not quite a chopping board, I am making a work desk out of left over 19mm pine that is a leftover from other jobs and was wondering what to coat it with, she has started to make cakes and is making all her own flowers and decorations for the cakes she makes and would like it to be as foodsafe as possible, that U-Beaut Foodsafe oil looks like it may be worth a try, so now I have a good reason to visit the wood shops again

[jenno]

For both projects you could use Howards Butchers block oil. Howard Australia - Butcher Block Conditioner
You could also use U beaut traditional wax as well, I use it on my Butcher block top after wet sanding to 2000 grit, then tripoli paste polished with a swansdown mop on drill, then waxed and buffed. you can see the result in my photo of top.
Cheers

[old pete]

Hi Jordancoe,

There is some good advice proferred here by others. Myself I had never heard of Howards butcher block oil and I will give it a try.

I've used Macadamia Nut oil from the supermarket on turned cutting boards for many years with good success and no reported issues.I apply about 4 coats with the piece spinning in the lathe and dry polish each coat to a light sheen.

Apparently the key beneficial characteristic of the Macadamia nut oil is that it never goes rancid as do many other vegetable oils. A word of warning: it does however make dark timbers even darker if that is an issue for you.

It's pretty important IMO not to make a cutting board too beautiful. After all it's there to cut your grub up on.

Old Pete

[jenno]

That it is, that it is tho some people just use shiny stuff to prepare or plate up on. I have sold a few to butchers who use my butcher blocks at home. Tho I made my first one for my brothers 50th, and he put it upstairs and put books on it. "to good to use" apparently. I make them to be used is all I say.

[groeneaj]

My mum refuses to cut anything on the one I made her. She prefers to put it on display

[ubeaut]

U-Beaut Polishes now have a new Chopping Board and everything else oil which isn't out everywhere yet but is really, really good.

Click Here to view the web page for FoodSafe + and HERE to download the full datasheet as a .pdf file.

Cheers - Neil

[ravna]

I made 3 chopping boards a little while back. I used mineral oil (paraffin oil - same thing) that I bought from the supermarket.

Hi Guys

Some 25 years ago when I first took up wood-turning I was using a book from the library which had an article on the 'Bactericidal or Antibiotic properties of Wood' by the University of Wisconsin.

Given the interest and questions posed regarding finishes for chopping boards I dug back through all my old links and came up with the original article, see http://http://www.mapleblock.com/uploads/University_of_Wisconsin_Simple_Version.pdf but surprisingly this article http://http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF11/1121B.html says that boards sealed with Mineral Oil basically lost their antibiotic properties.

Cheers

John M