'Food safe' filling of recycled timber?

[bigred74]

I'm making up some chopping boards (about 40!) out of some recycled ironbark to give away as gifts to my wedding guests later on this year.

My question is what would you use to fill in the old nail holes etc? Obviously it'll need to be 'food safe'. I was thinking that something like 'U Beaut Traditional Wax' might do the trick... Thoughts?

I have read the bulk of the posts about finishing oils but I couldn't find anything on fillers.
Cheers!!

[rsser]

Nice idea bigred.

But no, trad wax is a finish.

Try Timbermate (at Bunnies) if the holes are not in an area that's going to get pounded. If they are, I'd suggest a mix of 50:50 sanding dust from the ironbark and epoxy.

If not enough sanding dust, fine coffee grounds (unused) also work but the colour match may be an issue.

Good luck.

[thumbsucker]

You can buy blocks of shellac, that you heat and that will fill holes perfectly.

Or you can get normal shellac put it in a spoon and heat the spoon. The shellac melts and you pour it into the holes.

It is very durable, and completely food save and it looks really nice.

[Cruzi]

Nice Idea but for foodsafe surfaces you really, really need to know the entire history of the timber. Are you 100% sure that it has never been coated with anything toxic in its life, has never been treated with pesticides or timber preservatives ever, have the nail holes got discolouration around them, thats metals leeched from the nails, if you are not 100% certain that the timber is toxin free, you are gambling with people's health.

And the best hole filler for cutting boards is parrafin wax, inert, non-toxic and allergen free.

[Lignum]

If a breadboard had a few coats of toxic finish on it when new, the only way you would die is if you ate 50 of them, then it would only be from splinters and constipation. This toxic/chopping board hysteria is a load of codswallop.

[Cruzi]

I would suggest you research the toxicity of pest control chemicals and herbicides before suggesting there is no problem, both were/are used quite a lot in and around homes.

And that is only 2 examples, imagine a fence post that gets herbicide and pesticide spray drift 3 times a year for 40 years being cut up and used for a food preparation surface.

See signature.

[bigred74]

Thanks for all the replies!
Firstly the ironbark timber was initially used for rafters and was in the raw. Not painted, oiled or treated with any other obvious sealer etc. Having said that I've taken off a good 5mm in all dimensions in truing the boards any so the vast majority of any surface contaminants would've been taken away.
I'll be using Titebond II for board gluing which is USFDA approved for that sort of application where food is involved.
I've decided to use a snug plug cutter to fill in any of the old nail holes on the cutting surfaces as whilst many of the female population might be iron deficient I'm not planning on the chopping boards being used as a multi-vitamin!
Cheers

PS I'm a young doctor that's busy enough as it is, so obviously I'm go to lengths to avoid making people sick!