Cutting Board Issue


CO Wood

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Hello, i'm an amateur woodworker living in Colorado and for Christmas this year i decided to make a cutting board for my brother in-law (to his specifications, which are not like your usual cutting board). For the material i used Hard Maple and for glue-ups Titebond III. The board, which is my first cutting board ever, came out pretty well, albeit with a slight warp, but nothing major. 

My issue is with the finish. In my infinite wisdom, i applied General Finishes Salad Bowl Finish at full strength, making a film. I now realize that this is absolutely not recommended for a cutting board and i certainly wouldn't want to give a potentially unsafe cutting board to my brother in-law. My question is this:

To "rescue" this cutting board, i thought about letting the finish dry for a few more days before taking to it with 150 grit sandpaper and then 220 in an attempt to remove most of the film. After that should i either re-apply the salad bowl finish, thinned with 50% mineral spirits, or apply mineral oil? Any other recommendations on how to fix this are welcome. Thanks!

 

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First - don't panic!

Salad bowl finish is completely food safe, as are most finishes when they are 100% cured.  These is no danger with the finish.  I have finished many cutting boards with GF Salad bowl finish at full strength.

If you don't want the salad bowl finish because you don't like the way it looks, a great and easy finish for cutting boards is straight mineral oil (not mineral spirits).  It can be found in the pharmacy aisle (this is exactly the same as "butcher block oil" which sells for 3 times as much).

If you were motivated to remove the current finish, a few minutes with an RO sander with 80, 100, 120, 150, and 220 grits should get you back to bare wood. 

If it were me, I would leave the salad bowl finish on, and rub it out nicely with some food safe wax in a few days.

 

Edited by Pug
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Thanks! I actually really like the look of the finish, but i've read that knife contact can crack the finish and introduce toxic flakes of it into the food. I think i'll go ahead and re-sand it using your suggested method and use the mineral oil from the pharmacy.

Polyurethane "flakes", while not delicious, are non-toxic when cured.  No need to fear toxicity.

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Yeah all the toxicity hype is...hype.  Unless your bro-in-law grows his own veggies in a garden atop a mighty mountain in northern bumville...the food he's chopping will probably kill him faster than the urethane croutons.

Most of what's toxic in varnish is the chemical dryers and what-not that off-gas as it dries...what's left after it's cured is basically just plastic.

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CO, check your local big box home center for butcher block "conditioner", or order via Amazon. It's a blend of mineral oil and beeswax, and doesn't require re-application as frequently a straight oil. If you have a source for beeswax, you can also blend your own in a simle double boiler on the kitchen stove. 2 parts oil to one part wax ( by weight) makes a hard paste. Just add more oil to get it as thin as you like.

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