Finishing a cutting board

A seemingly never-ending question concerns how to finish cutting boards. You don’t need any finish on a cutting board. Water won’t hurt it and no finish will keep water out anyway, after a few knife cuts. Nor will the finish continue to look nice after numerous knife cuts. Seems like cutting boards are on everyone’s minds these days.

Probably because we are all making holiday gifts. Either way, this is the time of year you can expect almost one forum post a day asking a question about cutting board finishes or “food safe” finishes. And the responses to these.

A summary of non-toxic finishing products ideal for cutting boards , salad bowls, and other food-centric woodwork. Finish your cutting board with pure tung oil for a durable finish. Tung oil is a thick substance that will dry and harden in the fiber of the wood.

This gives strength to the cutting board and will make it highly water-resistant. Ive always used mineral oil in the past. Now i see all these special butcher block oils and im wondering how much better than mineral oil these are. Some may think that giving a finish to your wood cutting board is unnecessary but there are certain and true benefits in doing so. In giving your wood cutting board a will definitely help it in the long run.

Continuous and frequent cleaning of your cutting board will have a tendency to dry the wood out quick. A transparent, har protective finish or film used in woodworking. To be on the safe side, you can use a finish approved for human consumption, like mineral oil or walnut oil. In developing this finish , we were looking for two things: the penetration of an oil and the shine of a wax. So we made up an oil-wax finish.

To finish up our cutting boards , we next round over the edge and corners. To round over the corners, I stood the boards on edge and ran them through the router. The result is a nice, round corner.

Fill Your Cart With Color Today! Mineral oil and beeswax make an ideal finish for cutting. Fine sandpaper numbers are 15 18 and very fine 22 24 and 280. A non-film-building finish is the only one you should consider for objects such as cutting boards and countertops that will be used for cutting. Besides how ugly a built-up finish will quickly become, you don’t want chips of finish getting into the food.

This is a special, food grade mineral oil, that will seal the wood and bring out the natural colors. Finishing and protecting a wood cutting board is very easy but you have to choose the right finish - it must be food safe. Beeswax finish is works great for all things wooden in the kitchen. I realize the most popular product for finishing an end grain cutting board is food-safe mineral oil.

I’ve been experimenting with sanding through the grits to seal the board before applying a generous amount of mineral oil to my boards. I’ve sanded my boards for a finish grit from 1grit all. Restor-A- Finish restores finished wood surfaces. Cutting Board Oil is rated 4. The Original Wood Finish is probably more suited to utensils and salad bowls than cutting boards.

It is also almost twice the cost. And finally, pure tung oil is a food safe product that also dries completely. I have been reading many different formulas for cutting board finishes. Many caution to heat the ingredients over low heat to reduce the possibility of flame ups, but here is an alternate method that eliminates the flame up potential: Use an old fashioned water bath. A wooden cutting board can last for years and years if you take care of it properly.

What is the best finish for a cutting board made out of oak, maple, canary wood and purple heart. I think I would put a polyurethane finish on it and hang it on the wall. The cutting board you made looks great but some of the woods you used are not very functional.

A cutting board needs to be made. This oil is from the nut of the tung tree. Read the What's safe to use to finish butcher block? Raw Tung Oil dries by oxidation. Join the discussion today.

Chowhound Presents: Table Talk with Tanya Steel of Food Fight! I like Watco cutting board oil and finish or simple mineral oil from the pharmacy. The Watco seems to seal the boards better and really makes them maintance free for a long time before needing oiled.

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