Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next logical
question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board? It's
for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
"Victor De Long" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
> that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next
logical
> question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board?
It's
> for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
> thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
Mineral oil. You can get it at the drugstore. Vegetable oil will go rancid.
Bill
If anything, maybe some mineral oil.
Wayne
"Victor De Long" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
> that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next
logical
> question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board?
It's
> for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
> thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
>
On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:45:35 -0700, "Victor De Long"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
>that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next logical
>question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board? It's
>for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
>thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
Dissolve paraffin in mineral oil. Dissolves easily if mineral oil is
warmed.
Wally Goffeney
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wgoffeney/index.htm
> > It appears that no one gave you the right answer.
> Including you.
>
> I have a cutting board that I made in 1969. <snipo>
>I have never applied anything to is except food.
The traditional and commonly accepted finish for cutting boards in mineral
oil.
It will not go rancid as a vegetable oil might, and is inert.
> > Vegetable oil. I've made four cutting boards over the years
> > and used ordinary vegetable oil on every one. After a couple of years
> > when the board is looking grungy - as they all do - you just do a
> > quick sanding to remove the old oil and apply some more.
Sanding your cutting board is BAD.
1)It tears the wood fibers leaving room for food particles to get traped and
bacteria to grow.
2)It leaves particles of grit behind which will dull the edges of your
cutting instuments.
A few passes with a sharp handplane is all that is needed to freshen up the
cutting surface.
What's on it now is the best.
http://www.hhp.ufl.edu/keepingfit/ARTICLE/BOARDS.HTM
For the rest google search should keep you occupied for a while.
"Victor De Long" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
> that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next
logical
> question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board?
It's
> for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
> thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
>
The natural oils and juices from the food being cut up on it will be just
fine.
"Victor De Long" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
> that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next
logical
> question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board?
It's
> for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
> thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
>
"Leon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "J. Clarke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > Knives give a different kind of cut from sandpaper. Compare a surface
> > smoothed using a sharp plane with one smoothed using sandpaper and
you'll
> > see the difference.
>
> Umm do you use your sharp planes to cut food up on your cutting board.
> Perhaps I should have indicated the obvious here, KITCHEN knives will
leave
> small indentations like sandpaper will when you actually start uning the
> ccutting board.
<sigh>
Sandpaper _tears_ the fibers leaving microscopically jagged and frayed
surface, whereas a sharp knife edge slices the fibers cleanly allowing them
to seal themselves back up after the blade has passed. Yéver seen how the
sole of a Sperry Topsider boat shoe works to expel water from under-foot?
it's kinda sorta like that, in an overly generalized way.
"J G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Sanding your cutting board is BAD.
> 1)It tears the wood fibers leaving room for food particles to get traped
and
> bacteria to grow.
Really an invalid point. Do your knives not cut small indentions into the
wood?
> 2)It leaves particles of grit behind which will dull the edges of your
> cutting instuments.
With any caution taken at all, this is not a real problem. Wipe the board
off before using knoves on it.
"Dragon Breath" <[email protected]>
> It appears that no one gave you the right answer.
Including you.
I have a cutting board that I made in 1969. It gets rinsed off after every
use and looks fine. I resurfaced it about 4 years ago to make the top flat
again. I have never applied anything to is except food. Since I have build
nuberous cutting boards and 2, 4 legged butcher blocks.
> Vegetable oil. I've made four cutting boards over the years
> and used ordinary vegetable oil on every one. After a couple of years
> when the board is looking grungy - as they all do - you just do a
> quick sanding to remove the old oil and apply some more.
>
Mother-in-law..hmmmmmmm
Mineral oil spiked with Tabasco sauce maybe....
"Victor De Long" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
> that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next
logical
> question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board?
It's
> for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
> thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
>
"J G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> <sigh>
> Sandpaper _tears_ the fibers leaving microscopically jagged and frayed
> surface, whereas a sharp knife edge slices the fibers cleanly allowing
them
> to seal themselves back up after the blade has passed. Yéver seen how the
> sole of a Sperry Topsider boat shoe works to expel water from under-foot?
> it's kinda sorta like that, in an overly generalized way.
Well if this cutting board is going to see any serious use, there are going
to be small and OPEN areas where the knife cuts. I have yet to see one that
does not indicate this and it becomes especially apparent when you rinse the
top clean and water causes the cut wood fibers swell.
Leon wrote:
>
> "J G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Sanding your cutting board is BAD.
>> 1)It tears the wood fibers leaving room for food particles to get traped
> and
>> bacteria to grow.
>
> Really an invalid point. Do your knives not cut small indentions into the
> wood?
Knives give a different kind of cut from sandpaper. Compare a surface
smoothed using a sharp plane with one smoothed using sandpaper and you'll
see the difference.
>
>> 2)It leaves particles of grit behind which will dull the edges of your
>> cutting instuments.
>
> With any caution taken at all, this is not a real problem. Wipe the board
> off before using knoves on it.
That may help with knoves but there is no amount of wiping that will get all
the grit off that might dull knives. Read the current posts on this
newsgroup and you'll find someone who was having trouble with grit embedded
in his waterstone. A waterstone is a _hell_ of a lot harder than a cutting
board--if grit gets embedded in one of those so firmly that it doesn't wipe
off, it will most certainly get even more embedded in a cutting board.
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
Leon wrote:
>
> "J. Clarke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Knives give a different kind of cut from sandpaper. Compare a surface
>> smoothed using a sharp plane with one smoothed using sandpaper and you'll
>> see the difference.
>
> Umm do you use your sharp planes to cut food up on your cutting board.
No, I use my sharp knives that cost about as much as my sharp planes and can
cut wood every bit as well, if not as conveniently.
> Perhaps I should have indicated the obvious here, KITCHEN knives will
> leave small indentations like sandpaper will when you actually start uning
> the ccutting board.
KITCHEN knives cut wood the same way as chisels and planes cut wood. At
least mine do.
>> That may help with knoves but there is no amount of wiping that will get
> all
>> the grit off that might dull knives. Read the current posts on this
>> newsgroup and you'll find someone who was having trouble with grit
> embedded
>> in his waterstone. A waterstone is a _hell_ of a lot harder than a
> cutting
>> board--if grit gets embedded in one of those so firmly that it doesn't
> wipe
>> off, it will most certainly get even more embedded in a cutting board.
>
> Water stones by nature continuously break down and the "grit" increases in
> quantity as you use them.
Find the thread, I'm not talking about grit from the stone--when he
flattened the stone he got carbide grit embedded in it.
> The stones by nature are MUCH MORE pours than
> most wood as they soak up enough water that they are normally totally
> saturated.
Which has zip-all to do with embedded grit. It may have escaped your
attention that grit is not water.
> Where the water goes, so will the "grit" from the stone.
So the grit from the stone is the same size as a water molecule? If that's
not what you mean then I can't figure out what you're trying to say.
> And as indicated in the information regarding the posts, the user was
> probably not using enough water to keep the stone surface fresh and clear
> of excess
> build up.
You're reading the wrong thread.
> If you continuously wet sanded the end grain of red oak you
> might eventually plug the end with grit.
It doesn't have to be "plugged". Doesn't take a lot of aluminum oxide or
silicon carbid to dull a knife.
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
Leon wrote:
>
> "J G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> <sigh>
>> Sandpaper _tears_ the fibers leaving microscopically jagged and frayed
>> surface, whereas a sharp knife edge slices the fibers cleanly allowing
> them
>> to seal themselves back up after the blade has passed. Yéver seen how the
>> sole of a Sperry Topsider boat shoe works to expel water from under-foot?
>> it's kinda sorta like that, in an overly generalized way.
>
>
> Well if this cutting board is going to see any serious use, there are
> going to be small and OPEN areas where the knife cuts.
And this is relevant how? The whole top of the cutting board is an OPEN
area where a knife cut. OPEN areas that stay open are not a problem. It's
when you get pockets that can trap debris that you have a problem. And
sanding, by tearing the grain, makes pockets that may be tiny by your
standards but to a bacterium are immense.
> I have yet to see
> one that does not indicate this and it becomes especially apparent when
> you rinse the top clean and water causes the cut wood fibers swell.
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:45:35 -0700, "Victor De Long"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Got online to ask you guys re which glue to use on a cutting board and saw
>that Al had beat me to the punch, so let me follow up with the next logical
>question - what type of finish should a fellow use on a cutting board? It's
>for my mother in law, but I'm not quite ready to poison her yet, so I
>thought I should use something food safe, but not sure what.
>
It appears that no one gave you the right answer.
Vegetable oil. I've made four cutting boards over the years
and used ordinary vegetable oil on every one. After a couple of years
when the board is looking grungy - as they all do - you just do a
quick sanding to remove the old oil and apply some more.
"J. Clarke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Knives give a different kind of cut from sandpaper. Compare a surface
> smoothed using a sharp plane with one smoothed using sandpaper and you'll
> see the difference.
Umm do you use your sharp planes to cut food up on your cutting board.
Perhaps I should have indicated the obvious here, KITCHEN knives will leave
small indentations like sandpaper will when you actually start uning the
ccutting board.
> That may help with knoves but there is no amount of wiping that will get
all
> the grit off that might dull knives. Read the current posts on this
> newsgroup and you'll find someone who was having trouble with grit
embedded
> in his waterstone. A waterstone is a _hell_ of a lot harder than a
cutting
> board--if grit gets embedded in one of those so firmly that it doesn't
wipe
> off, it will most certainly get even more embedded in a cutting board.
Water stones by nature continuously break down and the "grit" increases in
quantity as you use them. The stones by nature are MUCH MORE pours than
most wood as they soak up enough water that they are normally totally
saturated. Where the water goes, so will the "grit" from the stone. And
as indicated in the information regarding the posts, the user was probably
not using enough water to keep the stone surface fresh and clear of excess
build up. If you continuously wet sanded the end grain of red oak you might
eventually plug the end with grit.