Traditional "finish" for butcher blocks is salted tallow or lard, depending
on what was cut upon it last.
Of course, traditionalists wouldn't use a splintery wood like oak, either.
Those rays are natural points of cleavage.
Mineral oil is light grease from a different source, and less the salt, a
shelter for bacteria with lipid cell walls.
"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "sawdust" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > Working up some oak scrap cutoffs into butcher blocks.
> > What is a safe finish?
>
> For red oak? None that I know of as it is not a good material. White oak
> should be OK with mineral oil.
> \Ed
>
>
Different health department stuff. We worked 35 years ago in NY with the
old standard, salting the block every night.
Were you a member of the now defunct AMBWU (Amalgamated Meat-Cutters and
Butcher Workers Union) ? Always loved that name.
"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "George" <george@least> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Traditional "finish" for butcher blocks is salted tallow or lard,
> depending
> > on what was cut upon it last.
> When I was in school I worked in a grocery/butcher shop. We cleaned the
> cutting blocks with a bleach solution and metal brush. Nothing was ever
put
> on top after. They may have had a finish when new, but that would have
> been some years before. They had a nice contoured top from years of
> cutting.
"George" <george@least> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Traditional "finish" for butcher blocks is salted tallow or lard,
depending
> on what was cut upon it last.
>
> Of course, traditionalists wouldn't use a splintery wood like oak, either.
> Those rays are natural points of cleavage.
When I was in school I worked in a grocery/butcher shop. We cleaned the
cutting blocks with a bleach solution and metal brush. Nothing was ever put
on top after. They may have had a finish when new, but that would have
been some years before. They had a nice contoured top from years of
cutting.
Ed
[email protected]
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome
"sawdust" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> Working up some oak scrap cutoffs into butcher blocks.
> What is a safe finish?
For red oak? None that I know of as it is not a good material. White oak
should be OK with mineral oil.
\Ed