Cutting Board

[Jerry Bittner]

Wood Magazine, a few issues ago, offered plans for building a decorative wood chopping block.

I'm in the process of making eight of these, relatives you know, and the article recommends mineral oil for the finish. Further notes that periodically, you may want to recoat it with the oil.

Question I have is my mentor has also built these but is using a finish made specifically for wood products that come in contact with food -- salad bowls and of course the cutting board.

His idea is good but I question since it is a cutting board, won't the finish get scarred and expose the wood to water damage?

A related question would be whether you can stain the board and then finish it with either mineral oil or the non-toxic finish.

Help as always much appreciated.

[Ted Miller]

Jerry, I use either food grade mineral oil or 100% pure tung oil, I do not use the kind that has synthetic drying agents or polymers in it...

[Ted Miller]

Forgot to add I use beeswax to to fil in some of the spots oil can't get in...

[Benjamin Dahl]

jerry, i have used both mineral oil and walnut oil. occasionally reapplication is necessary but not difficult. water damage should not be an issue unless the board is left soaking or run through a dishwasher. from what I have read, most finishes are food safe once they are dry.

[Scott Banbury]

I use mineral oil from the drudstore with a little beeswax melted into it to create a creamy paste.

[Joe O'Leary]

I do what Scott does, being generous with the beeswax. Then I take out my heat gun and gently let the mixture flow onto the work. Let soak in overnight.

As to frequency, the old standard works for me: Once per day for a week, once per week for a month, once per month forever.

(Well, I can't yet confirm the "forever" part .

[Art Mulder]

Jerry,

I've said it before, (link leads to an early more detailed comment with photos) and I'll probably say it again...
My philosophy of cutting boards: You don't need to put anything on a working cutting board. If you want to, for reasons of aesthetics, that is another matter.

[jim gossage]

i let 3 coats of mineral oil soak in for 10-15 min each and wipe off. it gives the board a nice luster that you don't get without the finish. it seems to me that if you stain it, the oil will not penetrate and protect the wood as much, since the stain will seal the wood to some degree.

[Brian Doris]

Just to add very slightly to Art's argument, a few years ago some of the top restaurants in the UK replaced their wooden cutting boards with polythene, the given reason was - EU directive. Within a year the wooden boards were back. Washing the polythene was apparently less effective against harmful bacteria than the combination of washing the wooden boards and the wood's anti-bacterial properties. No idea whether that is true or not, but if it is, it may be that consideration should be given to whether or not a finish interferes with the wood's beneficial effects.

[Bert Barnes]

Ok, I will chime in on this one. I am a Foodservice design consultant. In the seventies, the Health Department declared wood for cutting boards was un-sanitary because they would absorb bacteria. Restaurants and institutions began using plastics and synthetics. Along came a hybrid, self-healing poly board everyone jumped on. Finally after many years the wood cutting board industry managed to get FDA and USDA to conduct extensive tests on different cutting board materials. What they found is that the self-healing poly boards would actually capture blood and other bacteria inside the board that ware washing would not remove. Once you cut through the board again you would release the captured bacteria. Now hear is where it got interesting. The cellulose in wood will actually kill the bacteria in 45 to 60 seconds. Bacteria is 98 % water. Cellulose will absorb all the water and kill the bacteria. Some woods are better than others. Wood cutting boards are again approved for use in commercial application as long as they are separated and identified for specific use. I.E. Meat cutting boards for meat only. Vegetables cutting boards veggies only, etc. All that said most of the manufacturer's of wood cutting boards I know of use mineral oil or a combination of mineral oil and some other components including wax. Here is one of the manufacturer's http://www.johnboos.com/. They will sell you a bottle of their formula. There is also a description on how to care for them. Hope this helps.

[Chris Jenkins]

I've made a few cutting boards in the past and I finished them with Arm-R-Seal Salad Bowl finish. Looks great at time of presentation. Now I know for sure that one of the cutting boards I gave away as a gift actually gets used as a cutting boards (the other is more of a center piece and they refuse to ruin it). I've seen the cutting board and it has been sliced and diced on. It doesn't seem like the finish is showing any chipping or anything like that. Nor did I see any discoloration where the finish may have been penitrated all the way through.

I do however plan on refinishing that particular cutting board some time in the future just to see how it turns out.

[Mark Patoka]

I've done one cutting board that was finished with Salad Bowl finish and it looks nice for display. We keep one side for display so it doesn't get used but the other side that we've been using for several months is now starting to show wear through the finish and it won't look near as pretty as the show side will with continued use. I'll probably just leave it go natural. I might consider oiling it in the future.

We also have two regular face grain oak boards we've been using for 20 years that have never had any finish. Never had any problems with them. Water won't hurt them as long as they don't stay submerged for days at a time.

From what I'm seeing, a finish is more to enhance the appearance of the board and not necessary for the utility of it.

[Neil Bosdet]

Please have a look at this thread from a little while ago. I don't recommend Mineral Oil as the best option for a cutting board. It doesn't absorb oxygen and therefore never cures. This results in a board that needs to be refreshed often.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=50053

Cheers,

Neil

[Benjimin Young]

Hi Jerry, which issue of Wood was it in?

[jim gossage]

Please have a look at this thread from a little while ago. I don't recommend Mineral Oil as the best option for a cutting board. It doesn't absorb oxygen and therefore never cures. This results in a board that needs to be refreshed often.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=50053

Cheers,

Neil

i have read that you should avoid curing finishes due to the problem noted above with bacteria getting trapped inside, and then being released again when the finish is incised. mineral oil does not cure and so this will not happen. however, you will have to refinish from time to time. i guess there's no perfect finish!