[[email protected]]

I made a little simple cutting board and afterward I sanded in canola
oil with 400 grit paper. However, the board is unusable now because
once it dries the wood has started to come up in certain places and
splinters are showing.

Cutting some food on this seems unwise and my project seems to be a
failure. Any advice on how to save the board and avoid the splinter
problem in the future?

Rob

[dpb]

wrote:
I made a little simple cutting board and afterward I sanded in canola
oil with 400 grit paper. However, the board is unusable now because
once it dries the wood has started to come up in certain places and
splinters are showing.

Cutting some food on this seems unwise and my project seems to be a
failure. Any advice on how to save the board and avoid the splinter
problem in the future?

What kind of wood did you use would help. For a cutting board anything
that would be likely to splinter (like pines, etc.) wouldn't be a
likely candidate for the purpose. You need a close-grained, hard wood
like maple. Oak, walnut, etc., while hard enough, are too porous...

[DJ Delorie]

writes:
Cutting some food on this seems unwise and my project seems to be a
failure. Any advice on how to save the board and avoid the splinter
problem in the future?

When I do project that might get wet, I wet sand them. Make the item
as usual, then get it wet (I use a spray bottle for turned bowls) and
let it dry. Then sand off the fuzzies. Do the wet-dry step between
each grit until it feels smooth after it dries.

Since your finish is just canola oil, you should be able to go back to
the sanding steps (start at, say, 150 grit) and just re-do everythign
from there - sand, wet/dry, sand, etc, oil.

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the help...

I used oak for the board. I will try the wet sanding technique.

Rob

[jd]

the best solution is to use maple for the cuttin gboard. Hard, not
splinterty and non-porouse (so no food gets stuck in it). Don't put any
finish on it. The wood has really good natural bacteriacides in it, so you
won't need to worry about things growing on it 9assuming a modicum of care).

Because you've already started with oak, you could simply strip ot down and
see how it does. oak has 8really* good anti bacterial properties, and lots
of tannins as well (which will also help discourage stuff from growing). The
fact that it is open grained could be aproblem - if you're cutting something
mushy or really juicy, the stuff willget forced down into the pores, and
could rot there. Good cleaning might keep up with it. No matter what finish
yuo put down, it will get cut and worn, and re-expose the pores, so I'm not
sure that there is areal solution to that problem. also, Oak is pretty
splintery, so as it wears, it'll get more liley to throw a splinter....

I would probably just scrap the oak and start oer with maple. If thats not
an option, I'd keep the oak raw, clean it really well after every use, and
watch and see how it does.....

as a side note: I use a lot of scrap for cutting boards. My favorite is
maple, but I've also used cherry (works great, but can turn funny colors),
mahogany (kinds soft, wears fast), and rosewood (only once - really hard,
and was to rough on my knives)....

--JD


wrote in message
ps.com...
I made a little simple cutting board and afterward I sanded in canola
oil with 400 grit paper. However, the board is unusable now because
once it dries the wood has started to come up in certain places and
splinters are showing.

Cutting some food on this seems unwise and my project seems to be a
failure. Any advice on how to save the board and avoid the splinter
problem in the future?

Rob

[R. Pierce Butler]

"jd" wrote in
:

the best solution is to use maple for the cuttin gboard. Hard, not
splinterty and non-porouse (so no food gets stuck in it). Don't put
any finish on it. The wood has really good natural bacteriacides in
it, so you won't need to worry about things growing on it 9assuming a
modicum of care).

Because you've already started with oak, you could simply strip ot
down and see how it does. oak has 8really* good anti bacterial
properties, and lots of tannins as well (which will also help
discourage stuff from growing). The fact that it is open grained could
be aproblem - if you're cutting something mushy or really juicy, the
stuff willget forced down into the pores, and could rot there. Good
cleaning might keep up with it. No matter what finish yuo put down, it
will get cut and worn, and re-expose the pores, so I'm not sure that
there is areal solution to that problem. also, Oak is pretty
splintery, so as it wears, it'll get more liley to throw a
splinter....

I would probably just scrap the oak and start oer with maple. If thats
not an option, I'd keep the oak raw, clean it really well after every
use, and watch and see how it does.....

as a side note: I use a lot of scrap for cutting boards. My favorite
is maple, but I've also used cherry (works great, but can turn funny
colors), mahogany (kinds soft, wears fast), and rosewood (only once -
really hard, and was to rough on my knives)....

--JD


wrote in message
ps.com...
I made a little simple cutting board and afterward I sanded in canola
oil with 400 grit paper. However, the board is unusable now because
once it dries the wood has started to come up in certain places and
splinters are showing.

Cutting some food on this seems unwise and my project seems to be a
failure. Any advice on how to save the board and avoid the splinter
problem in the future?

Rob





I use a Salad Bowl finish on the cutting boards I make. Wood is an
excellent material for cutting boards. It kills the nasties that may
grow. Much better than plastic. Plastic does nothing to kill critters.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the help...

I used oak for the board. I will try the wet sanding technique.


Toss it into the fire and start over. Oak is a terrible wood for cutting
boards. Much to porous and it will absorb a lot of liquids.

Cut a small strip about 6" long. Put it in a glass of water and blow
through it and you will understand why maple and other close grained wood is
used.

[LRod]

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 03:19:56 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:

Cut a small strip about 6" long. Put it in a glass of water and blow
through it and you will understand why maple and other close grained wood is
used.

That only works with red oak. Try it with white oak and your face will
turn blue while you're waiting for bubbles. That's why it's used for
wine barrels (well, that and the flavor).

--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997

email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
care to correspond with you anyway.

[Phisherman]

On 24 Sep 2006 17:18:10 -0400, DJ Delorie wrote:


writes:
Cutting some food on this seems unwise and my project seems to be a
failure. Any advice on how to save the board and avoid the splinter
problem in the future?

When I do project that might get wet, I wet sand them. Make the item
as usual, then get it wet (I use a spray bottle for turned bowls) and
let it dry. Then sand off the fuzzies. Do the wet-dry step between
each grit until it feels smooth after it dries.

Since your finish is just canola oil, you should be able to go back to
the sanding steps (start at, say, 150 grit) and just re-do everythign
from there - sand, wet/dry, sand, etc, oil.


This is exactly what I did to one project. Dampen the wood, let it
dry, sand, repeat. Warm up the board and apply mineral oil.