Cutting Board Finishes
- Details
- Hits: 12885
There are as many different opinions of what kind of coating should go on a cutting board as there are different kinds of cutting boards. The purpose of this article is not to suggest what can be used but to provide information on a wide number of products that could be used.
It is up to the woodworker to make the final decision based on where the the cutting board will be used.
In the end, the best coating for a cutting board is no coating or finish at all.
If we look at the life of most wooden cutting boards, they begin as new wood with some sort of a coating on them, usually some sort of oil-type coating. During their use they are either used to cut meat, or they are designated to cut other things like fruits, vegetables, breads and other common cutting items. In either case the cutting boards are cleaned regularly with warm soapy water, dried off then left to air dry. This process of constantly washing a drying, in a short period of time will wash off any coating that was originally put on the cutting board.
Since most cutting boards are seldom, or never re-coated after they begin use, what happens is the cutting board develops it's own patina or look that in some cases is similar to what the board was originally coated with. This is now most cutting boards live their life, which can go on for years and years. Cutting boards should be disposed of if they develop any kind of a crack in the wood, or if during their use they subjected to some very deep cuts. These kinds of cuts and cracks can harbor bacteria and pathogens that could cause illness so it is best to eliminate these threats.
Before we get into what are some of the finishes you can use on cutting boards, lets look at the short list of what you should not use, or at least be very cautious in using ....
Making cutting boards continues to be a very popular project. The nice thing with making cutting boards is you can can use almost any hardwood available and even if you only have cutting left they can often still be re-fabricated into a usable cutting board. Cutting boards are a popular items at swap meets, country markets and garden markets. They are available in many different kinds of woods, shapes, sizes and grain patterns. In some parts of the country they can command a fair dollar, which make they popular among hobbyist woodworkers who can use up their cutting to help support their hobby. A great way to make a few dollars to help offset the cost of wood. 
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee ... I don't drink a lot of it, but I love to have a couple of cups every day that I can really savor. In recent years specialized coffee machines have brought the convenience of coffee varieties and single cup servings to home market, and I must admit, I was one of the first buyers of them.
Getting free lumber isn't always as free as we might think, especially pallet wood. Wood from pallets is often pretty nasty stuff. It's often been kicked, dragged, smashed and driven over before we get it. It's almost always embedded with tiny rocks and gravel, hardened nails or screws and who knows what else. All of these unwanted elements go a long way to dulling, damaging or even ruining jointer and planer knives and even saw blades. Still, it's fun to get, but even more rewarding is getting lumber that already has some character to it. All this means is that you need to treat pallet wood differently than you do virgin wood from the lumber store. The fact that it does have all these embedded nasty elements is the reason we use it.
