Finishing/Refinishing End Grain Cutting Board

[chris64]

Hello All. Attached is a photo of an end grain cutting board I just finished. So far, I have 3 coats of mineral oil on it. I am wiping off all the excess but it is still turning out blotchy as seen in the picture. Any suggestions? I thought about pulling out the sander again and going to town but I am not sure if that will do the trick. I was planning on putting a final coat of beeswax/mineral oil on it to finish it but am hesitant because of the way it looks. It doesn't look that bad, I am just curious to see what everyone else would do. Thanks in advance for the advice.
Chris

[steve-norrell]

Chris,

Welcome.

When I make an end grain cutting board I prefer to use the bee's wax / mineral oil combination right from the start. I think (only think, can't prove) that it does a better job of filling and sealing the grain. Others have used various mixes of polyurethane and sealer or commercial salad bowl finishes (check out Wood Whisperer's web site) to fill the grain, then finish with bee's wax and mineral oil. They claim that once the polyurethane sets up it poses no health hazard.

I have also found that I have to be very, very careful with the glue-up to minimize the amount of glue on the surface. I usually wipe and scrape it off as soon as I can and always before it dries and then sand down to bare wood before finishing.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Regards, Steve

[3thumbs]

I have made several of those, and have finished all of them with Olive oil. It takes several coatings to fill the end grain, and after a few uses, I just add some more Olive oil. The oldest is several years old, and I've never had one of them come unglued.
DM

[mschrank]

Not sure about olive oil...it can go rancid. But if it works for you, 3 thumbs...

I've used the Wood Whisperer's thinned Salad Bowl finish technique mentioned above. Still looks great two years later and repels water....haven't had to re-finish it yet. I didn't finish with mineral oil/beeswax...just the Salad bowl finish.

The only toxic parts of the finish are the solvents that evaporate away while it cures.