Hello,
I have an old wooden chopping block that may have been part of an island or was recovered from a section of a kitchen cabinet top that would be good to restore.
Cannot be sure but it looks like strips of cherry laminated together and after many years it has held up very well.
It was stored in a musty room and has a couple of areas stained grey. It’s approximately 2 feet square.
Years ago I read that cabinet makers do not use sandpaper on fine wood surfaces as even the finest paper makes the finish a bit fuzzy.
If anyone has any ideas on how to restore this cutting board I’d very much appreciate hearing how, including dealing with the grey stains and the musty odor.
Thank you,
Rod
Replies
I will say I'm sure this is a beautiful piece, but it isn't "antique" if it is laminated wood. You can sand it without worry, in my opinion, and that will be the way you may get rid of the gray area (probably water damage) and the musty smell. You can use a fairly fine sandpaper, sanding with the grain, of course.
I'm not sure I understand your quote about sanding making the wood "fuzzy". ;o)
Thanks Gretchen,I think you're right,the stains are probably water damage. I had read that a plane would give the wood a better finish and sandpaper not as fine a finish, but as it's a chopping block it should be fine with sandpaper.Done a bit more reading and exposing the wood to sunlight should help, along with a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide / bleach - I'll have to check out the safety considerations on that first. Also saw some orange oil at Lee Valley that might good to apply before finishing the wood with beeswax/olive oil mix, don't know if that's the best way but seems reasonableThe above are my best guesses for approaching this and if there's any other ideas it would be great to hear them.Thanks again,Rod
As HOward says, it depends on what you are going to use it for. But I can see no use for "orange oil" and leave the olive oil out of the beeswax. It will go rancid. If it is going to be used you want mineral oil and perhaps paraffin wax.
A scraper as Howie suggests may be a good tool if this has really been heavily used in the past. When we had a kitchen reno a few years ago they took a belt sander to my well used cutting board. The guy said the paper clogged and clogged from many years of use of the board. I did clean it--just a lot of stuff to get rid of !!
Bleach and peroxide are not dangerous. You can wash them off. I just bleached my cutting board yesterday.Gretchen
The belt sander sound sounds like a good idea to remove the surface and the scraper would be good to finish, thx, Rod
First, are you planning to restore this to something that can/will be used to prepare food? If so, be careful. You have no way of knowing what may be on and in the pores of the wood.
If it will be a decorative piece, my first step would be to use mineral spirits and 3/0 steel wool to clean off any gunk on all the surfaces. Next, my tool of choice on something small like that would be a hand card scraper. It should quickly clean off and smooth the surface. If the gray areas remain, try using an oxalic acid bleach. Oxalic acid is the bleach to use to remove mineral type stains. Most paint stores will have it. Follow the directions on the label. Finish up by sanding from 120 to 180 grit and you should be ready for a finish.
The finish you chose is dependent on what you want to do with the item.
Good point about the safety issue Howie, I was hoping to use it in a kitchen nook in another part of the house.I'll look into the Oxalic acid, the name is familiar.Thank you,Rod
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