No, it’s not another poisonous cutting board question. I want to make a tiger maple cutting board with a nice wide off-cut from another project. Normally I’d use a light mix of honey-amber trans-tint in water to dye the wood before applying a slightly darker coat of shellac and then a blonde coat of shellac. Obviously shellac is not a great finish for a board that will be washed endless times. My question is will the common mineral oil or flax oil recommendation protect the wood enough seal in (and prevent messing up) the dye-job, and will they (or any other recommendable finish) give me a water-friendly finish with some of the depth/warmth I’m used to with shellac? It doesn’t have to be “just” like shellac and I’m not going for a real dark look, but definitely something with a little depth and darker than a clear coat.
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Replies
Terence,
I'd be leery of using the dye on a surface I'd be eating off of. Jsut my opinion.
Regards,
Ray
Ditto the concern about the tint. Anything you put on a cutting board should be food grade. You can get a bottle of food grade mineral oil for about $5 if you look around. Places that sell cooking supplies and accessories have it. After the board is cut, scraped, sanded, etc. the oil goes on. First coat is heavy and most will be absorbed. After a day, wipe another coat on and let that soak in. Wipe a third coat on and after a day, wipe any excess off. It will continue to soak into the fibers, so follow the directions on the bottle about additional coats and water won't soak into it.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Terence,
It just occurred to me, you might experiment with food coloring, in oil or water, to dye your cutting board. Hard to say how colorfast it'd be, but no worries about toxicity, as long as you stay away from red #3..;-)
Regards,
Ray
Shellac is edible when dry. As you pointed out, it might not be the best finish for something regularly washed.
Last cutting board I made, I used flax seed oil (organic food version of linseed oil). It won't dry (nor will mineral oil) but it seemed to work ok.
Our local organic food store has it for about $3.50/gill, supposedly it's to be refrigerated after opening. As I wasn't drinking it, I didn't bother.
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