Sealing Butcher Block Counters/Wood Cutting Boards

[phaelon56]

Update: my digital camera is on the fritz and i don't yet have pics ot post but I finally refinished it and used the Boos Mystery oil. Excellent product and I really appreciate the recommendation. I did end up using straight tung oil on a different project - a cherry dining table. Loved the effect but for a kitchen surface this Mystery Oil is the bomb!

This peninsula top was made from an old restaurant kitchen prep table. Many years of oiling and cleaning had left the surface in rough shape. the previous houseowner had done some rough sanding but made little progress. My initial attempts at sanding, usinf a vibrating finishing sander with 100 grit paper, met with no success - the sandpaper gummed up immediately.]

I applied a coat of 3M "Safe Strip" (Citri Strip would also be good), wrapped and taped the surface with plastic wrap to cut off the air supply and let it sit for 24 hours. Rubbed down with plastic scrub pad and rinsed throughly with water. Much of the latent oil and wax appeared to have been drawn off by this process. A few days later I did a through scrub down with mineral spirits and then wiped dry with a cloth.

I attempted to begin sanding again and still met with gummed up sandpaper although not as quickly. As it turns out.... there was a surface film that could now be scraped off with a putty knife. that was the key. Many, many sheets of sandpaper later... having gone through 100, 180, 320 and 400 with a final hand rub using 600 grit.... it was ready for oil.

It's absolutely gorgeous. This was once a real restaurant prep worksurface so there's plenty of character remaining: visible knife marks here and there and some initials carved on the side edges. There were several holes that I filled by drilling evenly and using hardwod plugs and wood filler. I think a bit more wood filelr and some stain to bring the wood filler color down to match will be needed but overall it's fantastic.

Can't say enough good things about the Boos Mystery Oil. Mineral oil is okay on a small cutting board or wooden utensils but for a surface that will often have hands and arms and objects on it when being used as a dining area / place to hang out... the Boos oil yields a surface that is glossier and smoother - absolutely no sense of any oil residue on the surface yet it is nicely sealed. I won't be cutting directly on this surface but will on occasion use it as an overflow area when doing major food prep.

Thanks to all for the tips and suggestions.

[chezcherie]

so i finally took over the reins at the cooking school i've been subleasing for five years. a lot of sweat equity will be going into upgrading and tweakage.

this afternoon, we sanded down the grungy, corroded butcher block counter, me with the coarse orbital sander, and the more skilled hubby with the finish sander. it looks 1000% better already. now, do we need to seal it, or just mineral oil it over a period of days (weeks)?

thanks for the wisdom of your experience!

[winesonoma]

so i finally took over the reins at the cooking school i've been subleasing for five years. a lot of sweat equity will be going into upgrading and tweakage.

this afternoon, we sanded down the grungy, corroded butcher block counter, me with the coarse orbital sander, and the more skilled hubby with the finish sander. it looks 1000% better already. now, do we need to seal it, or just mineral oil it over a period of days (weeks)?

thanks for the wisdom of your experience!

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Mineral oil till it won't take any more. Should have used a belt sander.

[nr706]

I'd use walnut oil rather than mineral oil, since walnut oil dries and mineral oil doesn't (mineral oil is also a laxative, but probably not at the levels absorbed from a butcher block). Flood the surface, add more to any areas that look dry during the first 30 minutes, then wipe it off. Let it dry two days, buff, repeat, dry two days, buff, repeat again, and you've got a pretty strong surface.

There's an interesting discussion of oils in the current (June 2005) issue of Fine Woodworking magazine (p. 22). It doesn't specifically address food-safe finishes, but does address them tangentially. Raw (NOT BOILED) linseed (aka Flax) oil might be another possibility, but the wait between coats would be more like five days.

edited: out damn typos!

Edited April 18, 2005 by nr706 (log)

[jsolomon]

I will put myself squarely in the mineral oil camp. The amount anyone will pick up from the wood off of the butcher block is many thousands of times smaller than would cause any laxative effects, plus, mineral oil is an inert oil. It will not go rancid over time.

As winesonoma posted, put it on til it won't take it anymore, and then reapply at least semi-annually. Monthly would be better. For reapplication, a simple dump and wipe should be sufficient to re-condition the wood.

[WolfChef]

Will mineral oil swell dried out wood? Or is it something a person has to live with and chalk up to rough past?

Found this info on Boos Block website maybe it helps a bit.

Use the TIPS button on the left hand side of the page...couldn't get a straight link to this page.

Boos Block

Edited April 18, 2005 by AgaCooker (log)

[Chris Amirault]

I'd use walnut oil rather than mineral oil, since walnut oil dries and mineral oil doesn't (mineral oil is also a laxative, but probably not at the levels absorbed from a butcher block).

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Won't walnut oil go rancid eventually?

[jsolomon]

Will mineral oil swell dried out wood?  Or is it something a person has to live with and chalk up to rough past?

Found this info on Boos Block website maybe it helps a bit.

Use the TIPS button on the left hand side of the page...couldn't get a straight link to this page.

Boos Block

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It should slightly, but not nearly to the extent that water does. The oil also keeps water from penetrating the wood and causing it to swell.

[Daddy-A]

I'd use walnut oil rather than mineral oil, since walnut oil dries and mineral oil doesn't (mineral oil is also a laxative, but probably not at the levels absorbed from a butcher block).

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Won't walnut oil go rancid eventually?

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Yes it will.

Use mineral oil, or the linseed oil. The information found at the John Boos site (posted upthread) is as good as any I've found.

You should also get yourself a scraper, and use it every day (see John Boos for more info)

A.

[nr706]

I'd use walnut oil rather than mineral oil, since walnut oil dries and mineral oil doesn't (mineral oil is also a laxative, but probably not at the levels absorbed from a butcher block).

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Won't walnut oil go rancid eventually?

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To quote the Fine Woodworking article:

Oxygen is absorbed into the wet oil around a molecule's double bonds to form to form peroxide ... Next the peroxide decomposes to produce very reactive free radicals, which attack the unsaturated fatty-acid segments of another oil molecule. This forms a stable chemcal bond between the two molecules, at the same time producing another free radical to carry on the reaction. Eventually all the oil molecules are linked by a network of stable chemical bonds known as a polymer."

So, if I understand that correctly, yes the oil gets rancid - so rancid, in fact, that it forms a stable compound that protects and the wood. That's why they say, in general, that nut oils dry, mineral oils don't. And would you rather have your food touching a substance refined from crude oil, or pressed out of a tasty nut?

But I think the original post asked the question whether to treat or not - and the answer is yes, apply an oil. Both work, mineral oil's a lot cheaper, but I prefer walnut oil.

[andiesenji]

I use mineral oil, and have done so since working in my mom's bakery in the 50s. Every afternoon it was cleaned before beginning the evening/all night baking.

We used bench knives to scrape off all the dried bits of dough, then wiped the bench with a damp cloth and applied the oil while it was still just barely damp, then wiped it again, scraped it some more with bench knives then applied more mineral oil, let that application be absorbed for an hour or so then wiped it with dry rags.

[MelissaH]

I'd use walnut oil rather than mineral oil, since walnut oil dries and mineral oil doesn't (mineral oil is also a laxative, but probably not at the levels absorbed from a butcher block).

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Won't walnut oil go rancid eventually?

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There's also an allergy issue with walnut oil: anything that touches the butcher block would then be capable of setting off a reaction in those allergic to nuts. Safer for many reasons to go with the mineral oil.

MelissaH

[jsolomon]

So, if I understand that correctly, yes the oil gets rancid - so rancid, in fact, that it forms a stable compound that protects and the wood. That's why they say, in general, that nut oils dry, mineral oils don't. And would you rather have your food touching a substance refined from crude oil, or pressed out of a tasty nut?

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Both are going to be manufactured to high standards in the US because of the FDA guidelines, but you will actually tend to have better luck with the mineral oil because they are refined to US Pharmacopeia standards, which are quite high indeed.

There is a lot of checking, double-checking, and rechecking of chemistry and paperwork in things manufactured to USP/ICH guidelines.

[phaelon56]

I always used mineral oil for my big butcher block cutting board but my new house had an old restaurant kitchen prep table whose top had been removed and converted into a peninsula top. It took lots of sanding and even more scraping to get the gunk out. I researche my options here and settled on John Boos Mystery Oil as the best treament option. The melted paraffin it includes (along with mineral oil) seems to yield a finish that is less sticky than mineral oil when the board is saturated and it seems, subjectively,, that it's better sealed. At $5.50 per bottle it's more costly than mineral oil but it goes further and a single bottle will last for quite awhile.

[winesonoma]

Are we talking End or Edge grain? Because it makes a difference.

Edited April 18, 2005 by winesonoma (log)

[chezcherie]

well, i'm talking edge grain. it's a counter that's used for prep and knife skills classes, about 3 1/2 ft deep and 10 ft long. it has been drinking in mineral oil all day (and i do mean drinking---like it had a straw!), which i went with because (a) so many suggested it and (b) it is more readily available/affordable than the gallon or more of walnut oil i woulda needed. (i have walnut oil, but only in dainty vials). love the idea of walnut oil, but the allergy thing is also worrisome (the last thing i would think about with a nut allergy person would be the finish on the chopping block!)

so, edge grain, mineral oil, and will finish, as i read on the boos (or ?) website, with a 400 grit wet/dry sanding on the final coat. it already looks sooo much better than it did. it had been badly treated for years, and now it is getting its second life! thanks to all for the suggestions. egullet rocks.

[winesonoma]

It will be fine, thanks to you.

[chezcherie]

as i was sanding, i kept thinking of bowling alleys. (i don't bowl...)

then i remembered a winery (central coast?) that boasts a tasting room bar made from recycled alleys!

[cubilularis]

One year the health board tells you to remove ALL wooden surfaces, the next year they are okay...

As I understand it wood rubbed with grapeseed oil forms a protective barrier against bacteria...a good scrub with lots of salt and a steel brush, after each use, keeps the surface sterile!

[Taboni]

as i was sanding, i kept thinking of bowling alleys. (i don't bowl...)

then i remembered a winery (central coast?) that boasts a tasting room bar made from recycled alleys!

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The bar in my fraternity house in college was made out of a recycled bowling alley.

What a great quarters surface that was.

[WolfChef]

well, i'm talking edge grain. it's a counter that's used for prep and knife skills classes, about 3 1/2 ft deep and 10 ft long. it has been drinking in mineral oil all day (and i do mean drinking---like it had a straw!), which i went with because (a) so many suggested it and (b) it is more readily available/affordable than the gallon or more of walnut oil i woulda needed. (i have walnut oil, but only in dainty vials). love the idea of walnut oil, but the allergy thing is also worrisome (the last thing i would think about with a nut allergy person would be the finish on the chopping block!)

so, edge grain, mineral oil, and will finish, as i read on the boos (or ?) website, with a 400 grit wet/dry sanding on the final coat. it already looks sooo much better than it did. it had been badly treated for years, and now it is getting its second life! thanks to all for the suggestions. egullet rocks.

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Any chance on some before/after pictures?

[chezcherie]

sadly, no. (i was task-oriented..) i will try to take an "after", but it's just not that dramatic without the "before"!

[WolfChef]

I've got a 24 by 24 by 10 inch thick boos butcher block table that is being delivered this weekend. Bought it on ebay, the thing looked rather dried out in the pictures and this might be why I was only bidder. Opening bid was $100.00 and the buy it now option was $500.00. Debated even bidding for a couple of days and finally submitted a $100.00 bid and got it. Delivery is free, my parents winter in Arizona and Dad was good enough to pick up this 185 lb monster and drag it back with them, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bid as shipping would have been $$$. I love restoring old things back to a useful state if not their former glory and will try and post some before/after shots. So now it's a question of mineral oil or boos mystery oil. I'm thinking mineral oil to start since the paraffin might not soak in well and mystery oil to finish. Mom confirmed the fact it is dried out. She said it was a little dried and cracked...which means in her speak...dry as a bone with huge cracks as she doesn't want to hurt my feelings. Intially I thought about soaking in water to swell the wood like they do with old wooden boats but sort of figure this will do more damage than good. Any thoughts?

[WolfChef]

Since I am starting on the refinishing of the Boos block table today, figured a couple of before pics would be in order.

This is a front shot.

This is a sort of close up of the top. My old digital has poor resolution, sorry.

[winesonoma]

Belt sand to clean it up, keeping in mind that a belt sander has to be kept moving or it will gouge. Them mineral oil till it won't take any more.