Cutting Board Finish

Absolute best method for finishing a cutting board…

And go!

“Finish” meaning treating/sealing the wood?

Mineral oil has always been my go to. I hear good things about a combination of mineral oil and beeswax, but I’ve never done it myself. @halgren has though I believe.

@mlbmichigan was just explaining her finishing technique the other day, but I honestly can’t remember the details. (Maybe it was just mineral oil, but I swear there was another step in there.

I use mineral oil for the first two coats and then I finish it with a combination of mineral Oil and Beeswax. They have commercial ones out there that I have used but I just bought a bunch of beeswax and I’m going to melt it with mineral oil make my own paste soon.

Yes, best finish as in sealing… overheard tales of the beeswax combo but haven’t had experience in it… :+1:

I use the commercial oil + beeswax most of the time as I only do a few boards and have really liked the results. It’s a bit expensive if you’re doing a number of boards so making your own like @mlbmichigan is is smart of you are doing quantity.

My absolute favorite results though are with a technique that is both a bit difficult at the Maker’s Space with a bigger board and a bit risky: heat the board in an oven set to warm (assuming it doesn’t get above 180 F) and use pure beeswax. The wax melts at about 145-150 and starts to discolor at 185 so a warm board melts the wax and it gets sucked into the pores. You wipe off the excess with paper towel. The risk is that the heat can warp the board some times. :frowning: I’ve only done that on end grain boards that use one kind of wood.

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