Refurbishing old chopping board

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
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Location
Finchley, London
It looks like it's got a small crack in the bottom, so whether it's worthwhile maybe questionable.

But you've got nothing to lose really, give it a go at sanding back, and oiling it, and see what the finish turns out like.
 
Semple said:
It looks like it's got a small crack in the bottom, so whether it's worthwhile maybe questionable.
But you've got nothing to lose really, give it a go at sanding back, and oiling it, and see what the finish turns out like.
Click to expand...

This is probably getting into home and garden forum territory. I've got a bottle of indoor and outdoor PVA wood glue which I can fill the crack with.
But I had a go at sanding the board with some 80 grit medium sandpaper and it didn't get rid of any of the main stains. I'm wondering if I should buy a sander machine, or if the top surface needs planing?
 
Merlin5 said:
This is probably getting into home and garden forum territory. I've got a bottle of indoor and outdoor PVA wood glue which I can fill the crack with.
But I had a go at sanding the board with some 80 grit medium sandpaper and it didn't get rid of any of the main stains. I'm wondering if I should buy a sander machine, or if the top surface needs planing?
Click to expand...


Planing is hard unless you can use a thicknesser that will do the whole block at once.

Sander + 60/80 grit. You’ll need to sand off quite a bit. Keep the sander moving. Then once happy then move up to 120, 240, then 320 etc.
 
Merlin5 said:
Hi guys. I've got an old butchers block, nice and heavy, but heavily stained and a bit of a funny smell, almost like damp. I'd like to keep it but wouldn't want to put food on it at the moment as I remember using it for some non food related tasks. Would it be easy enough/worthwhile to sand and oil?

https://i.postimg.cc/8cVBqvK5/20190326-105604.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/q7hsqwWq/20190326-105541.jpg
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What did you use it for? Some things (like metal polish) will soak in and be toxic for food use.
 
Steampunk said:
What did you use it for? Some things (like metal polish) will soak in and be toxic for food use.
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To be honest I can't remember. But yeah, it might well have had some toxic things on it. For the last couple of years it's been sat in a cupboard below my worktop, and I sat loose binbags on it for my general kitchen rubbish instead of having a proper kitchen bin, which I've now got. So there's been the occassional split bags leaking onto it with whatever was in the bags, not just food stuff.
 
I could do that I suppose. Steampunk has got me thinking though. If there's been toxic liquid on it, I wonder if sanding or planning would make it safe for food. It's a thick heavy block though, I don't know if any toxic liquid would have permeated all the way through.

Also, NickK, this seems to be what you suggested, and a good price. Actually, I've seen it for even less on another site.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VonHaus-240W-Sheet-Sander-Collection/dp/B07B7P6BL1
 
Merlin5 said:
I could do that I suppose. Steampunk has got me thinking though. If there's been toxic liquid on it, I wonder if sanding or planning would make it safe for food. It's a thick heavy block though, I don't know if any toxic liquid would have permeated all the way through.

Also, NickK, this seems to be what you suggested, and a good price. Actually, I've seen it for even less on another site.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VonHaus-240W-Sheet-Sander-Collection/dp/B07B7P6BL1
Click to expand...

Being wood, that's certainly a possibility. But until you've started sanding down, you won't know how far any substances have seeped through. What's the bottom side of the board like? - if you can see similar markings on the bottom then it's possible it would have soaked all the way through.
 
Semple said:
Being wood, that's certainly a possibility. But until you've started sanding down, you won't know how far any substances have seeped through. What's the bottom side of the board like? - if you can see similar markings on the bottom then it's possible it would have soaked all the way through.
Click to expand...

The thing is toxicity can't always been seen in the form of a stain. I happen to mention this because it came up in a thread about restoring old cast iron pans. The guy had proudly polished and cleaned these wrecked pans back to new, but it was pointed out that a lot of metal polishes contain nasty stuff like lead, and once they are contaminated, they are very difficult to clean off, despite looking perfectly clean. There are food friendly cleaners, but most metal polishes are not for use on food related products.

Now I've got no idea what Merlin5 has got on his board. If he'd been taking oily engines apart, I'd know that used engine oil is carcinogenic and so on. I've got clear preservatives on some of my fences, and it doesn't look like anything is painted on at all, but it's really very toxic stuff that you certainly shouldn't be cutting food on. The problem is that Merlin5 doesn't really know what's been on the board either, so I'd be wary of redressing a wooden cutting board for food use if I thought it might be contaminated with something toxic. All it takes is the right kind of grain, or a crack and chemicals can get drawn right into the chopping board.
 
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I agree with you Steampunk. I think I'll call it a day on this board and just continue using it as a general base for non food things. Today I had a DAB radio opened up on it to repair.

Semple said:
Being wood, that's certainly a possibility. But until you've started sanding down, you won't know how far any substances have seeped through. What's the bottom side of the board like? - if you can see similar markings on the bottom then it's possible it would have soaked all the way through.
Click to expand...

The two photos at the start of my thread are actually both sides of the board.
 
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