Chopping block

[srs]

Ok I had a little bit of an accident with the wooden chopping board while doing the washing up last night on the upside we now have 2 narrower chopping boards however it was pointed out that we don’t have a long thin turkey for Christmas so a new block will have to be supplied. I got a plank of 1” beech in the store so was thinking of knocking one up any pointers or suggestions I will use a food safe finish (much as I don’t get on with the mother-in-law I don’t think it would be seen as good form to bump her off on Christmas day) So any preferences small blocks and have the end grain pointing up or long thin blocks (flooring style) or the simple 1” thick plank sanded. Also what form of jointing would up suggest as it will get knocked around and wet biscuits or dowels I would guess and exterior PVA would be a good idea.


Cheers
Simon

 

[dedee]

when our chopping board fell apart (existing glue joint gave way) I just ripped both edges on the TS then butt jointed with white exterior PVA it has shown no sign of coming apart in about 5 or 6 years. Used and washed daily. Whatever finish it originally had has long since washed off and I have never applied another one. Not sure of the wood type, it was shop bought but could well be beech from its appearance.

I hope you have seperate boards for cooked and uncooked meat.

Andy

 

[srs]

Hi, Andy

yes we use one of those horrid plastic boards for meat though if I doing some butchering I will use the wooden board (as I go rough shooting I bring home rabbit, pigeon etc) and I just scrub it with salt the scald it with boiling water. I was thinking of making something a bit fancier and pass it off as a bit of a crimbo pressie (tight I know!)

Cheers
Simon

 

[SimonA]

Walnut oil form your local supermarket works really well and is totally food safe as its just the oil from walnuts, obviously!

SimonA

 

[Scrit]

Hi Simon

The only problem about using anything exotic for chopping boards is that there is the possibility of tainting or colouring the food with so many exotics so you'd need to look closely at that. Turners are, quite naturally, probably the most concerned about wood toxicity so there are quite a few turners sites on the subject including Rochester University and The American Assoc. of Woodturners. I believe the US Forestry Research has put something up on the web, too, but I can't find anything from our own FIRA, despite having had printed matter from them in the past.

In the UK sycamore (in the North) and beech (in the South - apparently beech doesn't like the cold!) were traditionally used for chopping boards in the past because they wear reasonably well, don't dull blades, don't taint food - and most of all were cheap! In fact foresters tend to regard sycamore as a weed because of its ability to self-propagate, so really cheap. The main ways I've seen to fancy them up have involved poker work or carving

As to finishing - well I tend to use olive oil, rubbed on (sometimes with a little sea salt), left to soak-in then wiped off. That way the board just needs the occasional scrape with the edge of a curved knife to keep the surface clean. Wood contains a natural anti-biotics I'm told and despite being told by informed individuals that it will, the oil doesn't go rancid - partly because my boards are in almost daily use. I've had the same home-made Canadian rock maple cutting board since about 1980, so it can't be all wrong. That board broke in two a couple of years back so I planed the faces and glued/cramped it back together (1-shot UF glue).

Scrit

 

[SimonA]

Cheers for that Scit, you just got me thinking on there about using Walnut oil and one of the things I've never considered whilst using is that other people might have a reaction to the nut oil! Thankfully the couple I've made for friends don't have a problem with nuts and still use the oil every so often on their boards.

I also didn't think about the tranfer of the nut oil into the food we make/eat using the board. Maybe thats why everything tastes better!

SimonA

 

[gidon]

Be careful using Beech getting it wet! I made one for my parents a while ago and my sister submersed it in the sink after its first use! Dried out flat again luckily.

I prefer end grain and have some old ones made from pine which are still going strong. Just offset them half a size and arrange like a brick wall. Glue alone is plenty strong enough - but use a waterproof one. The hardest bit is keeping both surfaces as flat as possible - to limit the work you'll need to do on it to flatten both sides. I tended to concentrate on make sure one side was absolutely flush when clamping to use as the reference face. And then use a block plane or power sander to finish off the other side. I've actually put one through the planer thicknesser before with a very fine cut - I had no problems but not recommended. A speed drum sander is the ideal quick solution - but unlikely you'll have one of those unless your name is Norm!

Cheers

Gidon

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Gidon

A speed drum sander is the ideal quick solution - but unlikely you'll have one of those unless your name is Norm!

Or Steve Maskery. :wink:

Cheers
Neil

 

[Scrit]

A speed drum sander is the ideal quick solution - but unlikely you'll have one of those unless your name is Norm!

Ask around the local joinery trade to see if anyone has a wide belt sander, then get that shop to put your block through. They'll probably charge you a relatively small amount to do it. Saves making a £10k to £60k investment!

Scrit

 

[gidon]

Neil - in that case Steve needs to move down to sunny Devon .
Scrit - will have to try that some time. Did think of that when I had lots of mortices to do recently - but ended up getting my own (albeit baby version). I did once do a course at the local college - they had everything there ...
Cheers
Gidon